How to Yoga - Primary Series

saramiller (73) in health • 8 years ago

Good day, Steemians!

Discipline is remembering what you want. -- David Campbell

Ashtanga yoga is a highly disciplined, structured practice with plenty of solar, masculine energy. That can be sweet: the hatha (movement based) practice programs muscle memory so the mind can cool it, or challenging: the same series of poses every day can get boring, plus the high strain of a few repetitive motions may cause injury if alignments are overlooked. It's all in perspective.

I build my practice on a foundation of ashtanga, and there's much more to this style than physical poses. The sage Patanjali described the 8 limbs of this style in the Yoga Sutras some 2,500 years ago:

Yamas = 5 restraints: ahimsa (non-violence), satya (truth), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (focus of life energy), aparigraha (non-coveting)
Nimaya = 5 observances: saucha (cleanliness), santosha (contentment), tapas (fire), svadhyaya (self-study), ishvara pranidhana (surrender)
Asanas = poses/postures
Pranayama = breath control
Pratyahara = sense withdrawal
Dharana = concentration
Dhyani = meditation
Samadhi = enlightenment

Each of these limbs can fill volumes. So far, my focus in these "How to Yoga" posts has been asanas, because movements are fairly straightforward for new practitioners; you can immediately feel the effects of moving the body in particular ways and reap the benefits of yoga.

Yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory. -- Pattabhi Jois

Primary series, or Yoga Chikitsa (yoga therapy), is a great place for the beginner to start an asana practice. This routine always follows the same sequence of poses. As the yogi/yogini becomes more capable and confident in their yoga abilities, they can advance through second series (Nadi Shodana = nerve cleansing), and advanced series A, B, C, and D (also called Sthira Bhaga = divine grace).

This is primary series:

image source

Vinyasas (= half series = essentially a sun salutation) serve as transitions between each and every pose; classically, a vinyasa is performed even for switching sides on a pose.

It's often done in Mysore style, so named for the city of Mysore, India where Pattabhi Jois taught. This is like an individual practice done in a group setting; there is no single instructor to follow, and only the sound of breathing fills the room. This feels very natural to me; I'm not a fan of every person doing the same movements at the same pace, which is what you find in almost all Western yoga classes. I believe the "teacher" is there to encourage proper alignments and to show the "student" how to develop a sustainable self-practice. Truly, the individual is the most important person in a yoga practice, and it is up to them to tune into their own breath and ability instead of a leader telling them what to do.

Whether done on your own or in a class setting, primary series is a great place to begin for establishing a daily practice. Once you get the hang of it, you recognize the pattern: begin with a warm up of sun salutations A & B, move into standing poses, then seated, then inversions, backbends, and finishing poses.

Yoga's super radical in that it teaches the yogi how to feel and harness his own power - feel free to give your body exactly what it needs each and every day! You may favor hip openers as part of your seated series over twists some days, or vice versa.

I find it beneficial to return to classic primary series if I'm feeling resistant to a daily asana practice, and I hope this inspires and motivates you to care for your body, mind, and spirit - you totally deserve it!

There is so much more to come; we have only dipped our toes into the ocean of yoga!

💛 Sara!

health freedom yoga life

8 years ago by saramiller (73)

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alexopenyoga (32) · 7 years ago

Thank very much. What is the difference between Ashtanga and Ashtanga Vinyasa? Are there any other types of Ashtangas.

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saramiller (73) · 7 years ago (edited)

Thanks for asking, @alexopenyoga! That's actually a pretty deep question that leads to much more...

Ashtanga means "8 limbs" (which I present here in this post); it is also called Raja yoga (raja means "royal"). Traditionally, there are only a handful of asana = physical posture routines within ashtanga yoga that progress in difficulty - primary series, 2nd series, then 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th series - which are classically the exact same postures performed in the exact same order every time you practice a given series.

A physical ashtanga practice usually starts with sun salutations A and B, then moves through standing, seated, inversion, and finishing postures, with some arm balances and twists thrown in the mix depending on what series you take. It is a very structured practice!

Vinyasa actually means "flow" or "transition" and can also be used to describe a defined set of poses performed in a particular order (also called a half series, which is very similar to sun salutation A). In a Western yoga class, a teacher might instruct to hold a particular pose like Warrior I for 5 breaths then "take a vinyasa" or something like that, which means to do a series of asanas in rhythm with the breath that will lead into the next pose to be held. Traditionally, a vinyasa = half series is done between every single pose of an ashtanga practice, which can make it a really great, intense cardio workout.

Ashtanga vinyasa is a hybrid style that is based on ashtanga series but with a lot more wiggle room for what postures you throw in the mix. It's rooted in the 8 limbs of ashtanga, and a physical routine might follow the same framework of sun salutations > standing > seated > inversion > finishing poses, but generally the asanas are not in the exact same order every single time. To me, ashtanga vinyasa is much more fluid than straight up ashtanga.

