Ashtanga Yoga Pose Origins - Truth and Myth

Ashtanga yoga was developed by Sri K Pattabhi Jois. Jois was a student of the renowned yogi, Sri Krishnamacharya (1888 - 1989), who also taught B.K.S. Iyengar, Indra Dhevi, A. G. Mohan, Srivatsa Ramaswami, and T.K.V Desikachar. Ashtanga is also spelt as ashtunga yoga.

The most famous of Krishnamacharya's students in the West are Jois, Iyengar, and Desikachar (who was also his son). Each of these student have taken an aspect of the huge knowledge that Krishnamarchya had on yoga and developed systems they were most in resonance with. Jois was no different in this regard, in that the ashtanga system he developed represents only a fraction of what Krishnamacharya taught.

Origins Of Ashtanga Yoga Poses

In fact, Jois' ashtanga (ashtunga) yoga poses were based on a book Krishnamacharya published in the 1930's called Yoga Makaranda, according to one of Krishnamacharya's students, Srivatsa Ramaswami.

There is a lot of mythology around astanga yoga pose origins, however. Most ashtanga teachers will say that Jois' system was based on a 'rediscovered' manuscript that only Krishnamacharya saw, the Yoga Korunta. Ashtanga legend goes that this manuscript was in a considerable state of disrepair, written on crumbling palm leaves, and was subsequently eaten by ants - after Krishnamacharya had read it and learnt it's contents.

The only record of the Yoga Korunta in Indian libraries that has been verified so far is in two of Krishnamacharya's books, the Yogasana and Yoga Makaranda. So, it is doubtful that it ever existed. What is more likely is that as a result of Indian traditions (like the Sufi's), where credit is not taken for one's own discoveries, but instead ascribed to another teacher or tradition, out of humility, and a recognition of the Oneness of Source. The Sufi mystic Rumi also did this when he named the true 'author' as Shams. It is a nod to divine inspiration.

Interestingly, Alan Little's excellent article on this confusion over astanga yoga pose origins describes how there is a text in the Mysore Palace archives that integrates gymnastics from the UK, with martial arts and yoga, and that it bears similarities to ashtanga yoga, and may have been an influence of Krishnamacharya's development of this system.

One thing is clear, however, and that is that the ashtanga yoga poses are a more aggressive style of yoga. They represent an early style that Krishnamacharya taught during the 1930's, which did not reflect his full understanding of yoga as it developed over the subsequent years.

The ashtanga system, according to his long time student Ramaswami, "followed a system of rapid movements strung together in a sequence, although it lacked the slow, deliberate, smooth, and coordinated breathing central to Krishnamacharya's method. Further, Ashtanga practice mainly adopted sequences mentioned in Yoga Makaranda as well as a few Jois learned from his guru during their relationship - a bulk of sequences Krishnamacharya would later teach to his students was therefore left out."

About Ashtanga Yoga Practices

Ashtanga yoga has been likened to gymnastics in that it needs a lot of strength and skill to do. Beginner students, or those with injury, would be wise to choose another style of yoga. Because it uses a set sequence, it is somewhat restrictive, and thus isn't suited to being tailored to an individual's needs. It also focuses on the physical attributes of yoga, the asanas, and not so much the spiritual aspect.

I did ashtanga yoga poses for years when I was younger, and enjoyed them at the time. But I had also done a few years of Japanese style oki yoga, and some Iyengar, before I attempted ashtanga, and so was not a beginner. And even then I found it a challenge. But at the time I loved the sense of movement, and also the physical challenge.

What I have learned since is that yoga can still be challenging without following ashtanga yoga, by going deeply into the poses. And there are many resources such as Ramaswami's book which describe very challenging poses you can move on to once the basic poses in a sequence have been mastered. Ultimately, I think ashtanga is a little restrictive.

And the sense of movement, the connectedness and linking poses can be done without following the ashtanga system.

Ashtanga yoga can be very appealing because it involves so many poses that strengthen the body. But those poses (with appropriate counter poses and preparatory poses) can still be incorporated into a yoga practice without ashtanga.

One thing that Ramswami addresses is the name - Ashtanga yoga. He says that it was thus named after the 8 limbed classical yoga. He then goes on to say that ashtanga is not really related to this.

In one article I read, the author writes that Jois believed that ashtanga yoga pose origins (as supposedly delineated in the Yoga Koruna), were taken from the original yoga practice described by Pattanjali.

This is somewhat debunked in Alan Little's article, however. He quotes a yoga student whom he has a great deal of respect for:

"Early treatises on classical yoga deal very little with asana. The use of asana beyond a few seated postures appears to have been a development of the Tantric movement, which took hold in India from about 500 AD – well after any likely date of Patanjali. The earliest texts dealing with asanas beyond seated postures date from the 1100-1300's AD. The use of large numbers of postures seems to date from the 1700's and later, when folks became interested in the therapeutic aspects of asanas. Therefore an extensive asana system such as that of Ashtanga is not likely to date from Patanjali's time." (alanlittle.org)

References:
1. http://www.alanlittle.org/weblog/yogateaching.html
2. Wellbeing Yoga
3. Srivatsa Ramaswami, The Complete Book OF Vinyasa Yoga

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