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| Hello,
I have just started practicing yoga at home in order to supplement my wrestling/brazilian jiu-jitsu. I did a little research before hand and it seemed like power yoga or ashtanga yoga would be the best choice for my needs. In fact, one of the greatest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners ever, Rickson Gracie, is a master of ashtanga yoga.
Anyways, I bought some Baron Baptiste DVD's and find them to be very enjoyable, and I have noticed a great difference in my flexibility in only these few short weeks. I have enjoyed yoga practice so much in fact, that even if I were to stop Jiu-Jitsu, I would like to continue doing yoga.
So, my questions are:
1.) What exactly is the difference between ashtnaga and power yoga? They sometimes seem to be referred to interchangably. The only thing thing I can tell thus far is that the movements of ashtanga are set, whereas the power yoga is not. Correct? Also, from researching DVD's, ashtanga practice seems to be much longer - 2+ hours, compared to 30-60 minutes for the power yoga routines.
2.) I eventually want to get to the point where I am able to do the really crazy positions. Power yoga doesn't seem to offer that to as great of a degree as ashtanga. Judging solely from the pictures on the box, the ashtanga first series looks to be equivelant to power yoga, and then the second and third series surpasses that, culminating with the advanced series. Would this be a correct assesment?
3.) If that assesment is basically correct, do you think that after I am ready to move on to more difficult positions than those offered in the Baron Baptiste DVD's that I have (i.e. the Live! series) that I could skip the ashtanga first series, and move right into the something like David Swenson's second and third series? Or would I still need to become proficient in his first series as well?
Thank you for your time... |
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| I don't know the answers to your questions, but I do know that once yoga draws you in, you are immersed. I do more yoga these days than running, which was my main sport. |
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| I've done some no-gi BJJ in the past, and as a regular Ashtanga practitioner myself, I would recommend it to supplement your practise. What I find about yoga is that it gives you great hip flexibility, which allows you tremendous freedom to put on a triangle choke from nowhere, or a crazy armbar from guard. My boyfriend says I cheat all the time using my flexibility, instead of using real rechnical skill in BJJ, but hey, he cheats all the time using his strength, so I guess we are even!
I would strongly caution against skipping through the first series and going into the advanced series because you think you want to learn the "cool" poses or you think you can master them. It takes time and practise to really "know" a pose. A lot of people can do urdhva dhanurasana (wheel) in a lot of different ways, but not everyone can do it correctly. Backbends are very important in Ashtanga practise, and if done incorrectly, can cause you years and years of grief -- this is the same in a lot of other asanas in the Primary Series.
If you are serious about your Ashtanga practice, I would highly recommend joining a good yoga studio in your area. Learn from a good teacher, learn the Ashtanga sequence, and then start attending the Mysore practices in the morning, where the teacher can tailor your progress to your own needs. You'll be doing the cool poses in the correct way in no time.
Good luck!
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| I think a fair number of martial artists also practice yoga to some degree. The Dog Brothers are very big on having a "healing practice" as part of your overall training. They use something from Burma I think at their main seminar in CA. You should check their website. Also, I have seen Luis from SBG say he relies on Bikram to keep his body whole.
One thing you may want to consider is whether the main goal is to enhance the attributes you use in grappling or to use it to counter some of the damage your body undergoes during training. I started martial arts at 6 with judo, got into boxing and kickboxing, stickfighting (we didn't use all the safety gear back then, but not as crazy as the Dog Brothers either) and even a little bjj, but now in my late 30's my body is really feeling the effects of pushing it all the time without focusing on healing. My wife has been bugging me for years to try yoga, but I really just gave it a try in the last year. It is helping, but I think I would have been well served to look for a healing/restorative practice years ago. A good yoga program should be able to do a little of both, but you may find something like Iyengar or Anusara is better for a healing focus.
Plus, as others have mentioned, you may find that yoga becomes fun just because. That has been my experience over the last year or so. |
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| If you decide to take yoga up as a sport and treat it as such, then I think that you miss the majority of what yoga is. Some people realise this through their practice and so become very dedicated, which is why they abandon all for it!!
It's not all about the physical aspect, it can teach you so much more. Read the tree of yoga by B.K.S Iyengar if you are intrigued. It explains things quite well. (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1570629013/ref=pd_sxp_f/103-8434813-6696607?v=glance&s=books)
The important part is that you have been drawn to it. What you do next is yours to decide, but wither way enjoy it  |
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| Hi
This might be what your looking for. It's called Rocket Yoga II from Larry Schultz at It's Yoga. It's kind of an intensive version of primary series Ashtanga but with lots of extra cool postures from the intermediate and even advanced series. Still only 90 mins. I bought the DVD after doing ashtanga for a few months and could manage pretty much most things after a couple of go's. It's fun but truth is recently i've started moving back to pure Ashtanga. Been reading the Gregor Maehle book which really goes into detail of each posture and also watched the John Scott DVD again. When you see what John Scott does with the primary series the strength and control of his inversions and vinyasa being able to do a fancy side crow doesn't seem such a big deal. But here's the link to the Rocket DVD
http://www.itsyoga.com/store/yogastore.htm
oh and here's some videos of me trying to get to grips with some of it.
http://www.youtube.com/user/grimmly2007
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Ashtanga Yoga vs. Power Yoga
