Jois: Astanga Guru
My yoga practice up to now has been very classical. When I seriously started practising yoga over 10 years ago, I did astanga yoga, mysore style. This basically means you learn the set number of moves in a sequence (called the primary series) and when you come to class, you do the moves by yourself. The teacher walks round and corrects you. I really got into this style – it’s very challenging physically because you only hold a posture for 5 breaths, and then you have to do a ‘viniyasa’ in between seating postures. A viniyasa is a sequence of moves, rather like a mini sun salutation and makes sure you stay warm.
I was also always trying to push myself, trying to improve my postures. Also because you are doing the practice by yourself, I think it becomes more meditative: you can really go inwards.
I did this mysore type of yoga practice in London and Florence, Italy. I live in Bournemouth now, and it’s pretty impossible to find a traditional mysore class here. The classes are tough and, if you do the complete primary series, like I was used to doing, nearly 2 hours long. Most people don’t want to do this: the classes are too long, and they get bored by doing the same postures in the same sequence each week.
The astanga classes I do now are truncated versions of my former ones, we never do the complete series, and we don’t do as many viniyasas (classically you should do one for for each side of a posture, rather than between each posture, as I do now). I totally understand why the teachers here do this, but there is something really beautiful and meditative about doing the complete primary series. You feel different at the end of the class after going through all the moves. Also the complete primary series improves concentration and stamina when practised regularly.