Hatha Yoga Pradipika, calls the practice a “ladder” for those who want to reclaim the heights of Ashtanga Yoga.

  Another school or mode of Ashtanga Yoga is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga — the practice that is the subject of this book. Today this school is often called simply Ashtanga Yoga. This abbreviated form of the name is a bit confusing because it could refer to either Ashtanga Yoga as a whole or the subdivision that is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. The term Ashtanga Yoga is now universally accepted, and that’s the one I use in this book. The reader will have to judge from context whether Ashtanga refers to the general mantle of Patanjali’s yoga or the specific discipline of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

  Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was founded by the seer Vamana, who according to my Indian preceptors lived four thousand years ago. During that period, cities in India were growing rapidly, and as a result the people felt increasing demands on their time. The society needed a practice that encompassed all the elements of Patanjali’s original yoga but took up less time. Rishi Vamana fulfilled this need by introducing the concept of vinyasa in his text Yoga Korunta.

  In vinyasa, postures (asanas, the third limb) are combined with internal muscular contractions (bandhas) and breath control or extension (pranayama, the fourth limb) to form what are called “seals” (mudras). The postures are performed in particular