Ashtanga Yoga with Kristin DeMarco

This is a traditional practice form first introduced to the west by K. Pattabhi Jois of Mysore, India. It takes its name from the 8 limbed (or ashta-anga) system outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra in 200 BC. Only one of Patanjali's limbs was concerned with the asanas (poses) and his treatise is primarily a roadmap toward meditation and enlightenment. Pattabhi Jois (and before him, his teacher Krishnamacharya) alleges that this system of asana practice is the practice of Patanjali. The ashtanga system consists of six series of poses, each of which is always taught in a specific sequential order. First and second series are of approximately equal difficulty with hard poses and moderately tame ones in each -- it's just a different flavor of practice. First has lots of forward bends, second adds backbends, more arm balances and inversions to the menu. Third series gets quite harder -- it adds yet more arm balance work, hanumanasana, foot behind the head variations and more. Fourth, fifth and sixth have some easy poses that are very common but also a number of seldom seen items. There's enough work for most mortals in the first three series.~Bill Counter Back to Home Page. Back to Bio Page Back to Schedule Page.