Krishnamacharya's Pre-Jois Mysore 'Ashtanga' Primary Group Practice.

Just as I no longer wish to have a photo of Pattabhi Jois in my practice room I find that I no longer wish to practice my Ashtanga as Pattabhi Jois presented it. And yet Jois' presentation of Ashtanga is the practice I started with, how I  practiced for a decade, it's a practice I always seemed to gravitate back towards.

Help is at hand.

Below is a photo representation of Krishnamacharya's Primary group asana, based on the asana table in his second book Yogasanagalu (Mysore 1941).


Krishnamacharya doesn't seem to have been in favour of a fixed sequence, however there does seem to be an internal logic to how the asana were actually listed, unlike the middle group which strikes me as supplemental and the proficient group which strikes me as asana thrown down as and when Krishnamacharya was reminded of them, .

I've been practicing Krishnamacharya's Primary group as a fixed series, it works, it's a joy to practice and doesn't come with Jois' baggage.

Best of all we don't need to argue for taking a flexible approach, Krishnamacharya always seems to have taken a flexible approach. In his texts we find option after option, chin, face or head down in forward folds, kumbhaka options. We can choose to practice full vinyasa, half vinyasa or a mixture of the two. pranayama and a meditative practice are strongly recommended, yama/niyama, a code of behaviour, is a prerequisite rather than something that we may or may not get around to later.

In my own practice of the 'sequence' below (basically made up of Primary group asana and Vinyasa krama subroutines) I tend to warm up with some of Simon Borg-Olivier's Spinal movements. I tend to follow Krishnamacharya's instruction for the asana but also tend to use Simon Borg-Olivier as a guide to how I approach the asana I practice (see his 84 Key asana video course). In the inversions I tend to bring in a couple of the vinyasas we see Krishnamacharya perform in his 1938 demo footage, just for fun.

These days I also tend to take Simon's approach to pranayama, my yama/niyama and meditative practice tends to be guided by the Stoics.

This is not a new sequence, it's not MY sequence or methodology, there is no 'authority' here but rather, merely, a going back to Krishnamacharya's own Mysore texts.

The photos below mostly come from around 2009, they are merely a guide, a visual representation of Krishnamacharya's table of asana that I made up years ago for the Yogasanagalu translation project. I tend to practice many of these asana slightly differently these days. Practice them yourself, if at all, in the manner that feels most appropriate to you, introduce variations perhaps that lead you gently towards an asana seen here or skip the asana altogether,  again I refer you to Simon Borg-Olivier's excellent online courses that help us, I believe, to practice more safely.

Alternatively, swim, go for a walk, breathe calmly, stare at a lake or at the stars or a painting that moves you, take a moment or better still a series of moments then do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next.

followed by

SAVASANA

Note: in the final page above, Finishing, I've added in Sirsasana (headstand) from Krishnamacharya's 'middle' group table. Sarvangasana (shoulderstand) is a pratkriya (counterpose) to sirsasana for Krishnamachraya. 

See this post for the actual table of asana from Yogasanagalu.

https://grimmly2007.blogspot.com/2012/05/complete-asana-table-from.html

Curiously, the realisation that I don't necessarily need to 'give up' Ashtanga altogether in response to Jois' abuse, but can instead discard Jois altogether and go back to his teacher, Krishnamacharya's own table of asana for a relatively fixed and familiar sequence for practice, has started to feel somewhat like closure, as if I can finally 'let go' of the fixed and established idea of what should constitute a practice, how a practice should look and reach beyond, to new possibilities for practice.

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APPENDIX 1.

Middle Group

Krishnamacharya ‘s Middle group asana in the order he listed them in his Yogasanagula (Mysore 1941) Table of asana. Plus Standing and Finishing. See my post from a couple of days ago for the Primary group. Krishnamachraya doesn’t seem to have favoured fixed sequences. However, while I think it’s possible and even perhaps logical to practice Krishnamachray’s Standing Primary and Finishing list of asana as listed a sequence, and I now do (to disassociate myself from Jois entirely by reaching back before Jois), I’m not so sure that goes for the Middle group. I no longer bother practicing most of these so somebody else might like to give it a try and report back. It’s probably better to practice half the Primary group and then slip some of these asana and subroutines in to our regular practice.

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APPENDIX 2.

Proficient group

NOTE: We can see from the 1938 demonstration by Iyengar that krishnamacharya was teaching many more proficient/advanced asana than are included on the list.

