My First Ashtanga Class at Yoga Manila

Last Tuesday, hubby had a late client dinner in Makati. What to do???

Well, I decided to take Liana up on her long-time invitation to try a led Ashtanga class at Yoga Manila (my first, mind you!). At the very least, I figured, it would be a great blogging opportunity.

The class was conducted by Peachie Kilayko. Cool.

Ashtanga (which means “eight limbs” in Sanskrit), involves several series of poses. The first, or primary, series is called Yoga Chikitsa (“yoga therapy”). The poses in this series, about 75 of them in all, would take about an hour and a half, but the more common ones are called Surya Namaskara (Sun Salutations) A & B. These are meant to realign the spine, detoxify, build strength, increase flexibility, and develop stamina.

The second series, called Nadi Shodana (“nervous system purification”), follows the primary series but introduces new poses and variations.

There are 4 advanced series, Sthira Bhaga, and usually involve difficult arm balances for advanced students.

Back to my first led ashtanga class.

We started with an opening chant, then proceeded to do primary series A & B. I noted that the pacing was a lot faster than what we would do at VYC (Jane, it’s ashtanga, remember????)

Our led class went through the primary series very quickly. In this class, I found myself doing each pose for 5 breaths (my breathing chance) but all else went FAST, real fast. The others knew what was coming next and that was probably where I would fall out of step. I guess over time, familiarity allows one to anticipate what’s next and the breath flow becomes more automatic, allowing time to prepare for the next asana.

What I found good about the class though was that we got to try more difficult variations of poses which seem like common fare in ashtanga:

- revolved poses

- advanced tree pose with bent leg crossed at the thigh, other hand grabs foot from behind, bend down, balance on one hand, and try to touch forehead to knee

- many lotus variations (including lotus while in shoulderstand, lotus with arms through legs and rolling back and forth, lotus with arm balances)

- headstand (Note: WITHOUT A WALL!!!)

- seated twists combined with binding

- a few advanced arm balances (e.g., crane)

- jumpthroughs

- rolling backward from plow to resume a kneeling position

Let me just say that my first time to do ashtanga was not particularly good as I was not in good shape — just coming out of a harried and stressful time the previous week. I ran out of steam midway through class since they would do the vinyas flow (jump back-chaturanga-upward-downward dog) in between every pose ALL the way to just before savasana. Whew!!!!! Towards the end, I started skipping the vinyas and just settled for the poses.

Jon, (in a chat I had with him the other day), encouraged me to try ashtanga at least 2x a week. Of course, this is from an ashtanga guy who does his series EVERY DAY without fail!). I think one downside to my erratic practice is the lack of strength in my arms, something I need to build up again. A familiar and regular practice with teacher Pio should take care of this.

Peachie as a teacher had a gentle but firm voice. She allowed me to modify and skip poses if I was not ready for it. She called out advanced poses for those who were more flexible than others; simpler poses for those less flexible. In future, it would be good to do another led ashtanga class and see how it compares to this first attempt.

Till then, namaste.