With the imminent (er, slightly delayed, Amazon!) UK release of Guruji by Guy Donahaye and Eddie Stern it seems fitting to write a post on essential Ashtangi reading. There are loads of books about Ashtanga yoga. For example you may want to know: ‘The correct vinyasa count for Surya Namaskar B’ or ‘who or what is Kurmasana?’ to ‘What does the opening Mantra mean?’. Here is my definitive list (so far). If I’ve left any out I’d love to hear from you.

In my opinion there are only two short books that I regard as essential reading for Ashtangis (These were first suggested to me by Shari Berman and after reading both books I wholeheartedly agree).

• Yoga Mala – By Shri K Pattabhi Jois
• Astanga Yoga – By Lino Miele

For students and teachers

Yoga Mala is Guruji’s book on Ashtanga Yoga originally published in the Kannada language in India back in 1962. It’s written from the source of Ashtanga Yoga and includes essential information on Patanjali’s Ashtanga yoga (8 limbed path). It details the correct vinyasa count and health benefits of each posture in the primary series. It’s interesting to note that there is no sign of Urdhva Dhanurasana at the end of primary series. This must have been included in the practice later.

Yoga Mala is not naturally pallatable to the modern Western reader – for example sexual intercourse for yogis should only be engaged in when the air is moving through chandra nadi. So when one feels air travelling more clearly through the left nostril. There is however a yogic framework for living that the book adheres to and that the Ashtanga practice is very much a part of. This is one of the reasons I think it makes for essential reading. There is more going on than what happens on the mat!

Yoga Mala only covers the primary series which is partly why Lino Miele’s book is such a useful addition. It covers both primary and intermediate series. The great feature of Lino’s hardback is the format of how the vinyasa count and dristi are all so clearly laid out for each asana. It’s super clear – including inhalation, exhalation, sanskrit count for each vinyasa, drsti and number of breaths held in the asana. There is also a really good section on the 5 vayus, pranayama and the chakras. It also includes the closing mangala mantra with translation. (John Scott’s book also includes both opening and closing mantras.)

Recent books on Ashtanga Yoga

Gregor Maehle has also written two great books on Ashtanga Yoga. They’re packed with lots of detail – both anatomical and philosophical. The first book also includes a modern commentary on the Yoga Sutras. Mr Maehle keeps the practice firmly rooted in it’s philosophical tradition and context which I really appreciate.

• Ashtanga Yoga – Practice & Philosophy
• Ashtanga Yoga – The Intermediate Series – Mythology Anatomy and Practice

Ashtanga Practice Manuals

This is an interesting category and although most books on Ashtanga Yoga contain pictures on Asana and instructions on drsti, bandhas, they aren’t designed to have open while you practice. (I’ve never done this myself but I understand that home practitioners would do this while learning the sequence.)

• Ashtanga Yoga – The practice manual – By David Swenson
• Astanga yoga as it is – Matthew Sweeney

Both books are ring bound so you can open them up and have them on the mat next to you. Matthew Sweeney’s book is definitely far more in depth and comprehensive than David’s. The only downside is that in order to incorporate 4 Ashtanga series the pictures are much smaller than in David’s book. But it’s a small trade off to make. You really get a sense of the scale of the practice from Mr Sweeney’s book. He also has an engagingly direct writing style that I enjoyed.

Books for beginners

• Ashtanga Yoga – John Scott
• Ashtanga Yoga – Practice Manual – David Swenson
• Astanga yoga for you – Tara Fraser

I still think that every Ashtanga practitioner should read Yoga Mala. But it’s not entirely accessible to practitioners who are new to yogic concepts and language. In this category I’d included David Swenson’s practice manual (it has good modifications – I’ll write a post on this topic too one day!

John Scott’s book was my first purchase with his primary series DVD and it’s a great introductory guide, with lots of colour photography, it’s also well laid out and very useful. There’s a great section on advanced back bending (or assisted drop backs). His DVD is positively inspiring or depressing depending on your mood.

Finally I’ve included Tara Fraser’s book because while she’s not an Ashtangi she explores the Ashtanga practice in a very approachable clear way. Again the layout is good with lots of tips and variations for beginners.

If you’ve made it this far then you deserve a cup of tea before you hit Amazon and start expanding your library!

Louise and I were chatting about Ashtanga blogs at our Moon day meet-up last night. I went through a phase a few years ago when I was really into reading pretty much anything anyone wrote about Ashtanga Yoga. I think it was also a way of trying to get a better understanding of what I was going through in my practice. The web is an amazing medium for bringing people together, particularly those with niche interests like daily Ashtanga practice.

So here are some fascinating (if you like reading about Ashtanga Yoga practice that is!) blogs from some of my friends from the Twitter Shala. I’ve never met any of these people but feel a strong identification through the shared trials of our daily practice reformatted into blog posts or tweets!