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APPENDIX 3

Yogasanagalu Asana table

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Notes

Kumbhaka

Antah kumbhaka (purakha kumbhaka) = retention of the breath after inhalation

Bahya kumbhaka (recaka kumbhaka) = retention of the breath after exhalation

Ubhya kumbhaka = retention of the breath after both inhalation and exhalation

*In the Primary group above kumbhaka is indicated explicitly in only three postures, baddha padmasana, uttanasana and sethubandasana. In the earlier Yoga Makaranda (1934) however, kumbhaka is indicated other primary postures. This may be that while learning the Primary asana we may forgo kumbhaka in most of the primary postures until gaining familiarity and a degree of proficiency with those asana when we would then begin to work in the kumbhaka. this may be made clearer as the translation continues.

Kumbhaka (mentioned explicitly) in the Yoga Makaranda Primary asana

Tadasana (here implies samasthiti )- purakha kumbhaka

Uttanasana -purakha kumbhaka (we can perhaps presume that all the uttanasana variations would also include antha kumbhaka EG. padahastasana, parsvauttanasa

na, prasaritapadauttanasana.

Ardha baddha padma uttanasana - recaka kumbhaka

Urdhavamukhssvanasana - puraka kumbhaka

Adhomukhssvandasana - recaka kumbhaka

Paschimottanasana - purkha kumbhaka (recaka kumbhaka implied ?)

janusirsasana - purka kumbhaka & Rechaka kumbhaka

Upavistakonasana "recaka kumbhaka is the central principle for this posture"

badhakonasana - recaka kumbhaka

Suptapaddangusthasana- recaka kumbhaka

utthitahastapadangusthasana - recaka kumbhaka

Bhujapidasana - recaka kumbhaka

marichiyasana - recaka kumbhaka ?

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APPENDIX 4

Krishnamacharya Mysore Inversions

As well as the 1941 table of asana and the additional proficient/advanced asana we can see BKS Iyenga demonstrating in the 1938 documentary footage of Krishnamacharya, his family and students, we can also see these Inversion variations in the 1938 documentary footage. These are very similar to those Krishnamacharya taught to his later student, of thirty years Srivatsa Ramaswami, and show, I believe, a consistency in Krishnamacharya's teaching. Krishnamacharya may well have been teaching a dynamic practice to the boys of the palace but he also appears to have been teaching endless variations as well as a slower, mudra like, practice (as can be seen from the kumbhaka focus in Yoga Makaranda Mysore 1934) perhaps to his private students in the side rooms of the palace.

NOTE:

This blog no longer seems to share on fb. If you do wish to share it (and feel free) then the same post can be shared from my other blog

https://krishanamcharysaoriginalashtanga.blogspot.com/2019/01/krishnamacharyas-pre-jois-mysore.html

Re the young girl in Kurmasana in Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda and in my Krishnamacharya's 'Original' Ashtanga poster

This post started as a fb comment

"There seems to be a young girl in the poster"

from Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (Mysore 1934)

In response to a comment/question. Re the girl in Kurmasana in my Krishnamacharya's Original Ashtanga poster

Downloadable pdf version - higher resolution

https://drive.google.com/uc?id=0B7JXC_g3qGlWMUswSnFIRFFKSm8&export=download

In Krishnamacharya's first book,Yoga Makaranda, along with his own demonstrations of Primary postures, he includes some pictures of mostly more advanced postures demonstrated by his students or family (the girl in Kurmasana is I believe one of his daughters, I'm assuming the eldest, Srimathi Pundarikavalli). 

Krishnamacharya seems to have taught groups of postures (Primary, Middle, Advanced) rather than fixed series but I wanted to bring together those Primary postures he gave instructions for to give an idea of how Krishnamacharya might have taught the postures that make up the first Ashtanga series. In truth my aim was to use this poster as a hook to encourage other practitioners to take a closer look at Pattabhi Jois' teacher's instruction/guidelines/options, the longer breathing, longer stays, the kumbhaka he indicates in most postures and how he takes a more flexible approach to asana practice In general. 

Yoga Makaranda was written in 1934 when Pattabhi Jois was still Krishnamacharya's student. Here's the link to my original post telling the story of the poster.

http://grimmly2007.blogspot.jp/2013/12/new-poster-krishnamacharyas-yoga.html

"The first thing to say about it is that this is NOT the order the asana are found in Krishnamacharya's 1934 book Yoga Makaranda.... but not far off".

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"Sri T. Krishnamacharya had six children, three sons and three daughters. His wife, Srimathi Namagiriammal as well as his children were taught by him" Sri Shribashyam

"He (Krishnamacharya)  was married (in 1925 to BKS Iyengar’s sister Namagririammal) and had six children, sons TK Srinivasan, TKV Desikachar, TK Sribhashyam and daughters Srimathi Pundarikavalli, Srimathi T Alamelu Sheshadri and Srimathi Shubha Mohan Kumar. 

from Paul Harvey's excellent Center for Yoga Studies

Krishnamacharya invited his wife and daughters to join him in demonstrating asana for the 1938 Mysore film footage.

