Unlocking the Power of Ashtanga Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga Practices and Poses

By Dennis Bluthardt, Namaste Studios

Yoga can be so many things. It’s a physical practice that can range anywhere from something as refreshing as yin yoga to something as intense as Ashtanga or power yoga. It is also mindfulness practice, both on and off the mat. For the most part, each yoga class or video you do will incorporate some aspect of mindfulness and breath, regardless of the style.

Ashtanga yoga is one of the many styles of yoga and is known more specifically for its structured approach to yoga practice and its specific series or sequences. This style of yoga not only enhances one’s flexibility, muscular strength, or movement but deepens the connection between movement and breath.

The style of Ashtanga yoga, developed by K. Pattabhi Jois, has a specific series (typically performed in a particular order) that you study, practice, and master with the breath, leading the movements from one posture to the next.

This style of yoga class is typically very fast-paced, requires a lot of movement, and, as previously noted, requires completing the previous series before moving on to the next. For convenience and investigative reference, just the primary series includes:

Eka Pada Sirsasana

Dwikon asana

Chakorasana

Bhujapidasana A

Yoganidrasana

I’ll let the reader look those up; I won’t even include images out of fear that I’ll re-injure an old shoulder and critical hip injury in just doing so.

This sort of yoga class will typically last an hour to an hour and a half due to the amount of asana and sequences incorporated into the primary series, not to mention how long it takes to do each asana for timing (i.e., five breaths).

With this in mind, it is essential to note that the sequences listed below are considered the ideal form of the sequence and the poses within it. While they are defined as perfect, they might not be suitable for somebody who has never performed or has little experience performing asana in this sequence.

The Structure of Ashtanga Yoga

The eight limbs of Ashtanga, as Yogi Patanjali penned in what are today called the Yoga Sutras, are a profound map for humans wishing to develop their higher spiritual faculties and physical capacities. The multiples of eight, Ashta (=8) –anga (=limb) flows are:

Yama = Ethical disciplines Niyama = Individual (personal) observances Asana = Postures Pranayama = Breath control Pratyahara = Withdrawal of the senses Dharana = Concentration Dhyana = Meditation Samadhi = Absorption

This dynamic form of yoga has a standard structure and emphasizes many limbs. Still, it is known for its heavy inclusion of asana (postural, i.e., 3rd limb) and pranayama (4th limb, breath control) in the outward-facing parts of our practice. This well-rounded combination makes for a highly effective, holistic yoga practice.

The Primary Series (known as Yoga Chikitsa [yoga therapy]) is the classical foundational series for all students of Ashtanga and is a sequence repeated to build a consistent ability to detoxify the body, strength, flexibility, endurance, and alignment. Students of this series are those who’ve just come to yoga/Ashtanga or those desiring yoga as a physical therapy modality that supports their overall, constitutionally anchored health.

The Intermediate Series, or Nadi Shodhana (nerve cleansing), is intended to follow the Primary Series after a student has developed a consistent physical practice and consistency in the more subtle underpinnings of yoga. This practice continues to cleanse and open our energy channels, the channels up and down our body (front, back, and side channels running down the torso of the body and up and down the arms and legs). As these channels are cleansed or opened, the impurities causing blockages in our channels can come to the surface and out of the body, and our subtle energy body continues its therapeutic rebalancing. The students of this series have typically developed a good rapport with the concepts taught in the Primary Series. He desires to open his channels a little more and get past his newer blockages. Physically, the Intermediate Series includes postures and sequences (and the pranayama and philosophical or psychological building/cleansing techniques) necessary to open these channels in just these ways.

The Advanced Series is for those who’ve gone beyond either the need to participate in these preliminary practices or for those students who are masochistic enough to want an extreme practice routine. As is evident by now, it is not true that one has to be an advanced student to participate in a practice known as the Advanced Series. Still, many who come to this practice treat it as a badge of honor and love the sheer strength, balance, and grace this series gives us advanced students to develop further.

Essential Yoga Poses in Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga yoga is a form of exercise that focuses on strength and resilience. The different stances and positions test both your physical might and mental fortitude. Some of the key asana connections that you can expect to make throughout the practice include:

Surya Namaskar: Also known as Sun Salutations, this fluid sequence of movements is a great way to work on your flexibility. The awakening series typically serves as a warm-up before launching into the other poses (asanas). Sun Salutations are a whole-body workout in and of themselves. The connection to your breath with the smooth dance-like series helps you find your concentration, which carries throughout the rest of the practice. 

Savasana or Shavasana: The traditional final resting pose of Savasana, more commonly known as Corpse Pose, helps to calm the brain and helps relieve stress. Practicing Savasana while meditating lets you fully relax and surrender to the earth. After going through a physical Ashtanga journey, adding this mental break allows for better clarity and centeredness before going on with the rest of your day.

