It's been almost a year since I started my first Ashtanga class. I'm not someone who "likes routine", but I'm probably someone who "benefits from routine" or even "needs routine". My husband gave me a two month (ha!) membership to a big yoga chain for my birthday last November. I tried a few different classes, and I was intrigued by Ashtana. I had been for a while. I loved yoga, and I always had a tendency towards self-practice. I especially loved Forrest yoga, and Ana Forrest's 5-day intensive, but I often tired of listening to a teacher's ques and enjoyed trying to construct my own sequences. The problem was, these were often hap hazard, and often led me to engage in much more "theory" than "practice", spending time to review different sequences and try to choose something to do rather than just getting on with it already. So, in my two-month trial, I fell into my old familiar patterns of becoming frustrated and restless listening to someone guide by through the asanas. I was also feeling frustrated trying to find a class that was right for my level -- I felt a need to end every class with some fairly strong backbends and inversions like urdhva dhanurasana and headstand, and I wasn't getting this from the level 1/2 or even the level 2 classes, but I wasn't sure my flexibility and stamina were sufficient for me to try higher level classes, plus they didn't fit as well with my schedule and need to get into work relatively early. I knew that if I tried Ashtanga, soon enough, I'd be doing UD and headstand at the close of every class, but still I was intimidated. Ashtanga is also often referred to as an "athletic" and "demanding" style. But I noticed that the studio's regular Ashtanga teacher was out of town, studying in Mysore for several months, and a teacher I had previously loved and connected with (with a background in Forrest Yoga) was up on the Ashtanga sub schedule. So I went, and that teacher compassionately taught me the the sun salutations, first six fundamental standing postures, and the three final lotus positions.
The first thing that struck me was how intense that initial ~25 minute practice felt, and how I felt as though I had done more to open and work my body than I had in any of the 90-ish minute "level 1/2 or level 2" vinyasa classes I had been taking before. I also immediately connected to the self-practice in a group environment aspect of Ashtanga. While I occasionally love flowery metaphors to help me deepen my understanding of a particular asana, for most of my practice I prefer the sounds of Ashtanga. First, you hear your own breath, then you hear the breath of your fellow practitioners, and finally, you occasionally hear specific instruction from your teacher. I think it's hard to overstate just how much this aspect of the practice separates Ashtanga from all other "led" styles of yoga asana. I also noticed how Ashtanga seemed to be a great equalizer. The nature of the Ashtanga method is to give each student enough of the sequence(s) that they are pushed just beyond their abilities. I found this immediately diminished my initial intimidation, and made the Mysore room feel incredibly welcoming. So, after the first 10 months of my Ashtanga practice, here's my list of reasons to consider Ashtanga:
(1) You're interested in developing a self-practice. To me this is huge, and why I now consider Ashtanga to be the most generous form of yoga asana. It's very easy to practice other styles for years and still be at a loss as to what to do once you roll your mat at home. Starting with your first Ashtanga class, you have not only the permission, but also the expectation, of being able to practice on your own. Your personal practice may initially be only surya namaskar A&B, plus the three finishing lotus postures, but from your first Ashtanga class, that ~20 minute practice (it will grow with time) is yours. Your teacher does not ask that you rely on his or her voice to guide you through the asana, in fact, he/she will expect you to be able to independently guide yourself though the series. I'll freely admit that there is potentially much to criticize about having a rigid, fixed, series, and I promise that this is something I'll explore in this blog, but fostering independence rather that dependence in students of yoga is enormously beneficial, and something Ashtanga does much better than most schools.
(2) You're interested in an incredibly efficient style of yoga. As I go through my Ashtanga practice, and learn more postures, one word that keeps coming to mind is that Ashtanga is incredibly "efficient". By that I mean that even at a purely physical level, compared to many other styles of yoga I have encountered, the Ashtanga asanas simply get more done in less time. For example, janu sirsasana A-C all work the hamstring in the extended leg, open the hip joint of the bent leg, and develop core strength. The marichyasanas are all similarly "efficient" -- for example, in B&D, you're opening both hips simultaneously, but in completely different ways. Perhaps my favorite example so far (currently I'm practicing up though ubhaya padangushtasana of primary) is garbha pindasana. Coming out of the intense forward fold of supta kurmasana, it's wonderful to have the ability to release the back muscles by rolling on the back. Other styles might have you bring the knees to the chest and roll back and forth a bit at this point. Not Ashtanga. Ashtanga inserts a pose that, yes, does allow you to release the back muscles through a kind of rolling massage, but also demands incredible strength, flexibility, and ability to control and specifically use your strength as you put your legs in lotus, side your arms through the lotus, use your bandas to roll 360 degrees in this bound position, and roll back up into kukkutasana. No doubt, this "efficiency" is part of what makes Ashtanga so physically demanding. As far as I can tell, the primary series that you begin to learn from day one is a sequence that can remain interesting and challenging throughout a lifetime of practice.
(3) You're interested in asana as a form of, or gateway to, meditation. One of the most surprising things to me about practicing Ashtanga was how much less boring I found practicing the set sequence compared to how I felt practicing a led class in other styles. I realized how much the uncertainty of a typical led class caused me to be in my head, "How long are we going to hold this pose?" "Ugh, how are we only 20 minutes into the class?" "When are we going to get to the good poses?" With Ashtanga, I find it much easy to let go of all of these questions (I know -- not only in my mind, but also in my body from doing the sequence so many times -- all of these questions). I find this really helps me to get out of my head and achieve that elusive "flow" state in which I'm not very aware of the passing of time, which is at best, a form of meditation and at the very least, excellent preparation for meditation.
