The Basics of Ashtanga Yoga
Literally meaning "eight limbed yoga", Ashtanga is a yoga variant incorporating eight key areas of mental control and discipline - so don't feel you will need to be an octopus to twist yourself into these moves.
First developed by Vamana Rishi, the eight key concepts involve moral codes, self-purification and inspection, breath and sensory control, concentration, meditation and contemplation. The first four, called yama, niyama, asana and pranayama, are said to be external practices whereby cleansing is achieved; however the latter four, called pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi are the internal practices.
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The basics of Ashtanga yoga involve connecting certain moves and positions together. Within each series of movements there will be a certain amount of moves and postures which link to the next using
vinyasa's, the idea of connecting the breath and movement. The emphasis is more so on getting into the positions than on the holding of them themselves. However, for each move there is supposed to be only one breath. The overall aim of these moves is to conduct body heat and sweat to enable purification that will rid the impurities from the body. The positions within Ashtanga yoga are said to be more fluid than perhaps compared to some other more rigid and static forms of traditional yoga.
The benefits of Ashtanga yoga practices include helping to align the muscular-skeletal system, detoxify the body and the nervous system as well as help to provide general good health and vitality.
As with many yoga forms, there is a particular mantra said for the beginning of Ashtanga and another one for the end. The mantras are said whilst bowing to denote the acknowledgement of certain guides within Ashtanga yoga, such as Patanjali. Although not said in English, the mantra at the beginning of roughly translates to the following:
"I pray to the lotus feet of the supreme Guru who teaches the good knowledge, showing the way to knowing the self-awakening great happiness; who is the doctor of the jungle, able to remove the poison of the ignorance of conditioned existence.
To Patanjali, an incarnation of Adisesa, white in color with 1000 radiant heads (in his form as the divine serpent, Ananta), human in form below the shoulders holding a sword, a wheel of fire, and a conch to him, I prostrate."
The mantra at the end translates to the following also:
"Let prosperity be glorified - let rulers, (administrators) rule the world with law and justice let divinity and erudition be protected let all beeings be happy and prosperous."
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