T. Krishnamacharya & B.K.S. Iyengar Practicing Yoga Asana & Pranayama / Bandha

Many yoga students are unfamiliar with this series of videos so I wanted to post some samples here as reference.

You can see how Pattabhi Jois’s ‘Ashtanga’ grew out of this approach (which is related to but distinct from the ‘ashtanga yoga’ of Patanjali’s yoga sutras). Fellow pupil of T. Krishnamacharya, BKS Iyengar (both shown in these videos) grew in another direction with his practice and teachings, but as you can see the ‘vinyasa’ aspect was present.

Mid-way through this second video you can see Krishnamacharya practicing Bandhas (pranic ‘locks’). This is a great visual reference. You can see the squeezing and contraction on the exhalation to empty the lungs. Notice use of a ‘false inhalation’ to umbrella the abdominal wall into Udyana Bandha. There is no contraction going on at all in the rectus abdominal (six pack muscles when he does this).