A Google User
March 7, 2018 21:16
This is a fantastic studio because it is clear that the teachers, Todd and Brice, genuinely care about the students and are focused on enabling safe growth through the practice of yoga. This attitude naturally leads to the cultivation of a great community of students. It has been amazing to benefit from their years of experience and their study at the source of Ashtanga yoga in India -- Todd even having learned directly from Sri K. Pattabhi Jois! It has been inspiring to hear firsthand stories about his time spent studying directly with the progenitor of Ashtanga.
I have been practicing yoga for six years and Ashtanga at AYA for about the last one year. My life has changed and benefited greatly from my yoga practice in general, and a regular Ashtanga practice has really deepened and expanded those benefits for me, even in just a relatively short time. The discipline of the Ashtanga practice in particular has helped me to sustain a better structure for my life which, as a work-from-home consultant, can sometimes be challenging to maintain. Ashtanga is very directly focused on drawing the senses more inward, with the centrality of drishti, a quiet room, and moving through a known sequence at one's own pace, according to the breath. While I think that I am able to experience some of the benefits of turning my attention inward through my practice of other styles of yoga, to me this aspect seems amplified in the Ashtanga practice.
I also think that the only safe and effective way to learn and regularly practice some of the poses that form even the primary series of Ashtanga is through Mysore-style classes, which are a hallmark of traditional Ashtanga. I teach led group yoga classes myself, and although I do also enjoy and benefit from taking such classes as a student, I don't personally feel there's any way to work, for instance, Garbha Pindasana, Janu Sirsasana C or Marichyasana D into a led group class without either assuming prior knowledge, specifically slowing down and workshopping the pose in detail, or risking injury to some students. Because of the very distinct way that teaching happens in a Mysore class, with every student moving at their own pace, and being directly and individually instructed in a pose as they are adding it to their practice, it becomes possible to safely integrate advanced poses into a daily practice. This possibility opens up an avenue for physical and mental transformation. Further, the Mysore class structure makes it possible for the teacher to routinely provide physical adjustments to all students. I am quite certain that I would be nowhere near binding on my own in Marichyasana D, for instance, were it not for repeated and consistent physical adjustments in the pose over time -- so again, possibilities are opened due to the way that Ashtanga is taught.
Ashtanga may not be the right practice for everyone, but if you are looking for ways to deepen your experience of yoga, I heartily recommend giving it a try and I believe you will not go wrong by choosing to do so at AYA. For people new to yoga or experienced practitioners, embarking on an unfamiliar practice can be daunting. I can say that I started my practice with the beginner program at AYA (since I wanted to learn from the ground up and take a beginner's mind with the practice), and it was both a great, approachable and digestible introduction to Ashtanga and a good bargain as well!