Ashtanga Yoga - Practice to Purify!

Hi Students! As a part of our blog series, I wanted to share a brief perspective into the deeper workings of Ashtanga Yoga, which helps us understand the benefits of keeping our practice - and serves as a reminder to persevere :)

Our daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga is one for purification. Through the Eight Limbs

(Asht-Anga) - we purify the mind, body, and soul. The Eight Limbs begin with Yama and Niyama, which are guidelines to conduct your own life and relations with more ease. Then the consecutive practices of Asana, Pranayama, and Pratyahara are added to prepare your body, energy, and mind.

Thus through the Ashtanga Yoga path, a practitioner cultivates a healthy body, a clear mind, and a deep state of inner peace.

How do we learn about and practice Ashtanga Yoga?

At our shala, a great way to begin is through our Mysore Style Classes. Through the Mysore-Style guidance and Mysore sequences, we build your daily practice and your long-term, personalized Ashtanga yoga journey. For online students, we progress each Student through our Monthly Foundation Flow Cohorts.

How does this work?

Let's start with the most known and practiced limb of Ashtanga Yoga: Asana.

In each asana, we engage your mind, body, and presence through our gaze point ("drishti"), alignment, and breath respectively. You will naturally feel mentally and physically lighter after each asana.

The daily practice of Ashtanga Yoga purifies your thoughts, organs, cells, and even your doubts/fears/inner obstacles that weigh on the heart.

With consistency:

• The mind is free of tension and accumulated thoughts/old data

• The body becomes balanced and health is cultivated

• The heart is gradually and consistently purified of grief, jealousy, fear, doubts, hatred and all inner obstacles ("antarayas")

• Energy ("prana") is not easily drained throughout the day or in different stages of life

• Your intuition ("bhuddi") and self-confidence is strengthened

• Cultivate the ability to remain relatively steadfast despite the constant curveballs and waves that may come in your life

• The practice opens a meditative and introspective dimension in your life- therefore one's life purpose becomes clear

• Connect with a universal energy, one that is far greater than each of our own individual existence: Īśvara Pranidhana- Universal Consciousness.

  
  

In later posts we will dive deeper into the Mysore Style Class, Foundation Flows and how to navigate our sequences - the Beginner series, Preparatory series, Foundation series and the Primary series.

For now, please know how accessible your daily practice is to you!

This is a beautiful quote by practitioner and teacher Talia Sutra:

"your practice can be mild, moderate, intense, or somewhere in between these main categories. practice does not have to be intense everyday, and may not even be a visible practice each day.

it just needs to happen everyday, at whatever scale is sincere and true."  - Talia Sutra

Yoga is not an activity, it is a state of awareness that can be carried into every aspect of your life.

The beauty is your journey is in your hands. Keep seeking and staying curious! The depth of yoga is endless, there are deeper layers, contexts, and techniques behind each practice. Practice with sincerity, guidance, and joy!

Ashtanga Yoga originates in yogic texts and scriptures, and its impact is something I experience daily through my own practice. But don't take our word for it - ask questions, practice, and experience for yourself! :)

Sources -

Yoga Sutras by Maharishi Patanjali

Bharatha Yoga - Yogacharya Bharath Sir and Prashanth Sir

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Yoga Pradipika B.K.S. Iyengar

Talia Sutra