{"id":4129,"date":"2014-08-05T21:50:20","date_gmt":"2014-08-06T01:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/?p=4129"},"modified":"2016-10-20T22:13:42","modified_gmt":"2016-10-21T02:13:42","slug":"what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is The Right Way to Practice Ashtanga Yoga?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">If you&#8217;ve gotten deep into Ashtanga, like me, you&#8217;ve figured out by now that there is a lot of question and tension about how to practice the sequence. The practice has changed and evolved over time, and depending on what year your teacher studied in Mysore, there are going to be some differences in the teaching. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">It&#8217;s all very minor. Here are some examples:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The drishti was at the toes, now the nose<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There used to be three forward folds, now there are two<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There were eight breaths in a posture, now 10<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Come to standing during all vinyasas, now it&#8217;s seated to seated<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">These are all very minor changes, and whether you look to your nose or toes, or do three forward folds instead of two, as long as your are practicing the method (breath, bandhas, drishti, and posture), then everyone benefits the same.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Everything changes and evolves over time. A great&nbsp;article explaining this is called &nbsp;<span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ashtangamaui.com\/article_1.html\">Ashtanga As It Was<\/a>&nbsp;&nbsp;<span style=\"color: #000000;\">by Nancy Gilgoff.&nbsp;<\/span><\/span><\/span>&nbsp;She mentions many things that are different such as how Guruji taught her 5 Surya Namaskara A &amp; B to start, but then had her cut them back to three each and keep it that way. There are some postures that he didn&#8217;t teach and at times he had students practicing primary and intermediate series twice a day! This isn&#8217;t a big mystery as you can see that he hasn&#8217;t included some postures in <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0865477515?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=213733&amp;creative=393185&amp;creativeASIN=0865477515&amp;linkCode=shr&amp;tag=theyogmov02-20&amp;qid=1392093595&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=yoga+mala\">Yoga Mala<\/a><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">,<\/span><\/span>&nbsp;and he teaches to come back to Samastitihi (Equal Standing Posture\/Mountain Posture) after all four <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ashtangayoga.info\/practice\/basic-sequence-fundamental-positions\/\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Prasarita Padottanasanas<\/span><\/a><\/span>, which is still how Manju Jois teaches. Also, you can find <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aUgtMaAZzW0\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">YouTube videos of Guruji teaching<\/span><\/a><\/span> Tim Miller, Richard Freeman, Chuck Miller, Maty Ezraty, Eddie Stern&nbsp;some others where he skips <span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ashtangayoga.info\/practice\/basic-sequence-fundamental-positions\/item\/parivritta-parshvakonasana\/\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\">Parivritta Parshvakonasana<\/span><\/a><\/span>,&nbsp;which Nancy also mentions that he thought was a &#8220;crazy posture&#8221;. Some people come up into full handstand in Navasana, but in this video they all barely lift their feet off the ground.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Do-Your-PracticeAnd-All-Is-Coming.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4150\" src=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Do-Your-PracticeAnd-All-Is-Coming-682x1024.png\" alt=\"Do Your PracticeAnd&nbsp;All Is Coming\" width=\"682\" height=\"1024\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Here&#8217;s a small&nbsp;excerpt&nbsp;from Nancy&#8217;s article:&nbsp;<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><span style=\"color: #000080;\">In the seated postures, there were a minimal number of vinyasas. There were no vinyasas between sides. Moreover, there were no vinyasas between variations &#8211; so all of Janu Sirsasana A, B, and C were done together (right side, left side of A, right, left of B, right, left of C), then a vinyasa before Marichyasana. Then all of the Marichyasana variations, A, B, C, and D, were done together, without vinyasas between sides or variations; then a vinyasa before three Navasana. Baddha Konasana, Upavishta Konasana, and Supta Konasana were also grouped together without vinyasas between them. Ubhaya Padangusthasana and Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana were also done together, with no vinyasa between &#8211; we were taught to simply change the hand position after Ubhaya Padangusthasana and go right into Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana.&nbsp;<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">I think it&#8217;s good to know the history of how the practice changed an evolved. I hear a lot of people question why things changed and say, <em>why wouldn&#8217;t we practice it the way Guruji originally taught it?<\/em>&nbsp;I think those questions are good, and I have questioned it all myself, but too much focus on that, especially where it comes to a point of resisting practice is missing the actual point of practice.<\/span><\/p>\n<pre style=\"color: #444444;\">[Tweet \"Do your practice &amp; all is coming...\"]<\/pre>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Who knows exactly why Guruji changed it or why anything in the world changes? Things evolve and usually become more refined over time.<\/strong><\/span> Perhaps he changed things because so many students started flocking to Mysore and he couldn&#8217;t teach individually anymore. Maybe he felt that the majority of people needed to build strength, so he could make sure that happened with the added vinyasas if he wasn&#8217;t able to give so much individual attention. Maybe he was experimenting more in the early days, and as things changed, he was able to refine and evolve the practice? Maybe it&#8217;s something completely beyond my range of thinking!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Yoga-Is-99-Practice.jpg.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-4152\" src=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Yoga-Is-99-Practice.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Yoga Is 99 Practice.jpg\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Yoga-Is-99-Practice.jpg.jpg 500w, https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Yoga-Is-99-Practice.jpg-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Yoga-Is-99-Practice.jpg-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">There are a ton of rumors and theories. <strong>What we do know is that it was one way, and then things changed, and now it&#8217;s a little different. The foundations are all still the same though which is what matters.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Guruji always said to his students, &#8220;Teach how I taught you.