Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, learn more about this yoga style

Conscious TV

June 28, 2021

The style of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga created by Patthabi Jois consists of several series, specific, defined and unchanging. Once the first series has been learnt and all the postures of the series have been mastered to perfection, it is possible to move on to the next series.

Because of this, a practitioner can spend more than a decade doing exactly the same series, every day, until he or she can master it and move on to the next.

Many people may wonder how doing the same thing every day, the same postures, in the same order, for the same amount of time, doesn't get boring. The answer lies in your mind and in the intention of your practice.

You see progress faster: in Hatha Yoga there are more than 200 postures, so you might do Hanumanasana, the Front Split or Monkey posture, one day and then not do it again for 2 months. In the Ashtanga Vinyasa sequence you do the same thing every day, so you quickly see how your postures improve.

Better concentration: Curiosity is innate to being human, so by not having in your mind what posture is coming, because you already know, you can focus your attention on the present, the posture you are in, the muscles you are working and your breathing.

Each series has its own particular benefits: Yoga Chikitsa, the first series, aims to purify the body and rid it of diseases. The second series, Nadi Shodana, aims to cleanse your energetic body: nadis and chakras. The advanced series are postures of "superhuman strength and flexibility".

The mysore style: as the class is always the same, this style can be practised, in which the class is not guided, each student does the sequence at his/her own pace and the teacher, as he/she is not dictating the class, can dedicate more time to each student to deepen the posture he/she is in.