The book is divided into three parts. Part 1 covers the spiritual and mythological foundations of this yoga; part 2 discusses the anatomical and other practical issues of the practice; and part 3 provides a detailed description of the postures of the Intermediate Series. With its varied content, this book will interest not only intermediate practitioners but also those who would like to learn more about Ashtanga Yoga in general and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga specifically.
Regardless of the use to which you put this book, I encourage you to consult my first book, Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy. It describes the Primary Series of Ashtanga Yoga, which needs to be mastered before undertaking the Intermediate Series. It also contains a commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra, the defining text of yoga philosophy, as well as an essay on yoga history.
Origins of Ashtanga Yoga
Most Indians identify the ancient seer Patanjali as the father of all yogas. Traditionally, they have viewed Patanjali as a semi-divine being, a manifestation of Ananta, the serpent of infinity. Patanjali displayed an incredible level of mastery in compiling the Yoga Sutra; he also published texts on Sanskrit grammar and Ayurvedic medicine. Thus you can think of Patanjali as a master of advanced yoga techniques, a professor of various branches of classical knowledge, and a mythological, semi-divine being all wrapped in one. The Indian masters I have studied with report that Patanjali lived six thousand years ago, though some Western scholars claim that he lived more recently.
Ashtanga Yoga can be traced all the way back to Patanjali. Ashtanga Yoga is mentioned in many ancient texts, such as the Mahabharata, the longest Indian epic. These references make it clear that the term Ashtanga was always used to refer to Patanjali’s yoga. Ashtanga is derived from the Sanskrit words ashtau, meaning “eight,” and anga, meaning “limb.” These words describe the essence of Ashtanga Yoga — a discipline built of eight distinct practices, or limbs. The postures, or asanas, that most Westerners associate with the term yoga make up only one of these eight limbs.
The following are the eight limbs as described by Patanjali:1
1 Restraints (Yamas)
2 Observances (Niyamas)
3 Postures (Asanas)
4 Breath extension (Pranayama)
5 Internal focus (Pratyahara)
6 Concentration (Dharana)
7 Meditation (Dhyana)
8 Ecstasy (Samadhi)
I say more about these limbs in short order.
One of the outstanding features of Indian spiritual traditions such as yoga is that through the ages their practices have adapted to meet the changing requirements of an evolving society. Ashtanga Yoga is no different, and in the past few millennia it has taken many forms. For example, a fairly recent form, only about one thousand years old, is Hatha Yoga, a Tantric yoga that focuses on the body and proper execution of elaborate techniques. One of Hatha Yoga’s defining texts, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, calls the practice a “ladder” for those who want to reclaim the heights of Ashtanga Yoga.2
Another school or mode of Ashtanga Yoga is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga — the practice that is the subject of this book. Today this school is often called simply Ashtanga Yoga. This abbreviated form of the name is a bit confusing because it could refer to either Ashtanga Yoga as a whole or the subdivision that is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. The term Ashtanga Yoga is now universally accepted, and that’s the one I use in this book. The reader will have to judge from context whether Ashtanga refers to the general mantle of Patanjali’s yoga or the specific discipline of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was founded by the seer Vamana, who according to my Indian preceptors lived four thousand years ago. During that period, cities in India were growing rapidly, and as a result the people felt increasing demands on their time.3 The society needed a practice that encompassed all the elements of Patanjali’s original yoga but took up less time. Rishi Vamana fulfilled this need by introducing the concept of vinyasa in his text Yoga Korunta.
In vinyasa, postures (asanas, the third limb) are combined with internal muscular contractions (bandhas) and breath control or extension (pranayama, the fourth limb) to form what are called “seals” (mudras). The postures are performed in particular sequences and further combined with focal points (drishtis) for the eyes. These modifications “turbo-charge” the postures. When practiced correctly with the fifth and sixth limbs (pratyahara, the sense withdrawal technique, and dharana, the concentration technique that involves listening to the breath), the postures lead to a meditative state (dhyana, the seventh limb). Over time the regular practice of these integrated limbs purifies the mind and body and eventually leads to ecstasy (samadhi, the eighth limb).
The following section presents an overview of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga; a more detailed exploration appears in chapter 1.
The Eight Limbs
Patanjali had achieved the state of samadhi, which refers to an experience of oceanic or divine ecstasy. Today the term ecstasy often connotes a drug-induced state of euphoria or the peak of sexual pleasure, but there is a passage in the scriptures wherein samadhi is said to have about a trillion times the intensity of sexual pleasure.4 In other words, it is far beyond anything you can imagine in normal experience. Because he existed continually in this state of absolute freedom, Patanjali described a path that could lead all of us to it. He asked himself, Which state immediately precedes divine ecstasy? The answer was meditation (dhyana). Samadhi is our true nature, but we cannot receive it if our minds are too busy to listen, he reasoned; therefore, the path to samadhi lies in quieting the mind, which is accomplished when one achieves the state of relaxed openness that occurs in meditation.
Patanjali then asked himself, Which state immediately precedes dhyana? The answer was concentration (dharana). Concentration is the state that enables one to stay in meditation (or in any other state, for that matter). Many people achieve a spontaneous meditative state for split seconds only. The goal is to perpetuate that state, and that is made possible by dharana.
What does one need for concentration to arise? One needs inward focus (pratyahara), answered Patanjali; concentration is destroyed by outward distractions.
Patanjali then inquired, What state is the prerequisite for inward focus? The answer was easy. Since the mind goes wherever the breath or its subtle equivalent, prana, goes, one needs breath regulation (pranayama) to achieve inward focus.
Which state is necessary for one to practice breath regulation? asked Patanjali finally. Since breath and prana are dispersed in an unhealthy body, and health is produced by the practice of postures, the answer was asana.
Patanjali saw that these six steps had to be placed on a foundation of ethical guidelines governing one’s inner and outer life. On this basis he stipulated the first two limbs, the restraints (yamas) and observances (niyamas). Without these limbs as the foundation for the others, all the benefit accrued by practicing the other six limbs would likely be lost.
Although Patanjali conceived of the eight limbs from the top down, we must practice them from the bottom up, starting with the ethical precepts of yama and niyama.
The Russian-Doll Model of the Eight Limbs
Patanjali