&#8221; This means that whoever your teacher is, you might learn the practice a little bit differently than another teacher. It doesn&#8217;t make it wrong, and it&#8217;s disheartening&nbsp;when I come across&nbsp;anger and judgment about this topic in the yoga community. It&#8217;s just karma (cause &amp; effect). Whoever your teacher is, I think it&#8217;s important to accept and respect them. If you do not connect, then look for another teacher and try again. <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The only common theme is that you commit to the method<\/strong><\/span>. <span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The practice works the same once you make the decision to commit.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along-.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-4148\" src=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along-.png\" alt=\"Can't We All Just Get Along---\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along-.png 500w, https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along--150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/Cant-We-All-Just-Get-Along--300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/love-monica.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1589\" src=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/10\/love-monica.jpg\" alt=\"love monica\" width=\"100\" height=\"109\"><\/a><\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you&#8217;ve gotten deep into Ashtanga, like me, you&#8217;ve figured out by now that there is a lot of question and tension about how to practice the sequence. The practice has changed and evolved over time, and depending on what year your teacher studied in Mysore, there are going to be some differences in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[288],"tags":[52],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.9.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you&#8217;ve gotten deep into Ashtanga, like me, you&#8217;ve figured out by now that there is a lot of question and tension about how to practice the sequence. The practice has changed and evolved over time, and depending on what year your teacher studied in Mysore, there are going to be some differences in the [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Yogi Movement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theyogimovement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheYogiMovement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-08-06T01:50:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-10-21T02:13:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/What-Is-The-Correct-Way-To-Practice.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Monica Stone-Thompson\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theyogimovement\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@theyogimovement\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Monica Stone-Thompson\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/\",\"name\":\"Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-08-06T01:50:20+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-10-21T02:13:42+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/288aa04c91a31867c26f5c329f215a28\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What Is The Right Way to Practice Ashtanga Yoga?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Yogi Movement\",\"description\":\"Yoga, Meditation, and Healthy Habits for Busy Professionals\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/288aa04c91a31867c26f5c329f215a28\",\"name\":\"Monica Stone-Thompson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yoga-headshot-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yoga-headshot-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Monica Stone-Thompson\"},\"description\":\"Monica is a lover of all things yoga, a pescatarian, an avid coffee drinker, and never gets sick of soup and noodle dishes. She practices yoga daily, and is a creative &amp; marketing recruiter in Orlando, FL. She likes to challenge the strict rules of yoga, and makes it accessible for everyone - especially people who suffer from daily life and work stress.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheYogiMovement\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/author\/monicadstone-123gmail-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?","og_description":"If you&#8217;ve gotten deep into Ashtanga, like me, you&#8217;ve figured out by now that there is a lot of question and tension about how to practice the sequence. The practice has changed and evolved over time, and depending on what year your teacher studied in Mysore, there are going to be some differences in the [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/","og_site_name":"The Yogi Movement","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/theyogimovement","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheYogiMovement\/","article_published_time":"2014-08-06T01:50:20+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-10-21T02:13:42+00:00","og_image":[{"width":920,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/What-Is-The-Correct-Way-To-Practice.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Monica Stone-Thompson","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@theyogimovement","twitter_site":"@theyogimovement","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Monica Stone-Thompson","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/","url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/","name":"Is There A Correct Way To Practice Yoga?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-08-06T01:50:20+00:00","dateModified":"2016-10-21T02:13:42+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/288aa04c91a31867c26f5c329f215a28"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/what-is-the-right-way-to-practice-ashtanga-yoga\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"What Is The Right Way to Practice Ashtanga Yoga?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/","name":"The Yogi Movement","description":"Yoga, Meditation, and Healthy Habits for Busy Professionals","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/288aa04c91a31867c26f5c329f215a28","name":"Monica Stone-Thompson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yoga-headshot-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/yoga-headshot-150x150.jpg","caption":"Monica Stone-Thompson"},"description":"Monica is a lover of all things yoga, a pescatarian, an avid coffee drinker, and never gets sick of soup and noodle dishes. She practices yoga daily, and is a creative &amp; marketing recruiter in Orlando, FL. She likes to challenge the strict rules of yoga, and makes it accessible for everyone - especially people who suffer from daily life and work stress.","sameAs":["https:\/\/theyogimovement.com","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TheYogiMovement\/"],"url":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/author\/monicadstone-123gmail-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4129"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4174,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4129\/revisions\/4174"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theyogimovement.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}