Ashtanga lessons from the books

[Guest guest]

Hi everyone,<br><br>I am new to this club, and

new to Ashtanga Yoga too, after three years of

Iyengar practice.<br><br>For now, I do the Flows on my

own, learning mainly from books.<br><br>I use David

Swenson´s "Practice Manual", and have just ordered John

Scott´s new "Ashtanga Yoga" book on Amazon`s German site,

though I haven`t got it yet. <br><br>"Yoga Mala" and

Lino Miele`s "Ashtanga Yoga" are on my target next,

because I want to learn about Full Vinyasa and the

counting system.<br><br>David Swenson`s book is very good

indeed, from a visual point of view also, but he doesn`t

go much into detail here and there, leaving much

space for guessing.<br><br>For one, how do you enter

Vinyasa from Sirsasana? My guess is that you first cross

your ankles after coming down from Headstand, go into

Lolasana, then hop back into Caturanga. How many breaths

does it take?<br><br>Is doing Child`s Pose after

Sirsasana for the wimps only?<br><br>David Swenson is in

the fast lane anyway. What so, just one exhalation to

enter full Lotus from Dandasana?

[Guest guest]

Coming out of sirsasana - chld's pose is

definitely *not* for wimps only - it is part of the series

and Patthabi Jois is emphatic about doing it

properly. He emphasises that you shouldn't move your head

as you come down. If you come down in control, with

straight legs, you should just be able to bend your knees

into child's pose without moving your head. From

child's pose to chaturanga is, of course,

simple.<br><br>(I believe in the headstands at the end of second

series one drops directly from headstand into

chaturanga, presumably on an exhale, but I'm not practicing

second series so I'm not sure)<br><br>What made you

interested in trying ashtanga yoga, with your iyengar

experience? I would have thought if you have a good iyengar

teacher where you live, sticking with him or her might be

a better idea than trying to learn ashtanga from

books. There are a few ashtanga teachers in Germany -

the ones I know about are in Munich, Hamburg,

Frankfurt and possibly Berlin.

[Guest guest]

I have been practicing ashtanga for several

months and I go to classes and work with David Swenson's

practice manual. I don't know I would progress if I didn't

work with a teacher. It seems that I am able to go

into poses that once I could not only after have an

instructor pull on my limbs and help me into the pose

(marichyasana C& D for example)and now I can do C at least on

my own and almost D. At least it probably would have

taken me a lot longer to get there without help.