Ashtanga Yoga Club Dunedin

18/10/2024

What is Mysore style? I've been getting a few questions lately.
I always just tell people that it is small group individual instruction and a chance to develop a personal practice. But, it's a lot more than this.

I really like Mike at Te Aro Astanga's explanation:

"Traditionally in India, people learned yoga from an experience practitioner/teacher one-on-one. The teacher guided students through postures, and tailored the practice to the unique needs and capabilities of every person. Students only practiced postures that the teacher had given them. This enabled people to develop and expand their experience of yoga at a safe, suitable and sufficiently challenging pace.
This is how we continue to practice yoga in our studio today.
Most of our classes are practiced and taught ‘Mysore style Yoga’. As a student, this means that you’ll receive direct guidance from a teacher on what postures to practice, and how. The postures follow set sequences, which will give you what you need over time. All of us start with the same sequence of postures, but we all practice at our own pace.
At first the sequences of postures seem like a lot to learn. With ongoing practice though, you’ll learn the sequence by heart. Then your practice will flow more freely, following the rythm of your own breath. This is where yoga begins to emerge. You won’t need to think about what posture to do next, or wait for someone to tell you. You’ll just know.
And you don’t need to worry about getting confused with the sequence of postures. We’ve all been there! Everyone in a Mysore style Yoga class had to learn the same sequence to start with. And a teacher can always assist you."

Read more here:
https://www.astanga.co.nz/mysore-style-yoga/

I also like this video of one of my favourite teachers, Philippa Asher, teaching Mysore style. I had the chance to practice with her for a few weeks in India in 2019, and it was one of the more empowering experiences of my life... I went from being a primary series queen to actually facing my fears and working towards 'making the impossible possible, and then the possible easy'.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxRz7NB7SVY&t=209s

Mysore style yoga -- Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga; Why our method of teaching and practicing yoga differs from most other yoga schools around town.

31/01/2024

See y’all on the mat 🧘🏽❤️

16/01/2024

Will update again in Feb about full timetable!! Looking forward to seeing you all again 😎❤️

23/11/2023

I’ve been listening to a climbing podcast and a pro climber said something like “regardless of the grade you’re climbing, if you’re really pushing your limits, the experience is the same,” and I think the same is true of asana practice. In moments of what David Garrigues calls “pure action,” where you commit 100% (mind & body) to a vinyasa (that is, a movement with a synchronized breath attached), the mind is still - there is only, well, pure action. This is part of why I love this specific practice. As you progress and the things that once gave you the mental experience of stillness become easy (therefore not requiring full body-mind engagement), there is always more - more asanas, more refinement, harder transitions- that continue to offer the opportunity to find stillness through “pure action”.
Anyway I’m trying to practice what I preach - that is, actually do chakorasana instead of… avoiding it/telling myself I can’t. Because … it is possible. Just hard! (For me - for now!)

22/11/2023

Instead of “nah, nah, yeah” I’ve decided to do a “yeah, yeah, yeah”! Featuring utthita trikoṇāsana 🕺
I’ve recently been thinking about how asana expressions are like translations. Just like there are many translations for each yoga sutra, there are various ways of “translating” each asana. The key, I think, is finding a translation that “resonates” with you - that is, a variation where you feel the energy moving in the body and can still breathe into it. I also think it’s important to be consistent with your translation throughout the system, so connections can be made between the postures and sequences (a post for another time).
There are many “translations” of utthita trikoṇāsana within the different yoga traditions/lineages, but these 3 are the ones I think make sense within the Ashtanga system. The first prioritizes opening the top hip (trying to stack over the bottom hip - “body in between 2 sheets of glass”). The second prioritizes catching the toe with the first 2 fingers and thumb (“take toe, look hand!”). The third uses a block to make the first variation more accessible (Ashtanga police 👮‍♀️ come at me).
Regardless of your translation, try to keep a nice line between the tailbone and head, and keep pressing down the inner arch of the back foot. Front leg should be straight and strong but not locked. Keep energy moving up towards the top hand (don’t sink down into bottom leg/hand). Try to keep arms straight (or feeling straight - due to the large degree of carrying angle in my elbows, mine will never “look straight”!)

28/09/2023

15/09/2023

Utthita Parsvakonasana: extended side angle. One of the foundational standing postures of the Ashtanga system. Trying out a new type of post I’ve decided to call “nah, nah, yea.” Thoughts? Helpful? Any postures you’d like to see broken down by this nah, nah, yea approach? 🤸🏽‍♀️

29/06/2023

Becca is abandoning us for 4 months to go to Europe and India (!!)! Come join us this Sunday for a farewell self practice & chai time ! We will practice from around 10:30-12 and have tea and snacks around noon. If you have a shorter practice, join around 11! Feel free to bring something to contribute to after snax but not compulsory 😎🧘🏽🥐☕️

14/06/2023

UPDATE: for the next 2 Thursdays (tomorrow and next week) the Thursday eve community koha class will be at the St. Kilda surf club instead of the St. Clair surf club due to window repairs at St. Clair. Enter through these doors and the hall is just to the right (doors are road facing, not beach facing). Class is 5:30-7 PM! See you tomorrow 😀

17/05/2023

Updated timetable starting next week 22 May!

20/03/2023

Last week at the halls before we move to Well + Being next Monday, where Ashtanga will be offered 5 times a week! Well + Being is just in town, 9 Saint Andrew St. see you tonight 🙂