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One way to understand the Ashtanga practice is thr One way to understand the Ashtanga practice is through the architecture of the spine.

The spine, with its natural curves, resembles the sacred Om (ॐ), not as a symbol to imitate, but as a reminder that intelligence is already woven into the body’s design.

Ujjayi is the spine itself: the central axis of the practice, creating continuity, rhythm, and presence.

Bandhas are the springs that suspend and support this axis. They stabilize the spine at key points, preserving its natural curves while allowing both strength and elasticity.

Drishti gives direction to the spine. It roots every extension and guides every flexion, allowing movement to arise with purpose rather than effort.

When these three work together
Ujjayi as the axis, 
Bandhas as the support, 
Drishti as the direction
the practice becomes more than a sequence of postures. 
It becomes an intelligent system where breath, structure, and attention move as one.
Yoga starts with listening.(Richard Freeman)
Yoga Yoga starts with listening.(Richard Freeman)
Yoga ends with listening. (John Scott )
Between these two ideas lives the Vinyasa system.

Not a system of shapes.
Not a system of performance.

A system of listening.
Listening to breath.
Listening to rhythm.
Listening to the subtle shifts between effort and surrender.
Listening to the body, to attention, to the changing tides within.

Each inhale begins a movement.
Each exhale completes one.
Every posture arrives and dissolves.
There is a beginning.
There is an end.
And in between - one great ocean of movement, breath, sweat, and presence.
The practice asks us to stay.

To hear what happens in the spaces between the asanas.
To recognize that transformation rarely happens in the pose itself, but in the quality of attention we bring to it.

Movement becomes meditation.
Repetition becomes inquiry.
Practice becomes listening.

And perhaps that listening never really ends.
Only deepens.
A never-ending longing to return.
To breathe.
To move.
To listen.

This is the Ashtanga for me
International Yoga Day 2026 I am a late bloomer.
 International Yoga Day 2026

I am a late bloomer.
It has taken me years to recognize my dharma — and in many ways, still is.

Standing on the yoga mat for a full generation, teaching the things I love the most: Ashtanga and listening

is not a simple path, yet it feels deeply natural.

Today I take a moment to acknowledge the teachers who left a strong signature on my path and shaped the way I practice, teach, and listen.

With love and gratitude 
Divya Rolla (@divyarollayoga)
Joshna Ramakrishnan (@joshna_ramakrishnan) 
Murthy Meghavan (@megavanmurthy) 
Mahesh Vinayakram (@maheshvinayakram)
Rinat Reina (@rinatreinayoga)
Kia Naddermier (@mysoreyogaparis)
Sandra Schultze (@sandraschultze___yoga)

Happy International Yoga Year Ahead.

Beautiful shots by @keren_agam @markiethepirate
The space between the notes. The space between the The space between the notes.
The space between the asanas.

When I think about practice and music, I keep returning to this:

Not the posture.
Not the note.
But what happens in between.

The asanas are the skeleton.
The notes are the structure.

But the experience
the actual living practice
happens in the transitions.

In the breath between shapes.
In the silence between sounds.

That space is not empty.
It is where everything happens.
Bandhas & Internal Music What if the bandha syste Bandhas & Internal Music

What if the bandha system is a way of tuning internal music?

In Haṭha and Ashtanga Yoga, we work with energy along the spine. The spine is traditionally mapped through seven chakras—seven energetic centers that organize perception, vitality, and consciousness.

Interestingly, the chakra system is  built on a scale of seven notes.
From Mula to Sahsrara , from C To B .

Two different maps—one of sound, one of energy,  both describing patterns of harmony and movement.

When we engage the bandhas, we support and organize the spine and the nervous system. This creates the conditions for energy to move with clarity, like an instrument coming into tune.

Chakras = the energetic scale of the spine
Musical notes = the sonic scale of sound
Bandhas = the tuning system that aligns both

The breath becomes the musician.
The body becomes the instrument.
The practice becomes listening.

Bandhas are not just muscular engagement. They refine structure, stabilize the system, and allow subtle energy to circulate with intelligence and ease.

Maybe yoga is less about doing shapes
and more about learning to hear the music already inside
Ashtanga Yoga & Music Workshops Some of our most a Ashtanga Yoga & Music Workshops
Some of our most ancient human experiences are rooted in sound — hums, chants, rhythm, language, listening, and hearing.
In the yogic tradition, knowledge itself begins with Śruti — “that which is heard.”
Over the years, both Ashtanga Yoga and music have become central ways through which I navigate the world — physically, emotionally, and energetically.
These workshops explore the meeting point between intelligent Ashtanga movement and deep listening.
Using breath, rhythm, sound, music, and attention, we investigate how hearing can refine perception and deepen practice.
The sessions combine guided movement, embodied exploration, and sound-based experiences to open new layers of sensitivity, presence, and connection.
I have several workshops coming up around the world and am also open to new invitations and collaborations.
The intelligence of synchronization Why I keep i The intelligence of synchronization 

Why I keep insisting that whether the class is full or not, we keep the mats very close to each other for the practice? 

The Ashtanga practice was always based on self practice supported by a group of people practicing in the same room and allowing synchronization of energy and support to self and each other. 

This synchronization of collective rhythm  is not just an emotional or spiritual experience.
It is also a deep biological and evolutionary mechanism.

Rhythm organizes human consciousness, always has.

Long before language or philosophy, we connected through breath, movement, sound, and repetition. In many ways, we still do.

Krishnamacharya understood that synchronized practice can shape consciousness, organize the mind, and generate inner power. 

A deeper idea that yoga is a rhythmic system, not just a collection of poses.

For him, vinyasa, the coordination of breath and movement, was a way to organize prana, the nervous system, and awareness itself. 
The counting, pacing, breath cycles, and transitions formed something almost musical.

Modern Ashtanga also emerged within the cultural environment of 1930s Mysore: 
group training, Indian and British physical culture, public demonstrations, discipline, and synchronized movement. 

Even if Krishnamacharya never explicitly said “group practice creates social cohesion,” he built a method that works through exactly that mechanism.

Then Pattabhi Jois developed this further. He transformed Krishnamacharya’s vinyasa approach into a highly structured system with fixed sequences, fixed counting, continuous breathing, and daily group practice.

And in the Mysore room, something unique emerged:
each student moves at their own pace, yet the entire room breathes inside one shared rhythmic field.

It becomes something between a jazz ensemble, a ritual, a collective meditation, and an orchestra without a conductor.

That’s why I keep coming back to the experience of a group practicing closer together regardless the room size …
The space between Freedom and Discipline . Freed The space between 
Freedom and Discipline .

Freedom without discipline becomes chaos. 
Discipline without freedom becomes rigidity.

Somewhere between the two lives balance, ease, and happiness. 
Somewhere between the two live curiosity and creativity.

Ashtanga and music — the two foundations of my practice — are both built on deeply structured systems. 
But without freedom, structure stops breathing. 
It no longer becomes wings to life, but an anchor.

The practice is not choosing one over the other. 
It is learning how to hold both.

Structure that supports freedom. 
Freedom that gives life to structure.
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