Ashtanga Yoga

Over the last few years, I've become interested in yoga.

The word yoga has many interesting variations.

In Ashtanga Yoga, there are 6 series of poses starting with the primary series, which is series one. I wouldn't say series 1 is the easiest series because none of them are easy, if you do it the way it's supposed to be done. Each series is a group of poses that flow from one to next with an emphasis on breathing.

I tried the 1st series, but I could only make it through about half way before I had to stop. It was tough, but at the same time, it relieved more stress than anything I've ever done. In a way, I felt exhilarated.

It takes years to master a series to the point where your ready to move to the next one. Gwyneth Paltrow practices Ashtanga, and she was doing series 2 for 2 years, and she still had several poses to go--this was in '03.

There is only one guy on the planet that is currently capable practicing series 6. His name is Sarath. You can watch him do some of the poses of series 6 if you go on YouTube. It's pretty amazing watching this guy. He seems like a really sweet guy--someone you'd like to have as a friend.

Some of the poses in Ashtanga Yoga are so extraordinary. Sarath does these amazing contortionistic (if that's even a word) poses seemingly without effort, and then moves to another one that's equally amazing.

This guy, Sarath, who's doing series 6, was taught by the current guruji, whose name is Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois. Sarath is his grandson. Here's a link to the guruji's bio. http://ayri.org/biography.html

Guru means teacher. Ji is a term of respect. So the word guruji is like saying "teacher sir". They are both from Mysore, India--pronounced my-sore.