Vinyasa Yoga or Ashtanga Yoga?
When you are ready to practice a more flow-like style of yoga, it is easy to become overwhelmed with all the different types. It can be confusing for a novice yogi, and even a little challenging for a seasoned yoga practitioner to sift through the varied types of flow yoga. If you want a more regimented order of asana (yoga poses) then you will be drawn to Ashtanga yoga. Though it flows from one posture to another – assuming that you either have learned or will learn good alignment and technique in the process – there is a specific order of mastery one must obtain before moving on. Vinyasa yoga is a more loosely termed form of flowing yoga, coined in the US in the early 1980s by practitioners who felt static yoga poses were better done in a series coordinated with breath, much like in Sun Salutations.
If you are leaning toward Ashtanga Yoga, the evolution of Hatha yoga as practiced by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois since 1915. Jois differs slightly in Bikram Choudhury’s conception of yoga in that the room in which Ashtanga yoga is practiced is not usually heated, but the flowing movements of one’s own body increases internal heat, and makes for a very vigorous workout. You certainly won’t get bored as you may with Bikram’s 26 redundant postures, as jus the primary series in Ashtanga yoga has over 50.
You are not expected to move on to more advanced postures until all of these are mastered and then the next series is presented. Some of the primary series postures include Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana, Virabhadrasana A and B, Purvottanasana, and Janu Shirshasana A and B. These are standing, and sitting poses respectively and just represent a few of the movements you do in the first several hundred classes you’ll take.
Some Ashtanga practitioners will teach you opening mantras, such as the Ashtanga Beginning Mantra:
Om Vande Gurunam charanaravinde Sandarshita svatmasukavabodhe Nishreyase jangalikayamane Samsara halahala mohashantyai Abahu purushakaram Shankhacakrsi dharinam Sahasra sirasam svetam Pranamami patanjalim Om
English Translation:
Om
I pray to the lotus feet of the supreme guru
Who teaches knowledge, awakening of the great happiness of the Self revealed
Who acts like the jungle physician
Able to remove the delusion from the poison of conditioned existence
To Patanjali, an incarnation of Adisesa, white in colour with a thousand radiant heads (in his form as the divine serpent, Ananta), human in form below the shoulders, holding the sword of discrimination, a wheel of fire representing infinite time, and the conch representing divine sound.
To him, I prostrate.
Om
(Patanjali is considered one of the earliest compilers of the oral teachings of many different schools of yoga in India. He is the author of an important yogic text called the Yoga Sutras. If you are interested in reading more about the history of yoga, these are a great place to start. English translations of the Sanskrit sutras abound on the Internet.)
If you are interested in more of a flow like class, you can find Vinyasa in many different styles, at different paces (both very fast and a more relaxed flow) and with some very creative teachers that make every class a new series and a new experience. No matter which style of flow yoga you choose, you are sure to benefit from yoga’s physical, mental and spiritual gifts.
Other Yoga articles you might like:
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