Ashtanga yoga
Yoga is not work-out, it's work-in.
Ashtanga yoga
"If the Mind is the King of the senses, the master of Mind is the Breath."
योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥
Yogas chitta vritti nirodhah
Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. It is a way to quiet the turbulence of the mind and rest in the Self. The eight limbs are said to remove disharmony among the three doshas: vata, pitta and kapha.
The word Ashtanga means eight limbs, or steps.
Self-restraint. Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (non-stealing), Brahmcharya (celibacy), Aparigraha (non-possessiveness).
Fixed observance. Saucha (purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhayaya (self-study), Ishwar parinidhanam (surrendering to the Lord).
Posture. The seat and the shapes of the practice.
Expanding the life force. Working with the breath, the pranic force.
Withdrawal of the senses. Turning the senses inward.
Concentration. The act of concentration.
Contemplation. Steady, unbroken attention.
Complete absorption. The final limb.
The first four limbs, Yama, Niyama, Asana and Pranayama, are bahiranga, the external practices. Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are antaranga, the internal practices.
Reading and talking about yoga will not give results. Abhyasa, dedicated practice, is the key. The blockers are laziness, sleep and disease, and a steady practice overcomes them.
Vinyasa and tristhana
Ashtanga is Vinyasa Krama yoga. Vinyasa means body movement with the breath: the body moves on the inhale (puraka), stays, then moves on the exhale (rechaka), in an ongoing cycle. Krama means sequence: each asana prepares the body for the next.
Within a single asana the body flows through a count in Sanskrit: ekam, dve, trini, chatvari and so on. Surya Namaskar A, for example, has nine vinyasas. The first is inhaling while raising the arms overhead; the second is exhaling while folding forward.
Sage Vamana says, Vina vinyasa yogena asanadin na karayet: do not do asana without vinyasa.
Tri means three. Tristhana is the method of flowing your attention through three places while you practise: posture, breathing and gaze. They are always practised together, and they work on three levels: the body, the nervous system and the mind.
Asanas purify, strengthen and give flexibility to the body. Breathing is steady and even, with the inhale as long as the exhale. Drishti, the place you look while in the asana, steadies the mind. There are nine:
Mula bandha and uddiyana bandha are the anal and lower abdominal locks. They seal in energy and give lightness and strength. The tradition places the body's fire four inches below the navel, and long, even breaths keep it steady, neither smothered nor blown out of control.
Two ways to practise
Ashtanga yoga can be practised in two ways under the guidance of Guruji.
You practise the asana sequence at your own pace. The entire class can practise Mysore style, with everyone on their own sequence regardless of where others are. Guruji knows which student is doing which asana and keeps correcting as needed.
Guruji gives the count and instructions, and the entire class follows the sequence together.
Both styles leave the student with great energy and long-lasting physical, mental and spiritual benefits.
The yoga shastra
God dwells in the heart in the form of light, but this light is covered by six poisons.
When practice is sustained with diligence over a long time, the heat it generates burns away these poisons, and the light of our true inner nature shines forth.
Parampara
Knowledge passed down from guru to student, through the tradition of Parampara.
Sneh Lata studied with Sh. Praveen Somu (Mysore), Km. Sonal Sharma and Sh. Sandeep Sharma (Pune). Read her story
Before and after class
Prarthana, prayer
Prarthana means prayer. Many practitioners chant these two mantras to open and close the practice.
Om vande gurūṇāṁ caraṇāravinde sandarśita svātma sukhāva bodhe niḥśreyase jāṅgali kāyamāne saṁsāra hālāhala moha śāntyai ābāhupuruṣākāraṁ śaṅkha cakrāsi dhāriṇam sahasra śirasaṁ śvetaṁ praṇamāmi patañjalim Om
praise and adorations to the lotus feet of the Gurus for they reveal the happiness of the true Self they are the refuge in the dark impenetrable forest of the mind transforming endless poison and delusion into everlasting peace homage to the great sage Patañjali who has assumed the form of a luminous man wielding a conch shell, a discus and a sword crowned by a radiantly white, thousand-headed cobra
svasti prajābhyaḥ paripāla yantām nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīm mahīśāh gobrāhmaṇebhyaḥ śubhamastu nityam lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu om śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
may the leaders of the earth protect and guide us on the virtuous path may this generation and all generations to come be blessed with auspiciousness may all animals and knowers of divinity be blessed with eternal prosperity may all beings in all worlds be happy om peace peace peace
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