The title ‘Yoga or Nothing’ is not a philosophical one, but a practical one. It is my attempt to address an issue I encountered in my yoga practice.
Amidst my tight schedule, I constantly struggle to find time to commit myself on the mat – to practice yoga. While there are weeks where I practice 3 to 5 times per week, there are also weeks where my mat lay high and dry.
I asked myself: “Is this an issue of time constraint, or an issue of commitment and discipline?”
I was introduced to yoga by a friend of mine in the Ashtanga form. After attending 3 sessions, I gave up! As a beginner, it is not only physically challenging, but also mentally demanding.
Many years later, I stumbled upon another form of yoga – Hatha. I started practicing more consistently, as I was tuned to its simplicity and the myriad of poses it offered.
My gripe with doing yoga is always the motivation to do it alone – within the comfort and convenience of my house? While I attempted to follow some ‘favourite’ sequences of my instructor, or sometimes varying it on my own to challenge myself, I somehow find that my practice was disjointed, and yearn for more.
This lead me to my third encounter to yoga, where I decided to take up a teacher training course to learn more about how I could adopt yoga in my life. With trepidation, I renewed my encounter with Ashtanga.
In my practice, I realized that the complete Ashtanga yoga required plenty of effort and time commitment for a beginner. I constantly struggle to complete the entire sequence within the recommended 75 min or 90 min. The sense of rushing through the routine and feeling all anxious after the practice took over the peace and calm that one should feel at the end of one practice.
Is it possible to focus on the key asanas without losing the true essence and benefits of the ashtanga primary series?
I challenged myself to analyse the ashtanga practice and attempt to develop my personal 40-min variation that will not only motivate me to practice on a regular basis, but also help me to improve.
The principles of the variation are based on:
- Keeping the sequencing intact with flow
- Shortening the breath cycle from 5 to 3 for each pose (ensure that the length of each breath is long)
- Includes the most challenging pose for ‘similar’ asanas
- Involve standing, sitting, supine, inversion & balancing poses
- Involve all muscles groups
A 40-min ‘Ashtanga Yoga’
Action /Asana |
Benefits |
Mantra recitation |
Tune in to practice |
Bhastrika Pranayama |
|
Suryanamaskara A (x3) |
*May walk the feet forward/back instead of jump back as body may not warm up sufficiently |
Suryanamaskara B (x3) |
|
Parivritta Parsvakonasana |
|
Prasarita Padottanasana C & D |
|
Parsvottanasana |
|
Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana |
|
Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana |
|
Paschimottanasana D |
|
Vinyasa |
*To be done after each sitting pose |
Janu Sirsasana B |
|
Janu Sirsasana C |
|
Marichyasana C |
|
Navasana |
|
Upavistha Konasana |
|
Supta Konasana |
|
Urdhva Mukha Paschimottanasana |
|
Setu Bandhasana |
|
Urdhva Dhanurasana |
|
Salamba Sarvangasana |
|
Pindasana |
|
Salamba Sirsasana |
|
Baddha Padmasana |
|
Uthpluthi (x25) |
|
Shavasana (3-min) |
|
Meditation (3-min) |
|
Nauli |
|
Dedication prayer |
|
You may adapt this adapted sequence according to your strength (i.e. incorporate your strong asana for motivation) and weakness (i.e. to improve on your weak asana).
It is obvious that this is not a complete sequence, and we need to practise the entire Ashtanga poses whenever possible. I have practised this ’40-min’ version of Ashtanga Yoga many times, and have found that I was able to derive strength, flexibility, calm, concentration and happiness from it.
Yoga or Nothing?
You decide.
Namaste.