On my last day in Canggu, I wanted to try a new yoga studio that was recommended to me - Samadi Yoga Studio. Since I had to be out of my room by noon, I booked the yoga session at the studio that was well-timed, without really thinking about what I was getting myself into. I travel to experience things and have new experiences - so I find it exciting to learn new styles in yoga as well. The session was called "Ashtanga Mysore All Level" - by calling it "all level" I figured I couldn't go far wrong by attending this session.
The yoga session was scheduled to start at 7am. When I got there on time, I was alone in the yoga studio. The room had a nice location on the 1st floor overlooking a temple.
After a few minutes, another tourist came and asked me which yoga session I had booked and when it would start. I told her the name and she then said that she will surely not join this unit and asked me how much experience I have in Ashtanga Yoga. I then told her that I had never done it before. She then looked at me in amazement and explained what this session is about. It is a self-practice of Ashtanga in which you do given sequences of movements at your own pace. The instructor is only there to give assistance if needed, but in itself you are doing Ashtanga on your own in this specific session - so it would be a good prerequisite to be a bit more proficient in Ashtanga. She wished me good luck and left the room.
Shortly after, two other participants and the trainer came into the room. I immediately confessed to the trainer that I had never done Ashtanga before. She looked at me a bit amused and said she would help me and I was welcome to stay if I wanted. I thanked her and the trainer handed me a piece of A4 paper with the sequence of the asanas.
The first sequence was familiar to me from Hatha Yoga and I started motivated. One should do the first sequence four times. After that came another sequence with four repetitions, which I did not know. It was a bit tedious to constantly look at this sheet of paper to see which exercise was next and I often could not see exactly how to perform the respective exercise because of the illustrations. The trainer was very eager and kept coming to me to show me the exercises.
After I had done the second sequence four times, there was another sequence of asanas, each of which had to be done only once. What made this section particularly strenuous was the integration of "Chaturanga" after every single asana. This sequence of plank, looking up dog as well as looking down dog goes a long way in arm strength over time. With increasing exertion and lack of cooling in the room, I was getting so hot that I reached for my water to get some rest. When the instructor saw this, she immediately rushed to me and pointed out that you don't drink anything during Ashtanga practice. Totally sweaty and already quite exhausted, I returned to my sheet of paper with the next exercises.
One asana was included, for which I was definitely not flexible enough. To show my good will for this unit, I showed the trainer an exercise that I thought was similar to the given asana and which I knew from Hatha Yoga (the fish). The trainer looked at me irritated and explained that there are no variations in Ashtanga - you do the asanas exactly as given.
After about 1.5 hours, I performed all the asanas to the best of my ability and rested in the final relaxation. I sincerely thanked the trainer, who really took a lot of time for me and also had to be very patient. I felt I did almost everything wrong that could be done wrong here - but at least I know now that this kind of yoga is not the kind of yoga I want to pursue further.
To mention another positive aspect in relation to Ashtanga - if you enjoy a very clearly defined sequence of movements, then this Mysore unit is certainly a good opportunity to work together with a trainer on specific asanas in which you want to improve specifically.
Have you ever practiced Ashtanga Yoga? How did you like it? 😊
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