The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga

2016·8.13 MB·English

by  Richard Freeman

Sign up to receive news and special offers from Shambhala
Publications.
Or visit us online to sign up at shambhala.com/eshambhala.
THE ART OF
VINYASA
Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of
Ashtanga Yoga
R F & M T
ICHARD REEMAN ARY AYLOR
SHAMBHALA
BOULDER
2016
Shambhala Publications, Inc.
4720 Walnut Street
Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.shambhala.com
Cover photos by Robert Muratore
Cover design by Jim Zaccaria
© 2016 by Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any
information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publisher.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Names: Freeman, Richard, 1950– author. | Taylor, Mary (Yoga teacher) Title: The art
of vinyasa: awakening body and mind through the practice of ashtanga yoga /
Richard Freeman and Mary Taylor.
Description: Boulder: Shambhala, 2016. | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016002192 | eISBN 9780834840409 | ISBN 9781611802795
(paperback) Subjects: LSCH: Aṣṭāṅga yoga. | BISAC: HEALTH & FITNESS / Yoga. |
PHILOSOPHY / Hindu.
Classification: LCC RA781.68 .F74 2016 | DDC 613.7/046—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016002192
To Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and his wife, Ammaji.
And with deep gratitude to Sarasvathi, Manju, and Sharath,
who continue to inspire us all in this practice.
This book is designed to shed light on establishing an internally
rooted yoga practice that can last a lifetime. It also looks
deeply at āsana practice as an external expression of the
internal forms that give a profound and direct experience to
the awakening of body and mind through the practice.
CONTENTS
Publisher’s Note
Introduction
PART ONE
Foundation: The Roots and Depth of Yoga
1. Natural Alignment: The Internal Forms of the Practice
2. Aligning Intention and Action: Where the Rubber Meets
the Road
3. Fluid Movement: Alignment, Form, and Imagination
4. Mechanics: Essential Anatomical Perspectives
PART TWO
Āsana: Movements and Poses Strung Together Like Jewels on
the Thread of the Breath
5. Building Sūrya Namaskāra
6. Standing Poses
7. Forward Bends
8. Backbends
9. Twists
10. Balancing Poses
11. Finishing Poses
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1. Ancient Wisdom, Contemporary Circumstances
Appendix 2. Invocation
Appendix 3. Sequencing
Appendix 4. Illustrations of Mūlabandha, Kidney Wings, and
Cobra Hood
Appendix 5. Sūrya Namaskāra A and B
Index
About the Authors
E-mail Sign-Up
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This book contains diacritics and special characters. If you
encounter difficulty displaying these characters, please set
your e-reader device to publisher defaults (if available) or to an
alternate font.
INTRODUCTION
Y
OGA IS A LIVING ART. IT IS A MEANS OF MOVING, breathing, thinking,
expanding and contracting, evolving and interacting within the
complex, ever-changing landscape of the world within and
around us. As with any art form, yoga nurtures seeds of
aesthetic satisfaction that stimulate flashes of understanding
and compassion. For many practitioners, a keen truth and
meaning spontaneously arise as insight into the vast,
interconnected nature of all things.
When embodied, these aesthetic sparks and seeds of insight
are experienced as feelings of resonating with our
surroundings. They occur in yoga when we’re not looking for
them—just as they may when we’re standing in front of a great
work of art or enjoying the perfect sunset. Somehow (possibly
by chance) our perception of self is released just long enough
for us to feel intimately connected to everything and everyone
else, and the underlying field of kind, openheartedness that is
our true nature naturally arises. Clarity or conscious awareness
is the fallout—the residue—from practicing yoga in this way, as
an art rather than as a means of attaining this thing or that.
This approach to practice requires a willingness to invite and
be with not knowing. It encourages us to show up ready and
eager to meet whatever arises. Perhaps most important, it
demands the mental and emotional agility to be comfortable
with the paradox of simultaneously holding two or more points
of view with equal attentiveness.