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what is ashtanga yoga?
what is ashtanga yoga?
Ashtanga Yoga
| Ashtanga Yoga is a powerful system of self-transformation which makes the body flexible, strong and healthy and brings mental clarity, peace and happiness. The asana sequences (sequences of postures) are intelligently designed to detoxify the body, align the muscular-skelital system, purify the nervous system and generally bring good health and vitality to the practitioner. Ashtanga Yoga uses a unique method of co-ordinating movement and breathing, known as vinyasa. The vinyasa determines the way component postures are linked together, and when combined with energetic muscular "locks" called bandhas, the resulting practice is very powerful. To deepen the practice still further and to bring the mind under control, the eyes focus on specific points depending on the asana. The combination of posture, vinyasa and gazing point is called trishtana. The benefits of Ashtanga Yoga practice are felt immediately. The postures and vinyasas help to detoxify, heal and relax the body and mind, and bring new vitality and awareness to the practitioner. This process of learning the asanas challenges one mentally to release old patterns of behavior and attachments, and so, as the physical transformation takes place through asana practice, a parallel psychological process is happening too. This is just the first step. Once physical and mental healing have taken place, Ashtanga Yoga becomes a guide to inner exploration through a series of progressively more introspective practices which culminate in the ultimate liberation from suffering and universal knowledge which results from complete Self knowledge. There are 64 arts in the Hindu culture which can lead man to Self Realization and Yoga is one of these. These arts are transmitted in a totally organic and systematic way, starting always with the repetition of simple techniques and gradually increasing the complexity and intensity of the practice in a harmonious and scientific way. This method has been found to be highly effective in all these different art forms and is the basis of traditional Ashtanga Yoga teaching. Ashtanga Yoga Shala is a traditional school dedicated to the teachings of Sri K Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, South India. Pattabhi Jois studied extensively with his teacher Krishnamacharya and devised six asana sequences under his guidance based on information contained in an ancient scripture known as the Yoga Korunta. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In 1999 I went to Hawaii to interview Norman Allen, the first American to study with Sri K Pattabhi Jois to find out exactly how Ashtanga Yoga came to the West. The interview was part of a series of interviews with with senior students of Guruji's which form part of an upcoming documentary about Sri K Pattabhi Jois' life and work.
