Ashtanga yoga

Two meanings of one word

Ashtanga joins two Sanskrit words: ashta, eight, and anga, limb. The name is used for two related but different things, and it helps to keep them apart. The second, a breath-linked flow, is also where the Vinyasa lessons I teach come from.

The eight limbs of the Yoga Sutras

The first meaning is classical. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, usually dated to the early centuries CE, describe an eight-limbed path. The limbs are yama (ethical restraints such as non-harm and truthfulness), niyama (personal observances such as contentment and study), asana (a steady, comfortable seat), pranayama (regulation of the breath), pratyahara (drawing the senses inward), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi, the absorption the path ends in.

Posture is only the third limb, and the Sutras say very little about it. The path as a whole is about the mind. The eight limbs of yoga page goes through each one, and yamas and niyamas covers the first two in detail.

Ashtanga Vinyasa, the modern method

The second meaning is a style of posture practice. Ashtanga Vinyasa was taught by K. Pattabhi Jois in Mysore, India, from the middle of the twentieth century, and his students carried it abroad from the 1970s onward. Jois said the sequences came from an old text called the Yoga Korunta, which has never been found, and historians generally treat the series as a twentieth century creation.

The method rests on a few fixed elements:

• Set series. The Primary Series (Yoga Chikitsa) is followed by an Intermediate Series and several advanced series. You practise the same poses in the same order and add new ones as you are ready.
• Vinyasa. Each movement is matched to an inhale or an exhale, and short linking sequences connect the poses.
• Breath, bandhas and gaze. Steady ujjayi breathing, engaged bandhas (locks at the pelvic floor and lower belly), and a fixed drishti, or gazing point, for each pose.
• Mysore style. Students memorise the sequence and practise at their own pace in a shared room while a teacher moves between them. Led classes, where the teacher counts the breaths aloud, are also common.

Traditionally the practice is done six days a week, with rest on Saturdays and on full and new moon days.

How it shows up in a modern practice

Even if you have never taken an Ashtanga class, you have probably practised its influence. The breath-linked flow of Vinyasa, the Sun Salutations at the start of many classes, and the habit of gazing at a fixed point all spread widely through Ashtanga. See types of yoga for how the styles compare.

Ashtanga and private lessons

I do not teach Ashtanga Vinyasa or its set series. What I offer that comes closest is Vinyasa: the same breath-linked movement, with a sequence built around your body and your day rather than a fixed order. The eight limbs can still come up in any lesson, for example as a few minutes of breath work or quiet sitting before the final rest.

My training was a 200-hour course at House of Om in Bali; you can read about my training. If you like the steady rhythm of Ashtanga, Vinyasa is where I would start.