15) Completed my 100th Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice at Home

I completed my formal 100th Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice at home on Fri 20 May 2011 . Though my informal introduction to Ashtanga started in year 2004 itself but the enthusiasm did not last long at that time as I was more keen on strengthening my Sivananda Style of Yoga practice especially after I finished my Advanced Yoga Teachers training in 2004 .

After 2004 it was in July 2010 that I restarted exploration to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and started doing it in bits and pieces watching you tube videos etc and I took the formal step of Learning Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga from Louise Ellis in Sept/Oct 2010 in Rishikesh .So I consider the month of Oct 2010   to be my starting point  of  formal Initiation to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga .For more details about this refer my earlier blogs about how I came to Ashtanga Vinyasa practice .Though I used to record my daily Ashtanga Practice , it was never done in a very formal way and hence from Nov 1 , 2010 onwards I started to formally document my Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice and from Nov 2010- May 2011 i.e nearly after 7 months I have completed 100 Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice sessions .I am not daily practicing Ashtanga and my current Yoga Practice is a combination Of Ashtanga Vinyasa , Sivananda Style Hatha Yoga , Iyengar Style Hatha Yoga and Pranayama practice and I intend to keep it like that for some more months before I do a complete Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice .
My Ashtanga Vinaysa Practice so far :
In the first 100 practice sessions , my ashtanga vinyasa practice was of the following format :
Surya Namaskar A-5 , B-5
All standing sequences
Sitting poses up to Navasan ( I used to do Vinyasas only between postures but not between sides )
Conluding postures .
Savasan

In the above schedule I used to do Manadatory Surya Namaskar and all the standing poses and also do the concluding poses . Sitting poses I did not do much and even when I did ,I did not do the Vinyasa in between sides and just did between the poses .

Reason for going slow in my ashtanga Vinyasa practice :
When I started my Ashtanga Vinyasa practice under Louse Ellis in Oct 2010 I was yet to fully recover from my severe ankle injury that I had in April 2010 and as Ashtanga Vinyasa practice involved lot of jumps I was very keen not to aggravate my ankle injury and  hence went slow .Also since I came from the Sivananda Style of Classical Hatha Yoga which was totally different to the way Ashtnaga Vinyasa Yoga was practiced I had a tough time coming to terms with these changes .By the way I wish to point out that I still love the Sivananda Style of Hatha Yoga practice and I still keep in touch with it as I find it very relaxing and sometimes I do it in evening to have a more relaxed sleep at night.

Future of my Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice :
I have no blue print or time frame for my Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practice .I just want to enjoy my daily practice without injuring myself and I am following my own route of building my own Ashtanga Vinyasa practice which differs slightly from the way  it is being currently followed at AYRI .This is my own research in to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and while I do keep Guruji's/Sharath's  class format as the standard refernce I am willing to have my own approach to master the primay series first and then the other series .So things like going to Mysore to practice in the shala under gudiance of Sharath , getting Ashtanga Certification from AYRI etc etc are not on my current agenda . Might be it will change after few months and I am open to any changes that comes its way.

8)Best Introductory books for Practising Ashtanga Vinayasa Yoga

When I started on my Ashtanga Journey first in 2004 I had Pattabhi Joise book "Yoga Mala" but I found it difficult to use that book for my personal practice as the book had lots of instructions and only few pictures and moreover the instructions and pictures were in different places and I had to keep turning back and forth the pages to know which instruction is for which pose . Since I was fully immersed in the Sivananada System of Classical Hatha Yoga at that time I was not motivated much by Ashtanga Yoga and though "Yoga Mala "was rich in content but  the way in which the instructions and pictures were laid out put me off in seriously pursing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga . When I restarted my Ashtanga Vinyasa Journey in Mid 2010 ( I consider 2010 to be the real starting point of my Ashtanga Vinyasa Journey ) I was on lookout for a good Introductory Ashtanga Instruction Manual to follow and found the following 2 books to be very excellent books for any student beginning their Ashtanga Vinyasa Journey and the books are :

                                  1)Total Ashtanga by Tara Fraser

                                  2) Ashtanga Yoga the Practice Manual by David Swenson .

While David Swenson's Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual is quite popular and famous among the Ashtanga Community , Tara Fraser's book "Total Ashtanga" is not that much popular but it is equally an excellent book for beginners . This book by Tara Fraser was never in my list of Ashtanga Books as no one in the Ashtanga Community talked about it ( except for one serious Ashtanga blogger ) and every one were talking more about David Swenson's Ashtanga Practice Manual followed by John Scott's book on Ashtanga Yoga and Gregor Maehle's books on Ashtanga Primary and Secondary series . I came to know of Tara Fraser's book while I was on a Trip to Rishikesh in the end of Sept 2010 to learn formally Ashtanga Vinaysa Yoga under Louise Ellis . As I was going through a book shop in Rishikesh I was surprised to find this excellent introductory book on AsIhtanga Vinyasa Yoga by Tara Fraser and immediately bought it and since then have started using  it more often   as reference for my Ashtanga Vinyasa Practice . I  would say that John Scott and Gregor Maehle's books would suit more for a person who has had a quite an in depth practice  and for a beginner it is better they choose either Tara Fraser or David Swenson's book on Ashtanga Yoga .The reason why I am suggesting these 2 books are :

 1) They are like a ready reference manual with each page having a picture of the posture and its basic instructions .

2) Modifications are given for difficult postures .( While Hard Core Ashtangis refuse to use props , these books make use of basic props to attempt the difficult postures ) .

3) The layout of the book is that there is a perfect balance between pictures and instructions and makes it easy for a beginner to follow the instructions looking at the picture .

 4) The instructions are also quite simple and not too technical and easy to follow .

5) David Swenson's book covers both the primary as well as secondary sequence and if a person is keen on learning both these sequence it is better to get David Swenson's book . Tara Fraser's book covers only the primary sequence .

5) Both these books at the end give a complete Ashtanga Primary Sequence in Picture format .David Swenson's book also has the Secondary series sequence .So even if u do not have an Ashtanga Vinayas  Poster , this picture sequence can help guide you properly . In fact I keep Tara Fraser book by my side when I practice my Ashtanga sequence .

 6) Both these books give a short primary sequence and while  I have not tried them ,it would be very helpful for those who want to have a short primary practice .

So in  conclusion I would say that if you serious in learning both the primary and secondary ashtanga vinyasa sequence then it is better get David Swenson's book but if you are unsure about your own commitment to Ashtanga Vinaysa Practice then better get Tara Fraser's book as it is a simple one  and deals with just the  primary series .

Note : No book can substitute for the instructions received from a qualified real life  teacher but in the absence of a proper Ashtanga Teacher these 2 books are the best guides for you as a beginner to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga .