Article coming soonAshtanga Yoga is a breathing system which instructs us to synchronize the breath with each movement.   It starts with your first sun salutation as you inhale your arms up and take your first breath.  Then as we exhale we work to match the inhale and from there you proceed to do your asana practice, breathing, moving and flowing from pose to pose with a strong even breath.   The method of breathing is called Ujaii breathing.  Sounds beautiful and possible of course. However the practice and the series of poses that are given to us in the Ashtanga Primary series for example takes you to places you may have never been before.    In Ashtanga our teachers only ask that we do our practice.  Each person who comes to the practice brings along a body that is different from the next.  For one person a certain movement may come easy and for others it will require a fair amount of continual daily practice to be able to wrap or touch for example.    Achieving the pose in this instance is not doing yoga but being able to work with the breath and move the breath freely is the yoga and the practice.    The gazing point or Dristhi that we use for each asana also enables us to bring the focus internally to the breath where we come back to again and again.   When we are breathing freely in the asana you will find that the practice is a moving meditation.     Ashtanga Yoga is taught as a daily practice with one day a week off to rest as well as resting on the New and Full Moon Days.  Traditionally the practice is taught in a Mysore Setting with the teacher giving poses and working with the student in a way that they may be able to commit the series to memory.  In a Mysore class students of various levels practice in the same room. with the teacher assisting each student in various asanas to deepen or to grow in their own personal practice.   Poses are added and build off each other.  I have heard it beautifully said that the poses are like keys to the body and each pose holds the key to the next and helps the body open as it should.  I have also found that much of what I need for practice comes from my first sun salutation.  In a Led Ashtanga class the teacher calls out the poses in the order that they have been given and counts the breaths in the asana and will direct the vinyasa.  The vinyasa is the movement that links the poses together.  It is how we enter and exit a pose.  Working with the breath thru the vinyasa is equally important as breathing in the asana.   Led classes are a wonderful way to understand the series and in Mysore classes you have a chance to work poses so that you can deepen and grow in the practice.   At Asana House you will find a daily morning Mysore schedule as well as Led Primary Series Ashtanga classes.   Practicing Yoga and growing in the practice takes time.  The Primary series is called Yoga Chikitsa which appropriately means Yoga Therapy.  Working thru the series you start to purify the body from the inside out.  It does take time and it is meant to take time.  If you look at your practice as a lifelong practice then you have no where to go and you can enjoy the journey as well as the transformation that comes along with a commitment and dedication to yourself and the practice.     Teacher Bio Deb enjoys practicing and teaching yoga.   Ashtanga Yoga became her daily life shortly after she discovered the practice and she is continually learning and discovering through her personal practice.  Deb received her 200 hour yoga teacher certification in 2007 with a desire to deepen and broaden her knowledge of yoga and the philosophy behind the yogic texts.  The primary series of Ashtanga Yoga never ceases to amaze her as it continues to unfold every day she steps on the mat.  Deb continues to attend workshops and classes to broaden her spectrum of knowledge of yoga and seeks out teachers to practice with wherever her travels take her.  She aspires to stay in the moment, trust in the universe, to work the yoga in her life on and off the mat and to breathe.  For more information please see www.ashtangayogamontcliar.com or www.asanahouse.com.   Namaste and OM Shanti!   Deb Williams Asana House www.asanahouse.com www.ashtangayogamontclair.com info@asanahouse.com 973 744 1500