WHY IS THE MYSORE STYLE YOGA PRACTICE SO EFFECTIVE?
If you practice Yoga or are just starting out. You are then surely asked what is the Mysore Style?
If you are a yoga practitioner, you have certainly heard of either led class or Mysore style yoga practice.
We will describe these two ways of transmission in the practice of Yoga.
◎ LED CLASS PRACTICE:
These are group lessons that are led by a teacher. The sequence is designed jointly with all the students attending the lessons. The asanas are led by moving from one posture to another. Thus, all students in the class practice the same sequence posture by posture as the teacher leads.
In the best case, the students are grouped by levels, so that it becomes easy for the teacher to lead the class fluently, and for the students to follow. If the class is all level, and even if the teacher gives alternatives, the more advanced students will stagnate for a while, and the more beginners will struggle at the some at first, until they can follow the average level required in the course, provided they come regularly.
As for the attention that the practice of Yoga requires, there will never be full attention, since the student will have to constantly listen to the instructions of the teacher, and if it is not a fixed sequence that the student knows, he will also have to look at the details that the teacher transmits. It is therefore not ideal to go deeper into the practice.
The rhythm transmitted by the teacher can never satisfy all students since we are all different. Even if the rhythm is more or less slow, the student will never be comfortable with the rhythm transmitted.
Three are two things that are useful in led practice: the rhythm imposed to bring the student not to stop at any opportunities conditioned by his mental, and even then, it is not necessarily won . And to propose a precise constant work to be maintained in the given period of time, in order to make the student evolve on a very precise point.
Otherwise, the students allow themselves to be led without conviction, and follow mechanically like robots. They may be partially relaxed at the end of the course, but there will be nothing constant in the duration and internal transformation, and after ten years, often not much will be built.
It is suggested that people with health problems avoid these sessions to minimize the risk of complications.
The teacher in this kind of approach, cannot have a watch and a help on all the students, of this fact there is not a benevolent control on the breathing and the movements, and it is not possible to have an adaptation in order to have good movements to move towards accuracy.
This is surely the most boring way to practice Yoga.
◎ MYSORE STYLE PRACTICE:
What we have observed is that at first people have preconceived ideas about this approach, thinking that you have to be advanced to enter the Mysore Style classes and that it is not for the all beginners. It's a shame, because it's precisely the most adapted approach for a beginner as well as for a student who already has a lot of practice behind him.
Ashtanga Yoga in Mysore Style is a traditional transmission practice welcoming students, beginners and advanced, practicing side by side at their individual pace, while being supervised and adjusted by the teacher. The teacher assists each student individually by giving physical adjustments and verbal instructions while observing the practice. New postures are gradually taught to the student as strength, skill, commitment and humility evolve.
This keeps in mind and respects:
◇ The intention of the practice
◇ Levels of practice
◇ Health conditions