What is Ashtanga Yoga?
“Ashtanga Yoga” has two distinct meanings in contemporary practice, both foundational to modern yoga but separated by nearly two millennia.
The term first appears in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras (composed c. 1st–3rd century CE) as aṣṭāṅgayoga, meaning “eight limbs of yoga” in Sanskrit (aṣṭa = eight, aṅga = limb). Patanjali defined the eight limbs as yama (ethical restraints), niyama (personal observances), āsana (posture), prāṇāyāma (breath control), pratyāhāra (sense withdrawal), dhāraṇā (concentration), dhyāna (meditation), and samādhi (absorption). The aim is kaivalya—discernment of Puruṣa (pure consciousness) as distinct from Prakṛti (matter and cognition). This classical framework forms the philosophical backbone of nearly all yoga practiced today.
The second meaning refers to Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, a style of yoga as exercise popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century. Jois (1915–2009) developed and popularized the flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga, characterized by synchronizing breath with movements, linking individual poses (asanas) through flowing movements called vinyasas. Though named after Patanjali’s eightfold path, Jois’s system is a modern physical practice with distinct origins.
Origins & Lineage
Patanjali’s Eight Limbs
Patanjali begins his treatise on yoga (1st–3rd century CE) in the Yoga Sutras, a text comprising 196 aphorisms. The eight limbs form a sequence from the outer to the inner, progressing from ethical conduct through physical discipline to meditative absorption. The text draws from Samkhya, Buddhist traditions, and various older ascetic and religious strands of speculation from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.
Patanjali’s system was one voice among many in ancient India; the text itself fell into relative obscurity for nearly 700 years before later revival. The contemporary reverence for the Yoga Sutras as the definitive yoga text is largely a modern phenomenon.
The Mysore Lineage
Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888–1989) is often called the “Father of Modern Yoga”. Krishnamacharya traveled to the Himalayas in 1916 to learn yoga, where he met his guru Sri Ramamohan Brahmachari and spent seven and a half years with him. In 1924 Krishnamacharya supposedly researched an ancient text called the Yoga Korunta; Jois began his studies with Krishnamacharya in 1927 and was taught what Krishnamacharya called the Yoga Korunta method. Jois stated he had never seen the text; its authenticity is impossible to validate as no copy has ever been seen by scholars.
While working with the convalescing Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnamacharya was asked to set up a yoga shala. He created a krama-based posture sequence, fusing what was taught in the Yoga Korunta, tantric-based flowing sequences, and contemporaneous physiology and exercise science. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India. In 1975 Jois stayed for four months in Encinitas, California, marking the beginning of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga in America.
Jois sexually abused some of his yoga students by touching inappropriately during adjustments. Sharath Jois has publicly apologised for his grandfather’s “improper adjustments”.
How It’s Practiced
The Eightfold Path
Patanjali’s system is hierarchical, not merely a checklist. Yamas are ethical rules—ahiṃsā (nonviolence), satya (truthfulness), asteya (non-stealing), brahmacharya (moderation of energy), and aparigraha (non-possessiveness). Niyamas involve five guidelines for the inner world: śaucha (purity), santoṣa (contentment), tapas (discipline), svādhyāya (self-study), and īśvarapraṇidhāna (surrender to the divine).
Patanjali defines āsana in Yoga Sutra II.46: “The meditation posture should be steady and comfortable”—a posture one can hold for a period of time, staying relaxed, steady, comfortable and motionless. The Yoga Sutra does not list any specific asana. The physical postures familiar in modern studios are largely absent from Patanjali’s text.
Prāṇāyāma refers to regulation and control of energy through breath. Patanjali describes pranayama as the regulation of inhalation, exhalation, and retention. Pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses), dhāraṇā (concentration—“the binding of consciousness to a single place”), and dhyāna (meditation) lead to samādhi, the final limb where practitioners experience transcendence of the ego and a sense of oneness with the universe, the realization of the true nature of self and reality.
