Dive into the transformative world of Ashtanga yoga poses, a dynamic and structured practice that enhances strength, flexibility, and mental clarity. Discover this powerful yoga tradition's key postures and sequences, and learn how to incorporate them into your practice for holistic well-being.
The Ashtanga yoga practice consists of a sequence of yoga movements that depend on the breath-synchronized movements.
The Ashtanga yoga practice is a set of six different series of yoga poses. The first series, or Ashtanga Yoga Primary series, is the most commonly practiced series of yoga poses.
One of the advantages of this yoga style is that it provides a set methodology for performing each movement, making it easy to follow for yoga practitioners.
Like any yoga practice, it is a sequence of moves a practitioner follows one movement after the other until reaching the closing poses. Variations and modifications are available for most of the asanas.
While yoga can be considered a spiritual practice, one of the benefits of Ashtanga yoga therapy is its effect on the physical body. This practice can improve body awareness, strength, and flexibility by focusing on a fixed point of gaze, breathing, and smoothly connecting poses with movement.
When doing asymmetrical poses, a movement begins on the right side of the body. The movements between poses, called vinyasa, are as important as the poses.
Bandhas, while not always taught, can be applied to anchor muscles for greater ease while doing poses and moving between them.
When practicing, one should hold each pose for five breaths.
A breathing method called Ujjayi breathing, or Ujjayi Pranayama, is used throughout. It involves breathing through the nose while constricting the throat to provide resistance for the breathing muscles.
It creates a constant deep hissing sound while breathing. Breathing and movements between poses are synchronized.
Drishti, a Sanskrit term in Ashtanga Yoga, refers to the focal point or gaze that practitioners use to direct their attention during the practice.
It plays a crucial role in enhancing concentration, alignment, and the overall meditative experience of the practice. It helps practitioners keep the eyes open during the practice, except when blinking and during the corpse pose.
Each yoga pose in the Ashtanga sequence has a specific drishti, which helps in creating a deeper mind-body connection.
By fixing the gaze on these points, practitioners learn to control their wandering thoughts, cultivate mindfulness, and develop a profound sense of presence on their mats.
Ashtanga yoga involves a series of postures, beginning with Surya Namaskar A and B. These sun salutes can be repeated three to five times for the warm-up. Surya Namaskar A has ten movements, while Surya Namaskar B has 16.
Following Surya Namaskar are 18 poses that make up the Ashtanga standing series. While there isn’t a strict correspondence, the standing poses correlate roughly to the following seated yoga poses.
The seated Ashtanga yoga postures can be divided into two sections. These poses focus on forward bends and twists, but vinyasas performed can be more arduous than those while standing. The vinyasas involve a subset of poses.
They go from the Surya Namaskar, jumping back to Chaturanga Dandasana - four-limbed staff pose - followed by Adho Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, the upward-facing dog, and Adho Mukha Svanasana, the downward-facing dog, followed by jumping through to sitting again.
At the end of the Ashtanga yoga series practice, finishing poses - closing postures - are done. These include the wheel pose, plow pose, shoulder stand, ear pressure pose and headstand, and the final pose of Shavasana. Closing postures calm the mind and return the body to a balanced state.
The starting pose for an Ashtanga yoga practice is the Mountain pose, Tadasana. It is also referred to as Samasthiti or equal standing. It can be done with arms on the sides or hands touching in front of the heart in a prayer position.
When doing the standing series of Ashtanga yoga poses, one returns to Tadasana between the various sets of standing poses.
As mentioned, an Ashtanga yoga pose practice always starts with three to five repetitions of Surya Namaskar A, followed by three to five repetitions of Surya Namaskar B.
These sun salutations focus on breath-linked movements or Vinyasa. Rather than holding a pose, move from one pose to the other with an inhale or an exhale. The exception is Adho Mukha Svanasana, a downward-facing dog held for five breaths.
When learning Surya Namaskar A and Surya Namaskar B, one approach to memorizing them is to break down each sun salutation into smaller mini-sun salutations.
Once sun salutations are completed and end in Tadasana, the standing forward bends of the Ashtanga yoga poses are to follow.
After sun salutations and the series of Ashtanga standing yoga poses, the practice of the primary series moves to the ground for a series of seated poses. A natural breakpoint for the seated poses is Navasana, or boat pose.
Where the seated poses before Navasana tend to be variations of seated forward bends, the poses following could be classed as a mixture of yoga poses that stretch and strengthen the hips, shoulders, and spine.
Most of the seated poses involve some element of binding feet and hands. If binding cannot be done in any of the poses, an option is to exert opposing muscles against each other to get a similar strengthening effect.
Another option is to use a strap, towel, or other body parts to help extend the reach.
Leading up to Navasana, the series of Ashtanga seated yoga poses includes:
The poses following Urdhva Danurasana have often been termed the finishing or closing series when doing the primary series of Ashtanga yoga.
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