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| I was on Beliefnet.com last night and I clicked on the Yoga Style icon. According to them, Ashtanga is for the under 35 crowd.
How many practitioners of Ashtanga on here are over 35? I'm 35 and with K.Pattabhi being almost 91 I really don't think I'm anywhere near being too long in the tooth for this. |
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| Dear MB: Ashtanga Yoga exercise is for one who after doing it sufficiently does not feel any pains and over exercise, but feels that he/she did the exercise within their limits. And, that means a lot. It does not have anything to do with age. I do not know whether Mr. Jois is performing that exercise at 91. You should directly ask him that question. Now, what BKS Iyengar does as far as Asanas are concerned at his current age only few on the earth can imagine do it. What Adi Shankaracharya did at the age of 20, there is NO single person in the Universe (perhaps, I know it is possible, but I would like one on the bulletin board to come up and quote the person of today!) today who can do so.
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| That's true. Jois is still TEACHING but who knows if he is actually practicing? I think he's doing some kind of yoga, look how good he looks! He looks better at 91 than most 40 year olds in Western culture look.
I just found that very discriminatory, the statement about being under 35. Madonna began her Ashtanga practice at 37 as did Sting. They are still practicing over the age of 45. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 2479
  
Location: A Blue State | Well, I'm in my mid-40s and I did Ashtanga 3rd series for my Wednesday practice -- yes, all of it. And I have a DVD of BKS Iyengar's practice at age 57, which was all vinyasa and quite a bit more complex than the typical Ashtanga class. I don't think that the statement about Ashtanga being for those under 35 has merit. |
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| I think it's a bit of a catch phrase to indicate how physically demanding it is. I'm current 31, and most of the local crowd is in their 20s. They're also primarily from the university up the road.
That having been said, there are a number of hard core yogis beyond the 35 age limit. One of my personal heros is a yogini who's about 57, and able to do just about everything us young punks can.
It's also my understanding that PJ is nolonger practicing, for whatever reason.
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
 
| I remember someone asking in class when I first started yoga if Mr. Iyengar still uses props. My teacher smiled and said yes, but not at all the way you and I use them. When I finally saw photos of his practice (taken in about 2000, I think so he would have been about 82) I was absolutely boggled. Full kapotasana with a bench lifting his back or an upward facing kapotasana with his feet tied to a window grille, thighs on a bolster, a weighted bench at the chest, various rolled mats here and there. Yep, they were the same props alright but soooo not the way we use them!   And they tell me his practice is still like this today. He will do urdhva dhanurasana over the tressler (horse) and put the timer on for 30 minutes - no wonder he practices for 3 or 4 hours at a time. Something to aim for, eh? |
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| Ashtanga seems to be hell on this almost 40 year old newbie. Now, it's a screwed up rotator cuff courtesy of an over aggressive adjustment. I love it but ... this is about the third thing I have to rehab from since starting ashtanga 6 months ago. |
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Location: London, England | Hi Vinyasa
Try growling when the teacher comes near you to adjust you, sometimes snarling helps too...
Take care
Nick |
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| It probably depends on the person, everyone is different.
Some people say you can run all your life, but injury will stop that. Some people do, there's the veteral races after all, and some are around 70 years old. I know people such as myself who at 27 had to give it up due to too much stress on the knees.
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| Vinyasa: Ashtanga seems to be hell on this almost 40 year old newbie. Now, it's a screwed up rotator cuff courtesy of an over aggressive adjustment. I love it but ... this is about the third thing I have to rehab from since starting ashtanga 6 months ago.
===> With no offense, I am going to make a joke, but with a valid point. I am sorry in advance.
Dear V: Your name is Vinyasa (flowed yoga exercise), but it seems you are caught up in Vinasha (destruction!).
And, I think you must immediately correct your practice. After this third Rehab, you must disobey the teacher or give him up.
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| everyone is different but in general its easier to start ashtanga when 25 than when you are 35 and specially if you are not in a good shape. that doesnt mean you cannot do well when 35 but the effort is always gonna be bigger for sure. |
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| Well Ashtanga is and has been my main practice since I've started yoga and let's just say that as a grandfather, 35 was a while ago. In reality it depends a lot on the instructor. If they are concerned about alignment an instructor can give quite detailed instructions. Others will call out a pose with brief instructions in order not to breakup the flow sequence.
In our Ashtanga studio about 40% of us are over 35. So I don't see age by itself as a problem.
I was lucky enough to get ones who favored detailed instructions when I began. That way I can handle the faster teachers now -- as long as I stay very aware of my limitations.
Vinyasa, 3 injuries in 6 months is intolerable. One instructor said "Everybody falls in yoga, and everybody gets injured." But I think when we're older that we can't push our limits as hard as we used to. Personally I've found restorative yoga very helpful.