Ashtanga Vinyasa
The current style of teaching is called “Mysore style,” after the city in India where the practice was originally taught. Ashtanga yoga has given rise to various spinoff styles of power yoga. An Ashtanga yoga practice typically begins with five repetitions of surya namaskara A and B, followed by a standing sequence. The practitioner then progresses through one of six series of postures, followed by a standard closing sequence.
There were originally four series on the ashtanga vinyasa syllabus: primary, intermediate, advanced A, and advanced B. A fifth series was the “Rishi series,” which Pattabhi Jois said could be performed once a practitioner had mastered the preceding four. In his book Yoga Mala, Pattabhi Jois recommends remaining in each posture for five to eight breaths, or else staying in each posture for as long as possible.
Traditionally, Ashtanga yoga students memorised a sequence and practised it together without being led by a teacher. Teacher-led classes are typically taught twice per week, with teachers guiding the practice, adjusting and assisting with postures.
Ashtanga Yoga Today
Patanjali’s eightfold path is studied in philosophy courses, teacher trainings, and satsangs worldwide. The Yoga Sutras remain a canonical text in ashrams from Rishikesh to California, cited by teachers across lineages—Iyengar, Sivananda, Integral, and secular mindfulness alike.
Ashtanga Vinyasa is practiced in dedicated shalas and drop-in studios globally. In the early 21st century, Jois’s grandson, R. Sharath Jois, led the Ashtanga Yoga community as director of the K. Pattabhi Jois Ashtanga Yoga Institute (KPJAYI) in Mysore. Authorization to teach remains tightly controlled through the Mysore lineage. Since the early 1980s, influential Ashtanga yoga teachers have been partially responsible for the spread of vinyasa to the West, including Richard Freeman, Mary Taylor, Nancy Gilgolf, Tim Miller, Kino McGregor, Edie Stern, and John Scott.
Most practitioners encounter Ashtanga Vinyasa in heated studios labeled “power yoga” or “vinyasa flow”—derivatives that retain the breath-movement synchronization but abandon the fixed series. Pure lineage holders distinguish themselves by adherence to the six series and Mysore-style self-practice.
Common Misconceptions
The eight limbs are not a linear checklist. Though often taught as stages, Patanjali presents them as interdependent aspects of practice. You need not master yama before attempting āsana.
Āsana is not the goal. In Patanjali’s framework, āsana (yoga postures) form only one limb of the eightfold path. The physical practice serves breath control and meditation, not flexibility or strength as ends in themselves.
Ashtanga Vinyasa is not ancient. Despite claims to the Yoga Korunta, Ashtanga Vinyasa is a style of yoga as exercise popularized by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century, often promoted as a dynamic form of medieval hatha yoga, but its fixed series and vinyasa method are modern innovations drawing from early 20th-century physical culture.
The two meanings are not synonymous. Saying “I practice Ashtanga” in a yoga studio almost always means Jois’s vinyasa system, not systematic study of Patanjali’s eight limbs. The naming is homage, not identity.
How to Begin
For Patanjali’s path: Begin with the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali itself. Edwin Bryant’s translation with commentary (2009) and Chip Hartranft’s The Yoga-Sūtra of Patañjali (2003) offer accessible entry points. Study alongside practice—attempting samādhi without ethical grounding (yama/niyama) or physical steadiness (āsana) is premature.
For Ashtanga Vinyasa: Seek a Mysore-style class, not a led flow class. In Mysore format, beginners learn poses one at a time, memorizing the sequence at their own pace while practicing in a group setting. Pattabhi Jois’s Yoga Mala, written between 1958 and 1960, was published in English translation in 1999 and remains the authoritative text. Gregor Maehle’s Ashtanga Yoga: Practice and Philosophy (2006) offers detailed alignment and history.
Find an authorized teacher through the KPJAYI directory or study with senior teachers trained directly in Mysore. The practice demands consistency—traditionally six days per week, resting on moon days. Expect years in the Primary Series before progressing.