Gain control over your life force with Ashtanga yoga

Ashtanga vinyasa yoga offers you a workout with the intensity of the training of an elite athlete. Gaining control over the life force differentiates yogic exercise from gymnastics.

A while back I was searching for a fun way to exercise. I was really drawn to the eastern ways of exercise, but I was torn about which branch to choose. On the one hand, I wanted to find something that would balance me, in the Tai Chi direction. On the other hand, I also wanted it be a 'real' powerful workout. I know Tai Chi is more challenging than it looks, this was not what I was looking for. For a while, I considered choosing a more 'aggressive' branch such as a type of Kung Fu. But then I found most western schools do leave a big part of the energy work out. Well, I know it is not that black and white as I presented it, but before I could totally work it out, I learned about ashtanga yoga.

Underlying principles

Patañjali, often called the father of yoga, lived somewhere between 200 BC and 200 AD. In “The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali”, he compiled 195 sutras that are used as an ethical blueprint for living a moral life that incorporates yoga. This book is considered the fundamental text on the system of yoga, and yet, it doesn't contain a single posture... Yoga can help you cultivate your mind, body and spirit. The core of his teaching is the eightfold path of ashtanga yoga, also called the eight limbs:

1. Yama: social behaviour: Nonviolence, Truth and honesty, Nonstealing, Nonlust, Nonpossessivenes
2. Niyama: how we treat ourselves:
   Purity, Contentment, Austerity,
   Study of the sacret text, Living with an awareness of the divine
3. Asana: postures as an exercise to stay fit (originally to be able to sit confortably in meditation later)
4. Pranayama: breath to control the life force
5. Pratyahara: withdrawal of the senses, directing your attention inward
6. Dharana: concentration, focussing the mind on one point or image
7. Dhyana: uninterrupted meditation without an object, a state of heightened awareness and oneness with the universe
8. Samadhi: the ultimate goal of the eight limbs: absolute bliss. This is a state of pure contemplation, superconsciousness, in which you and the universe are one.

Modern practice

Unlike other hatha yoga systems, the ashtanga vinyasa yoga system of K. Pattabhi Jois is a rigorous practice, that it is extremely intensive. It is a very fluent type of yoga, where a series of poses (or asanas) are interconnected by a central theme, of jumping Sun Salutations. But there is not only this visual aspect to ashtanga, more important is the invisual content. Ashtanga uses four fundamentals to create heat in the body, which in turn has a cleansing and detoxifying effect. Here are the four fundamentals:

1.Ujjayi Pranayama:

victorious breath – stretching the breath to extend the life force. This is done by slightly constricting the glottis with the epiglottis in the throat and produces a hissing sound. Listening to the sound of your own breath is a pratyahara technique (5th limb) and draws your attention inward. The Ajjayi breathing is done with the rib cage, to stimilate the flow of blood and life force, whilst actively engaging the abdominal muscles, which improves the posture and massages the thoracical organs. The increase in breath volume is positive because we can inhale more oxigen and exhale more toxins (mental, emotional, physical and environmental). Most importantly, the ujjayi breath stills the mind.

2.Bandhas or locks, to help the breathing:

1.Mula Bandha: slightly contracting the pubo-occygeal muscle creates an energitic seal that locks prana into the body. This is held during the entire practice.

2.Uddiyana Bandha: lightly contracting the transverse abdominis muscle, drawing the adbominal contents against the spine. This makes the practitioner blissfull and peacefull.

3.Drishti: by using certain focal points (nose, third eye, navel, hand, toes, side, thumb or upward), we can practice the fifth limb or sense withdrawal, in this case visual withdrawal (we also to auditory withdrawal with the breath). Drishti also includes the sixth limb: concentration.

4.Vinyasa: If you start to practice the eight limbs everyday, you have enough to do the entire day! You could do two hours of asanas, meditate another two hours, do some sutras and so on. Vinyasa yoga was especially designed for “householders”, as opposed to full-time practitioners. Vinyasa combines all eight limbs, compressed in two hours of daily practice (I know it sounds a lot, but you start off at your own pace and build it up). The postures are not held for a long time and the emphasis is shifted from posture to breath. Realising that postures like all other forms are impermanent. The quest for yoga is for the formless, the consciousness.
Through vinyasa the postures are linked and the practice becomes a movement meditation.
The breathing creates heat and has a detoxifying effect, this also includes the removal of non-physical toxins such as ignorance. The vinyasa method of coming to a standing between postures also has a detoxifying, flushing effect.
If you would only practice asana, this might leave the body destabilised and overly flexible. Vinyasa compensates this by jumping back between sides, which gives us the strength to sustain the flexibility. The underlying principle is that of simultaneous expansion into opposing direction.

The evolution

Strength, flexibility and stamina are equally treated in Ashtanga. Because it is a faily intense workout, a lot of fitness enthusiasts will thrive on Astanga. Over the last few years, a slightly modified system of Ashtanga has surged, called 'Power Yoga', which has increased in popularity rapidly.

Being a celebrety is a busy job. You need to look good, be focussed and you'll have a busy agenda. That is why a number of celebraties have discovered raw food, and also Ashtanga. Sting (every breath you take...hint hint), a yogi who has introduced many people to the system also introduced Madonna to Ashtanga. Another practitioner is model Christy Turlington, actors Woody Harrelson and Willem DaFoe as well as athletes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Randal Cunningham.

Learning Astanga Yoga

K. Pattabhi Jois's Astanga Yoga institute is located in Mysore, India. A lot of Europeans and Americans go there to study the practice, but only few Westerners have been certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga. Amongst them are Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, John Scott, and David Svenson. You can do a quick internet search and find an Ashtanga yoga center in your neighbourhood. However, if you are like me and live in a remote area, that might not be an option. I got a DVD set from David Svenson and I must say that it is totally amazing. He succeeds in giving a thourough, yet easy to follow explanation and guided practice. This is a great start for your practice. Later, if you feel it is right for you. You can find an institute or a teacher to help perfect your practice.

Personal experience

Right after I did my very first Sun Salutation together with the video... I knew I was hooked. I felt amazing. Well, at first, I felt a few muscles that I had never felt before, but it felt really good. I had energy, and felt like moving my body... After a few poses, you really feel the heat building up in the body. It's a great feeling, calm, relaxed and centered. Although the very first time did not went all that well (posturewise), I noticed big improvements with each day of practice and suddenly, I could confortable sit in positions I never even tried before. I can only recommend Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

Sources

http://www.yogamovement.com/resources/patanjali.html

Gregor Maehle, Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy, New World Library, 2007

Mara Carrico, Editors of Yoga Journal, Yoga Journal, “Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics: The Essential Beginner's Guide to Yoga for a Lifetime of Health and Fitness”, Macmillan, 1997