What Does Long-term Ashtanga Practice Really Look Like?

If you spend much time on social media, you might think that everyone who maintains a long-term Ashtanga practice does an acrobatic three-hour asana practice six days per week and all before 6am. Okay, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit. But, the truth is I was very curious to see the results of our Ashtanga research survey. Because, my long-term Ashtanga practice (I’m in my third decade of practice now!) doesn’t look much like whatever is being shared around Instagram and Youtube these days. There are lots of myths about what Ashtanga practice is. And those myths include ideas about what long-term Ashtanga practitioners do. So, what does a mature Ashtanga practice really look like over decades? Read on to find out.

A short note on statistics

Most of the relevant data that we report in this article are summary statistics (averages, totals, etc.). We also report trends. And we share some thoughts about why we might be seeing those trends. In a few instances, we report the results of specific statistical tests that describe the relationship between two variables. If you’d like to know more about how we collected and analyzed our data in our Ashtanga research survey, you can find all those details by clicking the button below.

Frequency of long-term Ashtanga practice

Long-term practitioners practice Ashtanga consistently, at least three or more days per week. Ninety-two percent of total practitioners who had practiced 11-20 or more than 20 years practiced at least three days per week. Forty-nine percent of practitioners who had been practicing for 4-10 years practiced five or more days per week. Fifty-five percent of those who’d been practicing for 11-20 years practiced five or more days per week. And 59% of practitioners who had been practicing for more than 20 years practiced at least five days per week.

Long-term Ashtanga practice happens at home

Some practice time for long-term practitioners was in a Mysore class with a teacher. But, the majority of Ashtanga practice time among long-term practitioners was NOT in a studio doing Mysore practice. Even less of their practice was in a studio doing led classes. The vast majority of those who had been practicing for more than 20 years did few or no days of Mysore studio practice or led classes each week. Eighty-one percent of those most experienced practitioners did two or fewer days per week of Mysore practice in a studio. And 94% did two days or less each week of led classes.

So, where are long-term Ashtanga practitioners doing their practice? At home. The longer respondents had been practicing, the more days per week they practiced at home. Among practitioners with more than 20 years of experience, 43% practiced at home five or more days per week. An additional 26% of that group practiced at home three to four days per week. That’s more than ⅔ of that very experienced group of practitioners who practiced three or more days per week at home.

What sequence is sustainable?

The majority of long-term Ashtanga practitioners practiced some mix of primary and intermediate sequences. Even among practitioners with more than 20 years of experience, only 21% practiced any of the advanced sequences. Only 6% practiced one of the advanced series as their regular practice. The majority of long-term practitioners (79%) practiced at a medium or medium-high level of effort in their practice.

Effects of long-term Ashtanga practice

What happens to our breathing in Ashtanga over time? The percentage of time that respondents were aware of their breath during their Ashtanga practice increased as years of practice increased. Additionally, as years of practice increased, the percentage of time that respondents felt their breath was restricted during practice decreased. So, it seems likely that both an interest in the subtler aspects of practice like breathing, as well as the ability to maintain focused concentration, increase over years of practice. Using the breath increases the strength and pliability of the muscles that we use in breathing. So that also likely contributes to reduced restriction and increased ease of breathing over time.

What happens to our awareness of bandhas and drishti in Ashtanga over time?

The trends in practitioners’ awareness of bandhas and drishti during their practice were slightly more variable than the trend in breathing. Generally, the percentage of time that practitioners were aware of bandhas and drishti increased as years of practice increased. Only 21% of respondents who had been practicing for 4-10 years and 33% of respondents who had been practicing for 11-20 years reported that they were aware of bandhas during most of their practice. However, 52% of practitioners who had been practicing for more than 20 years reported that they were aware of their bandhas 76-100% of the time during their practice.

Similarly, 39% of respondents who had been practicing for 4-10 years and 45% of respondents who had been practicing for 11-20 years reported that they were aware of their drishti during most of their practice. However, 61% of practitioners who had been practicing for more than 20 years reported that they were aware of their drishti 76-100% of the time during their practice.

What happens to our understanding of bandhas in Ashtanga over time?

Trends showing how our understanding of bandhas evolves over time were less clear. A majority (79%) of all practitioners who had been practicing for at least four years agreed or strongly agreed that bandhas were physical. The longer respondents had been practicing Ashtanga, the more likely they were to agree or strongly agree that bandhas were energetic and/or an object of concentration. Very few of any practitioner group agreed or strongly agreed that bandhas were something else besides physical, energetic, or an object of concentration (16%). What this suggests to me is that there is a tendency to understand bandhas as something more subtle than just physical as years of practice increase.

Modification makes practice sustainable

Nearly all long-term practitioners modified their practice (more than 98%). The most common reasons that respondents modified their practice were injury (79%), being short on time (66%), and feeling tired (64%). Additionally, a little less than half of long-term practitioners modified their practice when they were sick (47%) or when they couldn’t do the full expression of a pose (50%).

The most common ways that long-term practitioners modified their practice were to modify the practice to accommodate an injury (83%), modify the postures (74%), shorten the practice (71%), or modify the transitions (66%). Additionally, about half of long-term practitioners reported that they either added preparation poses/stretches (56%) or left out one or more poses (52%).

Other habits of long-term Ashtanga practitioners

Additional practices

The majority of long-term practitioners also did other practices in addition to asana. The most common additional practice (82%) that long-term practitioners incorporated was pranayama. The majority (78%) also reported that they did a meditation practice. About half (55%) of all long-term practitioners in our study also did a chanting practice.

Travel to Mysore

There was a significant relationship between years of Ashtanga practice and whether or not someone made a trip to Mysore. The longer people had been practicing, the greater the likelihood that they made at least one trip to Mysore for practice (p<.0001; Cramer’s V= .25). Of those who had been practicing for 4-10 years, only 17% had traveled to Mysore. Of those who had been practicing for 11-20 years, 25% had traveled to Mysore. However, of those who had practiced for more than 20 years, half of the respondents indicated they had made at least one trip to Mysore.

Minimal interest in watching online Ashtanga videos

Additionally, there was a significant relationship between years of Ashtanga practice and frequency of watching videos of Ashtanga practice online. The longer someone had been practicing Ashtanga, the less frequently they watched videos of Ashtanga practice online (p<.0001; Cramer’s V=.22). Only twenty-five percent of respondents who had been practicing Ashtanga for 4-10 years either rarely or never watched videos of Ashtanga practice online. Of practitioners who had been practicing for 11-20 years, 43% of respondents indicated they rarely or never watched videos of Ashtanga practice online. However, a majority of practitioners (60%) who had been practicing for more than 20 years reported that they either rarely or never watched videos of Ashtanga practice.