Ashtanga Yoga is a systematic method devised by Sri K Pattabhi Jois with reference to the teachings of his teacher Sri Krishnamacharya, Krishnamacharya's teacher, Ramana Mohan Brahmachari and the teachings of an ancient sage known as Rishi Vamana which were given in an ancient text known as the Yoga Korunta.
We know nothing about the ancient sage Vamana except what appears in legends. We know very little about Ramana Mohan Brahmachari, except that he lived in Tibet at the foot of Mount Kailash. Krishnamacharya studied with him for seven years and then returned to India, settling eventually in the southern indian city of Mysore.
Sri K Pattabhi Jois was born in South India not far from Mysore and commenced studies with Krishnamacharya in 1927 as a twelve year old boy. He became a professor at the Maharaja's Sanskrit College and taught yoga from 1937 onwards. Guruji passed away in May 2009 and the yoga shala in Mysore is run by his daughter Saraswathi and grandson Sharath, while his grandaughter Shemee teaches in Bangalore and his son Manju travels the world spreading this same message of yoga.
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Sri
K Pattabhi Jois was born in 1915 in the South Indian village of Kowshika.
His father was an astrologer and priest. As a twelve year old boy he attended
a demonstration and lecture given by Krishnamacharya at his high school
in Hassan. When Guruji saw the yoga demonstration he
was immediately inspired to take up yoga practice. He went to meet Krishnamacharya
the next day and commenced his yoga practice.
Guruji moved
to Mysore to study at the Sanskrit college where he became a professor
and was invited by the Maharaja to start a Yoga department. He continued
his studies with Krishnamacharya for 25 years and was instructed by him
to teach according to the method described in the Yoga Korunta without
changing anything. This he continued to do for more than seventy years.
see
Guruji's site for more details
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R Sharath is the grandson of Sri K Pattabhi Jois and was his assistant from 1991until his death in 2009. He started yoga practice at the age of 7 and became Guruji's assistant at age 19 rising at 2 am each day to practice before teaching. Sharath belongs to a family of yogis - his mother Saraswathi and Uncle Manju (Guruji's children) have both been teaching for decades and Sharath's sister Shemmie also teaches in Bangalore. In this video you can him demonstrating some advanced asanas in NYC in 2001. He is the director of the Sri K Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (formerly known as Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute).
demonstration in Sydney
Interview with Sharath - Mysore 2008
link to Sharath's website
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Manju Jois - New York 2000 |
GUY: Manju, how old were you when you started to practice?
MJ: Oh, let’s see, I was seven-years old. Mmmm. It was just like a game
for me, you know, just to watch and then you try to do it because it’s
fun. It was not done seriously, he was not making me do things. We just
go voluntarily and start playing with the postures, that’s all.
GUY: When did he start teaching you formally?
MJ: Formally when I was twelve-years old. Then we had to practice
everyday – in the morning and evening. He started teaching me and my
sister individually giving us a private lesson. That’s how it all
started.
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Read more...
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Saraswathi Rangaswami - An interview with Guruji´s daughter |
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Profile of KP Jois by Eddie Stern |
From Hinduism Today January/February 2001
Krishna Pattabhi Jois was born on the full moon day of July, 1915, Guru Purnima day. His ancestral village, Kowshika, near Hassan in
Karnataka State, is inhabited by maybe 500 people and has one main
street.
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Sri Tirumali Krishnamacharya was one of the most influential
and innovative yoga teachers of the twentieth Century. Not only was he
a master of yoga, but he held the equivalent of doctorates in seven different fields including ayurveda, law and philosophy.
In the last
century, the Ashtanga Yoga method was imparted to Krishnamacharya by a
tibetan yogi called Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari.
Krishnamacharya
heard of the yogi adept living in Tibet at the foot of Mt Kailash while
he was studying in Varanasi in northern India. In 1915 he travelled on
foot for several weeks looking for him. There, on the shores of lake Mansovar,
he found Ramamohan Brahmachari living in a cave with
his wife and children. On seeing Krishnamacharya's earnest desire to learn,
Brahmachari agreed to take him on as a student.
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Krishnamacharya - The King and the Young Man |
He lives quietly, like a full pot (empty pots are proverbially noisy),
shines steadily like a bright lamp of knowledge. Working daily at his
pursuit of knowledge, he lives the life of a rshi of old, though he
lives in his home with his wife and family...
The King and the Young Man - by "Hastam" in Kalaimagal, Pongal, 1984
(translated by Bert Franklin and S. Venkataraman)
An Interview with Sri T Krishnamacharya
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Important figures in the evolution of Ashtanga Yoga |
The modern day practice of Ashtanga Yoga represents the confluence of a number of streams of hindu philosophy, practice and spirituality. A number of important figures feature prominently in the evolution and representation of this particular method, but many others have played their part too.
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Krishnamacharya from Wikipedia |
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Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya (1888–1989) was born on November 18 in
Muchukundapuram, in Chitradurga district of Karnataka state in India
and lived to be over a hundred years old. His parents were Sri Tirumala
Srivinasa Tattacharya, a well-known teacher of the Vedas, and Shrimati
Ranganayakamma and he was the eldest with two brothers and three
sisters.
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lineage of teachers
