Sequencing in the Style of Krishnamacharya, Part 1

by Baxter

We have spent some time on this blog talking about how BKS Iyengar and his teachers in the US approach the concept of sequencing yoga poses to create a practice. This is of practical value if you want to design and practice Iyengar style yoga on your own at home. It can also give you insight into the class you took last week as you try to understand the framework that your teacher may have used to put the class together.

But there are so many other yoga traditions and sequencing styles! Today, I'm going to begin exploring how to design a sequence in the tradition of Krishnamacharya. For those unfamiliar with T Krishnamacharya, he is sometimes considered a kind of godfather of modern Hatha Yoga practice.  And although he never traveled to the US to teach in his lifetime, many of his students who became advanced teachers have, most notably his son and grandson, TKV and Kaustub Desikachar.  Some of us in the US know this style of yoga as viniyoga, but this is a name that Gary Kraftsow, one of Krishnamacharya’s American students, coined.  TKV Desikachar prefers to say that they teach yoga in the tradition of Krishnamacharya, and that calling it “yoga” is sufficient without other branding.

Trunk and Branches by Brad Gibson

Two foundational concepts will assist us in looking at this way of sequencing: first, a yoga practice has goals, overriding ones and personal, individual ones, and second, the yoga practice you do today has to take into account all the personal variables of your life as it is today. This makes attending public classes a challenge from this system’s perspective. They consider it essential that you have do a good amount of svadyaya, or self-study, before or as you begin to practice to get very clear on where you are starting from and where you would like to go.

In addition, there are three stages of life that will help to determine the kind of practice you will do, and an analogy to the tree is used.  Regardless of which stage you are at, this system uses the Yoga Sutra concepts of sthira and sukha as underlying qualities you will be cultivating in your practice.  Sthira can be thought of as firm and steady, and sukha as gentleness. So you will be balancing these two different aspects no matter what yoga tools you employ in your sequence (for example, a practice that incorporates asana, pranayama and mantra).

Using this as the foundation of developing a practice, you put into action via something called vinyasa krama.  Desikachar defines the term as follows: 

Krama is the step, nyasa means “to place,” and the prefix vi- translates as “in a special way.” 

So you have to have a correct direction in order to have success with your practice.

Then there is the decision on what part of the “tree” you are.  When you are young, you are like the twig on a tree, young, flexible, yang in nature, strong.  Designing a practice for this group of people is known as “Svsti Krama,” and would resemble what in the west is knows as power flow or Ashtanga in the Pattabi Jois style.  For those of us after about 25 years of age, we are looked upon as more like the branch of the tree, a bit less flexible, a bit more differentiated in personality, thinking and body. These are the students who need to study their individual characteristics prior to jumping full bore into practice. This style of practice is termed “Raksana Krama.” Finally, for those with illness of any kind, the practice requires greater care in designing and the style is called “Cikitsa Krama,” cikitsa meaning “therapy.”

No matter which group or age category you personally fall into, Desikachar suggests that you start out where you are, taking a gradual and intelligent course in your practice, looking towards a certain goal. Then you choose the steps and tools to lead you towards your goal. Next time, we’ll start to get into the practical nuts and bolts of how to make that happen.