For now I'd consider an Iyengar or Anusara teacher, or if you want to keep up vinyasa then try power yoga with an alignment oriented instructor.
Edited by MrD 2006-04-25 5:45 PM
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Location: London, England | Hi Bay guy,
That's pretty impressive, practicing the third series. it's a hard taskmater isn't it!  I find that by the time you get to the headstand sequence, you've already been through some awsome postures, and then by the end of the headstands, my arms are usually like over-cooked spaghetti-limp and flaccid. Whe nmy teacher told me to try the sequence from a handstand rather than a headstand, I think my mouth fell open!
Take care
Nick |
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| Patthabi Jois stopped practiing at 60, but he is still doing some lighter versions of the asanas |
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| Yes unfortunately the doctor now tells me I separated my shoulder and not to raise my right arm for a few weeks. I'm not sure there's any type of yoga that accomodates me now. 
I think I just need to stop being type a about the ashtanga and also realize that "no pain no gain" doesn't apply here. Although I still feel mentally about 23, my body apparently is a bona fide 40. |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| Vinny - Iyengar yoga can accomodate you and I suppose Anusara could as well. Get to a physio or someone who can help keep that shoulder moving. Carefully, of course! But keepinga joint immobile completely is rather frowned upon these days, I believe. You want to avoid having it "freeze" which is a lousy state for a shoulder, believe me  |
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Location: London, England | Hi Vinyasa,
I'm a bona fide forty as well-it always makes me laugh when I actually write it down like that-i think like you, mentally i feel a lot younger-in fact, twenty three sound positively mature
I've never heard 'separatation' used as a medical diagnosis-do you mean subluxation or dislocation?
Nick |
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| Nick - thanks for asking - apparently there's a more technical term that gets shorthanded down to an AC separation - the ligament that connects the clavicle to the acromion (one of the shoulder bones) gets screwed up.
Should you care to experience it yourself, do Prasarita Padottasana C and have someone pull your (in my case quite inflexible) arms down behind you.
Btw I was in your neck of the woods recently and did a few led classes at Yoga Place near the Bethnal Green tube stop - i liked it quite a bit. |
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Location: London, England | Hi Vinnyasa,
I used to live up near there-is that the Bikram place, or am I confused? Thanks for the info on the acromioclavicular joint-that's why I got confused, because I thought you were talking about the glenohumeral (shoulder) joint-now I see!!
I can't believe that someone pulled your arms down like that in that posture-did they think you were a one-armed bandit slot machine? I wouldn't do that to anyone, because pulling the arms like that would only either increase the roundness of the shoulders or subluxate the ac joint potentially. Over enthusiastic teachers do sometimes pull the arms over-but they dont really understand the consequences of what they are doing to help. Extension of the shoulder joint can be limited by the orientation of the joint surfaces, or it can be limited by tightnes in the chest muscles or weakness in the latissimus dorsi, which pull the arm back. in most people it's tigth chest muscles which stop the shoulder from extending as far as it might-but there'e quite a big range in what people can do-something like between 15-50 degress is normal, so you can't just copy someone else. The trouble with this posture is, that it's possible to get a few more inches closer to the ground by scrunching up your shoulders and rounding them-then you often get shoulder joint problems as the ligaments of the shoulder get stretched, and sometimes problems in the ac joint as well-by the way, your doctor might be mistaken, you might have strained the bicep muscle which attaches to the coracoid process-next to the ac joint.Take care
Nick |
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Expert Yogi
Posts: 8442
| That's the kind of thing that makes me cringe and think "where did that teacher train?" and alos makes me think this is what makes a lot of people quit yoga because "yoga" hurt them when really it was the teacher, not the yoga  |
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Location: London, England | That's the kind of thing that makes me cringe and think "where did that teacher train?" and alos makes me think this is what makes a lot of people quit yoga because "yoga" hurt them when really it was the teacher, not the yoga
hi Tourist,
Too true! When I first took up yoga, my chiropractor wanted me to give up-she'd seen too many injuries. I wondered why something that was supposed to be good for your back, i.e yoga, was regarded with suspicion by a back care expert. I ended up doing the chiropractic degree and found out why she wanted me to stop. Unfortunately, the kind of teacher you mention is almost commonplace, and I've been taught by teachers from all over the world. When I ran a chiropractic clinic, people would ask me the same question-"shall i take up yoga to cure my back pain?" Ironically, I couldn't say yes because I know the level to which many teachers are trained to in respect of the spine. These teachers then assume that they have a wide knowlege of the back, when it is at best only perfunctory. i have now spent over 10 years studying the spine and am just beginning to feel fairly confident that i can understand how it's structure influences its function. It really is a beautiful part of the human body-anyway, I digress! Have a great weekend!
Nick
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Ashtanga & over 35