Trikonasana: Triangle Pose helps stretch the hips, groins, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, chest, and spine. It also helps relieve stress and anxiety. When getting into and moving out of a pose can be quite challenging, Trikonasana helps bring you back down to earth and gives you a bit of stabilization in the practice. It is important to find your breath in stillness and use that to move on to the next asana.

Paschimottanasana: Seated Forward Bend stretches the spine, shoulders, and hamstrings. It stimulates the liver, kidneys, ovaries, and uterus. Many beneficial postures are obtained in a seated position, giving you mental balance, calming the brain, and helping to relieve stress and mild depression.

What is Ashtanga Yoga?

Ashtanga Yoga, a popular style of yoga of the 20th century, is a dynamics- and exceptional-structured form. The founder who popularized it was Shri K. Pattabhi Jois (July 26, 1915, onwards). Jois lived in India when his Gurudeva, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, taught him this excellent yoga technique. The term “Ashtanga” means eight limbs and is based on the “eight-limbed” Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

It was around the 1930s that Guruji, the term for Jois — which means “Master” or “Teacher” in his native language — learned the principles, techniques, and “asanas” — or in English, “poses” or “postures” — from Krishnamacharya, who was widely known as one of the greatest yoga masters to have ever lived. Through these same original vinyasa lessons, Jois established his strict and altered version of the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute, known today as the K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute. It’s simply Ashtanga Yoga in practice.

Not every style of yoga is identical, of course — quite a few poses are very similar. However, those same poses, you know, still move with names in Ashtanga, even if they’re not necessarily unique to Ashtanga on their own. Ashtanga sequences require constant concentration to build and sustain heat throughout the duration. Each pose gives extra benefits, and you perform an exact number of postures together as a series. That series goes in order, and you practice each posture. The sequences are all comprised of the appropriate asanas.

ASHTANGA AND VINYASA

Vinyasa is a type of yoga meant to be learned and adapted to the individual, as declared by Krishnamacharya. It’s a yoga method “with breath, movement, and observation.” In other words, don’t describe modern-day Vinyasa as something mystical or if it’s a historical yoga secret. It’s a practical benefit that warmth allows the body to perform flowing asanas more easily. Even at 29 and fit, I come across people around 60 and in better shape. When you enter Child’s pose, you focus on breathing and doing what Vinyasa should do. The signs you are practicing Vinyasa and Ashtanga Yoga, such as sweating, panting, and sports-related gear, should become familiar.

Incorporating Ashtanga Yoga into Your Routine

You can try different instructors and decide which one you like the best before fully committing.

However, apart from setting up a home practice, there should be other practices you do. Sure, many sequence tutorials are available for free on YouTube, but if you look forward to doing more yoga at home, consider something more advanced. There are many yoga apps available for both Android and iOS that give you a step-by-step guide to a class, designed at your pace for beginners.

Another common challenge is discourse in the body. When you motivate yourself to do more yoga and come up excitedly to your mat, ready to crush a class, it’s demotivating to encounter a physical form of limitation. If you look at others and see slim shapes in front of you with much freedom of movement, don’t be disheartened and negative. Set a stable goal that you can follow up on your own. Initially, this will be a simple schedule, setting specific days for a short period, but take it as progress. One of the most beneficial fundamental skills is the ability to set goals, so don’t be hasty. Can you take this time to practice self-compassion?

Ashtanga Yoga is a dynamic and very structured type of yoga practice that focuses on a set sequence of poses, breath control, and a mindfulness meditation method during practice. It is an ancient yoga system designed to train both the mind and body in equal aspects to bring about greater strength, flexibility, and mental clarity. Its signature practice method links one’s breath to one’s movement, allowing practitioners to reach peak physical fitness and bring about a sense of tranquility and mental clarity synonymous with “performing” yoga.

Proponents of this yoga discipline say it allows people to get into their practice more and understand the full benefits of each pose over time. In addition, it’s much easier for practitioners to get into the habit of daily practice when performing sequences in the same order.

Taking a class assures that you can ask your instructor questions as you go along. If you have never performed this type of yoga before, getting a feel for the general tempo, learning how to breathe, and getting your body’s alignment right in the workout will be more easily accomplished when you have an instructor there to offer guidance.

They say the best way to start is to start. The good news is the Ashtanga Yoga Primary Series is sufficient for practice and proficiency. If you are interested in mastering this type of yoga or furthering your practice in any way, start here. Many find this method excellent because it is easy to see progress with steady practice. However, if Sun-Salutation splits never leave you looking forward to your practice, the first step is finding a system you relate to.

Logically, finding something you can do continuously over the long term makes sense. It is essential to find balance in the body!