thisorthatstyle

[Guest guest]

i find that the iyengar 'form' of postures gives

greater stability and awareness, ashtanga more movement

and intensity, combining the structural principles of

iyengar with the locks, breathing, sequencing and flow of

ashtanga gives me much more than keeping them separate,

after 15 years of iyengar only and then another 10 of

ashtanga as a context for it to finally make sense id say

that they are the same elephant mounted from different

sides, but if you jump up over the back and ride with a

leg on both sides the ride is magic & the view

mindblowingly clear, namaste

[Guest guest]

I'd say you are right. That was a wild Wild

elephant metaphor by the way! <br><br>Here's my take --

bear in mind I'm someone with far less amount of

consistent practice than most yoga folks:<br><br>I agree

that Iyengar and astanga styles wonderfully complement

each other. However, having seen many different

teachers and practitioners of both styles I've come to

some conclusions about _either_ style of

yoga.<br><br>In general, those that have done astanga for x

amount of time are at least 3x beyond where they'd be in

Iyengar practice in terms of strength and flexibility.

<br><br>Astanga practice without correct alignment feedback is, 9

times out of 10, a set up for injury.<br><br>Beyond

these two points, the beauty of the yoga style in in

the eye of the yogi. <br><br>Lately I've been doing

an Iyengar class once a week. I find it interesting

and very informative, but honestly most of all I find

it a welcome break from the intensity of astanga 1st

series. I'm talking here of a 2 and a half hour level 3-5

Iyengar class. Compared to my usual astanga practice this

class is a cakewalk. <br><br>I don't bring this up as

somekind of macho thing, but it's just my part of my

experience of doing astanga vinyasa.