If you read any other Ashtanga blogs please lets have them. Happy reading.

Yoga Mama London

Skippetty Street

Life on and off the mat

Ashtanga yoga Helen

Ashtanga Vinyasa Krama Yoga at home

Donuts Zen Mom

YogiSacrilicious

The journey of my practice

This weekend we visited Hannah’s grandparents for a family birthday. We’d opted to sleep over on a sofa bed. We were both slightly nervous about this as the grandad has a penchant for ancient clocks – some of which chime every 15 minutes and strike on the hour. (You’d be amazed by how much you didn’t know about time keeping.) Fortunately the 6 or 7 clocks were easily disabled for the purpose of sleeping.

Now I don’t have much experience of spending time with people in their 80s due to early deaths and a somewhat dysfunctional family background so spending time with Hannah’s gps is still quite a novel experience and I’m enjoying getting to know them.

There is a real sense with them that they are in their last few years and it got me thinking about my own life and how I would prepare for that which we all face (and I’m not referring to taxes here.)

I guess my lack of experience with older people has left me with a sort of naivety that old equals wise… and if you’ve been on the planet a long time you’re likely to know a lot more than someone who’s been around less. After all that’s the message I got from my parents when I was a child. Respect your elders – because they’ve been through more than you have and are therefore wiser.

I can see that this may be useful, even true, when trying to instill a sense of respectful perspective in a child – when nearly everyone is older than them. Obviously with a little of my own learned perspective I know that older definitely does not equal wiser, yet I couldn’t help but pop out the question on our Sunday walk today “What is important in life?”

There were a few answers but the one that caught in my ears was “Show an interest in others, not just yourself.” Naturally the question was returned to me and my reply was “Yoga”. Now one could quite quickly jump to the conclusion that spending 2 hours a day 6 days a week practicing Yoga in varying states of meditative self absorption could be construed as being a rather self centered thing to do.

In a way I think that it is, but I also think it isn’t. Patanjalim’s Yoga sutra states in the second sloka of the first chapter on Samadhi “Yoga chitta vrtti nirodah” – Yoga is the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. So physical asana practice is not exercise. Of course I know that it is but at the same time it’s not. It’s like calling a raindrop the ocean – both are water.

Daily practice mirrors our lives – each day we are born at dawn with the rising sun, grow, breathe, struggle, fight, love, fear and surrender again and again. The final surrender is our own death which we ritually repeat with Shavasana the corpse pose. We let go of all the triumphs and tribulations of our practice and are absorbed back into true divine nature.

I believe the other great challenge of Yoga or life is how we live off the mat. These equate to the first 2 limbs of the 8 limbs or Ashtanga of Patanjalim’s Yoga Sutra – yama and niyama. In simple terms we apply the yamas and niyamas to ourselves in our asana practice first. Teaching ourselves with the kind persistent training of our physical body and our thoughts. I’m going to end with these wise words by a great Yogi as you probably get my drift and we all have other things to be getting on with!
“Be the change that you want to see in the world” – Mahatma Gandhi.

As you can tell it’s been a rather thought provoking weekend!

Namaste

G

day potluck! Sorry I couldn’t resist the title!

A big thank you to Shari and Elaine for hosting the latest moon day potluck. It was well attended. I counted 14 in total. Jane gets a prize for her chocolate brownies… ooooh! Paul also gets a prize for most “avant garde” dish – cashew dates, dipped in cashew butter and then dipped in cacao powder! Seriously yummy – just don’t inhale as you put it in your mouth as the cacao powder gets caught at the back of your throat, as Shari and I both discovered!

The highlight for me was when Shari and Doug played guitar and sang… I’ve just started learning myself so it was nice that people felt comfortable enough to pick up the guitar and sing too! I must say that I’ve missed our potlucks, hanging out with the gang. It would be really nice to get them going a bit more regularly again!

So do we have any volunteers for the next one? Just let Sarah and Shari know and they’ll surely announce it at class!

There was also talk of getting a group together to go to five rhythms during the week. I’m seriously up for going to that too! Just as long as I can be tucked up in bed early enough for practice the next day!

Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine!

G

This week has been a real struggle to find the time to get onto the mat.

My Mum has been visiting this week which is lovely but it does take up a lot of my energy. I’ve taken time off work to hang out with her and the I thought I’d have had plenty of time to practice. But then I came down with a cold.

As I’ve not been able to get round to my morning practice I’ve done a bit of chanting – (I’m studying The Yoga Sutra and learing to chant it in Sanskrit- which I love) and some pranayama. I’ve also been reading Prem’s book “The only way out is in” which desribes the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga. I’ve been thinking particularly about the 5 Yamas and how I can apply them not only in my practice but also life. (More on these when I’m feeling like writing a longer post!)

It strikes me that I can practice Yoga when I’m not on the mat. But I hope to get back to the mat next week when I’m feelilng better.