A vivid tradition (part 3/3)

»Everybody can do Yoga« – this was one of Pattabhi Jois' main creeds. However, in the last years at Mysore, there was hardly a way to find an adequate practice for people with physical restrictions, also because of the enormous number of pupils. In my eyes, this is truly a pity because I think that precisely those people can profit a lot from the therapeutic potential of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga. For this reason, I will find an adequate form of practice for anyone joining one of my classes. In certain cases, this might, for instance mean using a chair as a tool to allow people with physical restrictions to go through the series of movements. In this way, the essence of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga becomes accessible for everyone.

Adjustments mit Dr. Ronald Steiner

Die Feinheiten von Hilfestellungen im Rahmen einer Yogalehrer-Ausbildung

With knowledge from sports medicine and movement therapy, Aṣṭāṅga Yoga's curative power can come to fruition: those who do the same every day will also transform their bodies. With the correct alignment, we thus take a step towards better health and holistic wellbeing every day. – This is what yoga therapy is all about.

A web of learning and growth

Some of the Western innovations even find their way back to Mysore. A simple example of this phenomenon are the positions parivṛtta trikonāsana, the twisted triangle, and parivṛtta pārśvakoṇāsana, the revolved side angle. According to Nancy Gilgoff, one of the former students of Pattabhi Jois, those to positions were inserted by Western practioners since they coherently fit the system. Pattabhi then adopted those position in his own teaching.

However, Aṣṭāṅga Yoga has left certain traces also outside the formal boundaries of the established tradition: a large number of modern yoga styles developed from Aṣṭāṅga Yoga, from Jivamukti via Sharon Gannon and David Life to Brian Kest's Power Yoga. Their "inventors" all studied with Pattabhi Jois and even traditions that seem completely separate often integrate the basic elements of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga.

The centre of the practice

Without a doubt, bandha, vinyāsa and dṛṣṭi are the centre of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga practice. According to the Hatha Yoga Pradīpikā, bandha is a technique to reverse the energy, which always streams down and gets consumed, and to thus symbolically recharge our living power. From a physical point of view, the subtle muscle contractions already described by the Nāṭh Yogis straighten up within the Earth's field of gravity. The foundations for alignment, i.e. a healthy practice, were thus already laid in the ancient source texts of Hatha Yoga. As far as physics are concerned, this erection increases the energy of our body posture in space.

Vinyāsa means synchronising breath and movement to form a steady rhythm. Rhythm, in turn, structures time. From a physical point of view, energy in the dimension of time thus increases. Translated literally, dṛṣṭi means vision. The term refers to techniques which help us focus the otherwise often wandering gaze on certain points. The gaze is connected with our thoughts which otherwise also have a tendency to wander. The dṛṣṭi thus brings our thoughts into alignment. From a physical point of view, we increase the order and thus energy in our mind.

Bandha, vinyāsa and dṛṣṭi thus stand for an alignment in space, time and in our mind. Our practice recharges these dimensions with new energy. We become more present, more attentive and gain greater clarity. Finally, we immerge into the immediate perception of the moment, or, following Pantañjali's Yoga Sūtra 1.1: atha yoga-nuśāsanam – now introduction to Yoga. The state of yoga can be experienced in this moment.