second series! continued

[Guest guest]

sorry I hit the wrong key & posted before I was

finished.....<br>My practice is such a meditative experience that I'm

embarassed to admit that I'm not bored with 1st series at

all. <br>I have asked before on this board what the

criteria is for going to the next level (just out of

curiosity on my part). I'm just guessing but I think you

would have to be proficient at doing vinyasas as that

would show mastery of the bandhas. I also think that

you would have to be able to do each posture in the

primary series?<br>Are there teachers out there that

could shed light<br>on this?

[Guest guest]

OK here's a way of looking at moving forward in

ashtanga - for example, if you are practicing the primary

series, you are actually also practicing the second,

third, etc. because the longer you practice primary, the

stronger and more open you get so doing the second series

will be easier as well.<br><br>If a person waits a

long time to start adding poses from the second

series, they learn many things about patience. Also, by

waiting and getting much better and really opening those

hips and sholders and back, when you are introduced to

second series it will be like a continuation of the

primary and you will be happy. You will learn the poses

more quickly by waiting than if you try to do it

earlier. You always end up in the same place doing it both

ways. So you can try to do new poses too early and

suffer through possible injuries and overstressing

yourself, or you can take it easy until primary series

becomes smooth and easy and calm without

straining.<br><br>The truth is that either way, you will be in the same

place. To me that is one of the truths yoga teaches.

<br><br>Another thing about these non-ashtanga classes mixing up

poses is that for me, after having done only ashtanga

for a couple of years is that they seem like

excercise classes to me - a workout but not purifying which

is what ashtanga does so well. See... I can do

several poses from the third, advanced A, B... many from

the second. BUT the difference in ashtanga is that

you must do them in a series, so that even though I

can do some of these difficult poses on their own or

even in a mix it up kind of class, the question is can

I do them after already doing all of the other

poses that come before it in the series. Pincha

mayurasana is one thing on it's own, but try it in the

second series after doing all of the other poses and

vinyasas before it. The other important thing to know is

that the poses are in the order they are for a very

good reason. If I do pincha mayurasana on it's own or

in a mix-it up class, it is going to be a different

and in my opinion, a lesser experience.<br>FBL

[Guest guest]

My impression of many teachers who teach yoga

styles "based" on ashtanga is that they are people who

wanted to teach yoga before they would have been able to

teach yoga (with any kind of conscience) if they were

teaching Ashtanga. Instead of actually learning yoga

before they started teaching, they call it something

else like 'power yoga' or 'vinyasa' style yoga.

Whenever I see this kind of yoga class, I know that

chances are very good that even though I am not a

'blessed' ashtanga yoga teacher myself, I will know more

about yoga than this teacher will and I am probably

wasting my money. Doing Ashtanga requires a kind of

spiritual committment that most people, even so-called yoga

teachers, are not willing to make. My question is, if it's

"based on Ashtanga", why not just do Ashtanga? Is based

on Ashtanga supposed to be better? Why the 'nod'?

The truth is that instead of knowing better, many of

these teachers know less. <br><br>FBL

[Guest guest]

It's also a fallacy, as well as outright

dangerous, to believe that primary series is "for beginners

only". Fact is that astanga yoga starts at a very high

level already; some of the postures crammed into

primary series would be called "intermediate", or even

"advanced", in other yoga systems. For example in iyengar

yoga, the headstand is usually attempted for the first

time only after half a year! of regular asana

practice. Postures like kurmasana, supta kurmasana,

marichyasana D and the like are generally to be found only in

intermediate to advanced iyengar-yoga classes. The whole

vinyasa process of jump backs and jump throughs, a key

element of astanga yoga, requires a fairly high degree of

proficiency already to be done the correct way.