NB: It 's been suggested that Krishnamacharya refused to teach woman until Indra Devi used her influence with the Maharaja of Mysore in 1938 to persuade him to teach her. Given that Krishnamacharya was quite happy to teach his wife and daughters asana to a proficient level, it seems more likely that Krsihnamacharya was unsure of Indra Devi's seriousness regarding Yoga. 

"The woman, who became known as Indra Devi (she was born Zhenia Labunskaia, in pre-Soviet Latvia), was a friend of the Mysore royal family. After seeing one of Krishnamacharya’s demonstrations, she asked for instruction. At first, Krishnamacharya refused to teach her. He told her that his school accepted neither foreigners nor women. But Devi persisted, persuading the Maharaja to prevail on his Brahmin. Reluctantly, Krishnamacharya started her lessons, subjecting her to strict dietary guidelines and a difficult schedule aimed at breaking her resolve. She met every challenge Krishnamacharya imposed, eventually becoming his good friend as well as an exemplary pupil.

After a year-long apprenticeship, Krishnamacharya instructed Devi to become a yoga teacher. He asked her to bring a notebook, then spent several days dictating lessons on yoga instruction, diet, and pranayama. Drawing from this teaching, Devi eventually wrote the first best-selling book on hatha yoga, Forever Young, Forever Healthy". FERNANDO PAGÉS RUIZ  Yoga Journal

Kurmasana 

(Krishnamacharya's instruction for Kurmasana from Yoga Makaranda)

This has 16 vinyasas. The 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th vinyasas demonstrate the sampurna sthiti of the asana. Only the 7th vinyasa is shown in the picture.
Benefit: The apana vayu is cleaned; nocturnal discharges are stopped. This is also a very good method for curing piles.

If women with irregular menstruation practise this asana with all the vinyasas for a few months, this affliction of the uterus and of menstrual disturbance will dissolve and they will have regular menstruation.

Important Rule: The practitioners of kurmasana must not practise it within 3 hours of eating. It must not be done on a full stomach.

poster from my book Krishnamacharya's original Ashtanga yoga
http://tinyurl.com/qa45jgl

Yogasanagalu's (1941) 'Original' Ashtanga Primary Group/Series in Yoga Makaranda (1934)

It was more difficult than expected for me to see the origins of modern Ashtanga in Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda (1934), many of the postures were there but in no familiar order and then of course there was the breath retention, the occasional longer stay in a posture, the deep engagement of bandhas.

The table in Yogasanagalu however may well be the key to opening it up.

Turning the table in Yogasanagalu into a picture sequence for practice allowed us to see how close the Primary group was to the Ashtanga Primary series we have now. Perhaps though it was the little differences that made the Yoga Makaranda startle me this morning, there it was the primary sequence, like one of those holographic pictures where you have to make your eyes go half cross eyed to see the image.

Here are the pictures of Krishnamacharya demonstrating asana in Yoga Makaranda ( the second half of the pictures, mostly of a young lad performing Advanced postures from the proficient group we'll put to one side for now).

Krishnamacharya in Yoga Makaranda (1934)

As Rolf Harris ( who I bump into all the time in my local supermarket )used to say, "can you see what it is yet?"

How about if I trim out some of vinyasa krama variations,  shift the paschimattanasana to the curious position in the middle of standing, move the Marichiyasana's up a bit as well as the standing konasana postures ( didn't Nancy say recently that they used to be taught at the end of Primary to beginners and then shifted back to their rightful place as the beginner became more proficient?).

What we end up with is....

Primary group/series in yoga makaranda (1934)

Which is pretty much....

Bit of a stretch, am I forcing it a little? perhaps, but either way it's good to know that almost all of the postures in the Yogasangalu Primary group and the approach to practicing them are described in the Yoga Makranda, as well as many of the several of the middle and proficient group. 

Something to be going on with while we look forward to more from the Yogasanagalu.

And a question. 

If the Primary group (series?) and more importantly the approach to the asana's and practice in general that we find in Yogasanagalu in 1941 can be seen in a core group of postures and approach in Yoga Makaranda (1934) (although we hear that in practice Krishnamacharya would adapt and improvise, creating new options to assist his students) perhaps this core practice hadn't changed that much in the seven years previous either which is when Krishnamacharya arrived in Mysore. Is this what he brought with him from that cave in the Himalayas, an approach to practice and a framework to hang it on?