As far as I know, there are not other types of ashtanga, but there are many more styles of yoga. Ashtanga is actually a type of hatha yoga, which means that it is based in movement, breath, and harnessing the flow of energy through the body. Kundalini, iyengar, and bikram are just a few other types of hatha yogas.

There are also plenty of yogas that don't specifically address postures, which is really interesting to me because a lot of Westerners seem to think that twisting yourself into a pretzel is what defines yoga! Bhakti yoga is a type that is based in love and devotion. Karma yoga is the yoga of action or work. Jnana yoga is called the yoga of knowledge or of self reflection. There are even yogas of sound and of food!! These styles don't specifically address asanas.

I believe that ANYTHING you do with awareness and intention that brings your mind, body, and soul to a single point is yoga, and compartmentalizing it into different styles loses sight of the bigger picture. However, yoga is a vast field, so narrowing it down in that way can be helpful for beginning a practice.

I also believe that the practitioner is the most important person in a practice, and they are welcome to take everything they want from every single style they like to make their very own "type" of yoga. That's exactly how all these different varieties evolved over thousands of years!

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alexopenyoga (32) · 7 years ago

@saramiller, Your answer is so deep and profound. Thank you and keep on steeming #yoga

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saramiller (73) · 7 years ago

Actually there is sort of another type of ashtanga yoga called Mysore, named after Mysore, India where the style originates. It more or less means that everyone in the space is practicing an ashtanga series at their own pace, rather than in synch with the others or an instructor.

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velezyoga (25) · 7 years ago

Hi @alexopenyoga and @saramiller. Just to clarify there is only one type of Ashtanga Yoga and that's Patanjali's 8 branched yogic system. What Sri. K.Pattabhi Jois and Sri. T.Krishnamacharya did was take those teachings and apply them from the filosofic aproach into a more hands on aproach. Yama and Niyama are supposed to be practiced by anyone, period. From there asana is practiced through posture, pranayama through breath awareness to how exact is your vinyasa (movement and breath linkage) and pratyahara through drsti or the gaze points. All other four branches according to Patanjali can't be practiced. They will manifest on their own as a result of the practice of the previous 4 branches. So pratyahara comes from the practice of asana and pranayama, dharana comes from the cultivation of pratyahara. Then when scence abstraction is something you don't even have to think of but it just manifests once you start practicing, then dharana will come. A single pointed concentration, from which dhyana or meditation, a longer period of time in dharana will manifest. Finally if enough dhyana is cultivated you will forever be in that dhyana state, which is samadi.

Now off to the styles of Ashtanga Yoga as an asana practice, there is only one method and that is Pattabhi Jois method.

Ashtanga Yoga is taught in Mysore India at my school the KPJAYI - Krishna Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute and the method there is self practice or what is popularly called in the west as "Mysore Style" where you practice your own portion of the series you are on until you make is perfectly clean and then you are "given" another posture to work on so on and so on. This is the original way of teaching Ashtanga Yoga.

When Pattabhi Jois came to the west he found himself in front of hundreds of students who wanted to be taught. He saw he couldn't teach Mysore Style to all of them, so he invented guided classes. Yeah we all are in debt to Sri. K.Pattabhi Jois, not only for bringing Ashtanga method, and all other vinyasa styles that spawned out of it, but also for inventing the led class. I don't know if it was his invention, but he surely was the first one to use it in the Ashtanga Yoga world.

Now diferences between the use of Ashtanga Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Well Ashtanga Yoga is Patanjali's 8th limbed Yoga System, with an asana practice as a 3rd branch. Any asana practice. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is the Vinyasa Yoga style adopted and molded by Sri. K.Pattabhi Jois from what his teacher T. Krishnamacharya taught him.

I hope this helps clarify and if you have any questions, just let me know. I'm always open for a good yogic talk.

Namaskar.

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barrydutton (74) · 8 years ago

I like how you use fun language in your posts, it is one of my highlights of reading them.

Today's example of Sara Fun Language"

Ocean of yoga.

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extremedistaste (53) · 8 years ago

Excellent post! I did yoga with a friend for over a year, and I'm sad to say that I am currently not practicing. It was a wonderful experience.

The most relaxed I've ever been was after a long session of aerial yoga, where we went into savasana within the swing. I've never felt more at peace before.

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saramiller (73) · 8 years ago

Oooooo, savasana on a swing sounds divine! Yoga is very forgiving, and you can pick it up again at any time. When I return to my practice after a hiatus, I ask myself what took me so long to come back...

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framelalife (60) · 8 years ago

I love your yoga posts! Thanks for sharing. Glad to see they are doing so well. I hope the Steemit community gets as much out of yoga as you put into it!