Monday, 15 June 2009

ASHTANGA YOGA

K PATTABHI JOIS was the founder of Ashtanga yoga, the physically demanding, dynamic style of yoga embraced by millions of Westerners. If ever proof were needed of the health benefits of yoga, Jois was it. Up every day to start classes at 5am, he rarely missed a day's teaching in 70 years, instructing hundreds of students daily at his shala (school) in Mysore, southern India, until the last year of his life.

What sets Jois's method apart from other forms of hatha (physical) yoga is a technique called vinyasa. Ashtanga students jump back and forward (the vinyasa) between postures (asanas), synchronising movements with breathing in one long flow. Expertly done, it can look more like a dance or martial art than a relaxation class. "Ashtanga yoga is 99 per cent practice; 1 per cent theory," Jois would say. "Practise, practise and all is coming," was his mantra.

Over the past 15 years, Ashtanga has become one of the most popular forms of yoga in the world, with a big celebrity following. Jois's alumni include Madonna, Willem Dafoe, the rapper Mike D, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ralph Fiennes. Sting and his wife Trudie Styler hosted him in London. Ashtanga has also spawned many new styles of yoga, including vinyasa flow, power yoga, shadow yoga, dynamic yoga and Jivamukti yoga.

By SMH

THE LATEST YOGA NEWS, FROM IT IS YOGA

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