The Asanas of Primary Series Re-Sequenced Through an Iyengar Perspective
One of Iyengar's most distinctive contributions to yoga is in the way he sequenced asanas.
Most of you are aware that Pattabhi Jois and BKS Iyengar shared the same teacher, Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, and both were taught his vinyasa sequences— Sequences which later came to form the Primary Series as taught by Pattabhi Jois in what is broadly known as Ashtanga Yoga. It is worth noting however that Ashtanga Yoga is not in fact Pattabhi Jois’s own personal brand but rather the name given to the overarching system of yoga codified by the sage Patanjali nearly 2500 years ago in the Yoga Sutras. Ashtanga Yoga is also referred to as classical or Patanjalian Yoga, and I tend to use these names interchangeably. When BKS Iyengar, who does have a method of yoga in his namesake, was asked what he practiced he would say Ashtanga, or Patanjali’s Yoga. Hopefully this alleviates some confusion.
What Pattabhi Jois taught his students is essentially Krishnamacharya’s method of vinyasa krama— Vinyasa meaning to “put or place in a proper order” and krama as “succession or a step by step process.” These vinyasas put emphasis on the flow of asanas into one another in coordination with the breath and gaze, in what is called the tristana method. One could argue skeletal alignment is secondary to the breath in Primary Series, as the poses generally move from one to the next within the space of one breath, with other sets of poses held for five breaths per side.
Iyengar abandoned traditional vinyasas and fixed sequences over time and turned his attention to holding asanas for longer durations and refining the subtler physical geometry therein, and this work came to uncover a hidden architecture within the design of a human being many consider nothing short of divine. This exacting, precision based form of asana practice is what Iyengar came to be most known for and his yoga has since been made synonymous with the notion of skeletal alignment, which is more specifically the aligning of one’s physical geometry to the sacred geometry of the cosmos. This is why his work has proven so effective in the healing of injuries and other ailments. It’s also why it appeals to academics and the scientifically minded, as it is presented with the same degree of rigor and specificity as a nuclear physics dissertation.
But what Iyengar gets less credit for is his sequencing of asanas, which is an equally important and unique contribution to yoga. Sequencing is a quiet art, much in the same way story structure is in a good novel or movie. If it works you tend not to notice it. Senior teachers will sometimes remark how long it took them to put together a certain sequence and it’s unlikely they’ve ever taught the same class twice, as the conditions of a class are never the same way twice. This is what makes Iyengar’s work so endlessly fascinating— It is highly structured while at the same time maintaining a deep heuristic quality, by which I mean it encourages one to experiment within a broad set of parameters— most notably here the sequence— in order that one cognize true understanding for themselves. Iyengar often referred to his body as a laboratory and his output is certainly reflective of this heuristic quality, as true understanding comes from direct experience and experimentation, not theorizing and contemplation.
So within the paradigm of modern Ashtanga Yoga you have Jois’s and Iyengar’s approach, which both put a tremendous emphasis on asana and while sharing some similarities have grown quite divergent over time. And since both Jois and Iyengar are gone their work continues to evolve through the teachers inheriting their lineages. I notice interest in Iyengar’s work appears to be growing among many senior teachers from Jois’s lineage.
So here I’ve listed Primary Series and then re-sequenced it through the lens of Iyengar’s approach, or at least my best interpretation of it. I’m sure I’m not the first to do this, as it makes for an interesting contrast between the two. For those of you less familiar with Krishanmacharya’s work, Primary Series may lend a better appreciation of how Iyengar came to learn yogasanas and the sequence out of which his work evolved. And for those of you less familiar with Iyengar’s work, this re-sequencing may shed some light on the logic behind his sequencing, which is one of the most notable and fascinating aspects of what is called Iyengar Yoga.
Notes below:
Notes:
Primary Series always begins with sun salutations, both Surya Namaskara A and B. Iyengar sequencing typically does not include sun salutations although I have seen them worked in before. If one were to do sun salutations at the very beginning of the Iyengar sequence, Samasthitti would be the first asana thereafter, not Supta Padangustasana.
Given that Iyengar moved away from fixed sequences, these poses could have been arranged in literally thousands of ways. Beyond the standing poses, most of Primary Series is done seated so this particular sequence is more seated forward bend oriented. I removed most of the arm balances and backbends because they are too tangential to the preceding sequence and would warrant a different set of poses to build up to properly.
Notice how I’ve broken up the Iyengar sequence into something akin to the three act structure of a play or film. Standing poses in Act 1, which is the setup. Sirsasana is the transition or inciting incident into Act 2, which serves up the bulk of the sequence, just as it does in most story designs. Act 3 is the end sequence, with savasana as the final image. Setup, build, payoff.
The idea behind the re-sequencing of the standing poses is that they progress in difficulty from forward facing, to side facing, to revolved. Revolved triangle is far more difficult than triangle, for example.
Iyengar classified the asanas systematically into standing poses, seated poses, backbends, inversions and restoratives / pranayama. One could subdivide this classification even further by going into forward facing standing poses and revolved standing poses, seated forward folds and seated twists, supported and unsupported backbends, seated pranayama, supine pranayama. etc.
I left Bhujapidasana where it is in the Iyengar sequence because it allows for a nice transition into Kurmasana if one has the strength to lower into it gracefully. Otherwise I would have left it out.
Some teachers in Jois’s lineage refer to Savasana (corpse pose) as Sukhasana, which often translates as “easy pose.” When I was practicing Primary Series I always thought it odd how little time students spent in this final relaxation pose, sometimes staying less than a minute before gathering their things and leaving. That leaves no time for the effects of the practice to imprint on the physical body, much less the non-physical body. This is how I came to see the Sukhasana taken at the end of Primary Series and the Savasana taken in an Iyengar class as different poses. They may appear identical on the surface but the qualitative aspects couldn’t be more divergent.
I’m just skimming the surface of this material here. More to come.
Namaskaram to you all.