There are lots of myths about Ashtanga practice and us as practitioners. Like any story, some of it is probably based in truth. And much of it is often exaggerated. One of those stories is about how Ashtanga practitioners actually practice and what it means to modify Ashtanga yoga. If we do an Ashtanga practice, then at some point we first learned the practice, probably from a teacher. Initially, we likely learned that whatever we were taught was the Ashtanga practice. But what was hopefully true was that that was the right practice for us, in that moment.
And just like anything with a structure, think learning a language or how to play a musical instrument, there are times to stick with the structure, and then there are times to make changes to it. How many “rules” to the English language did you learn exceptions to in grade school? In Ashtanga, we’ve come to refer to those changes to the structure of practice as “modifications” or “modifying”.
Structure and Ashtanga yoga
Who decides what the underlying general structure is that makes up Ashtanga yoga? With no structure at all, it wouldn’t be Ashtanga yoga. Because something like yoga is pretty subjective, we rely on those who have spent many years practicing to help us decide what the structure is. Hopefully, they learned from their own direct experience AND from the collective experience of those that they learned from, who had themselves practiced for many years, and so on backward. This is one way we could define the idea of “lineage practice”. The collective direct experience of many practitioners over many years ideally informs how the practice is taught, practiced, and passed on.
For some reason, Ashtangis, both within the community and outside of it, have a reputation for not making changes to the structure of the practice. There are lots of assertions floating out there on social media and elsewhere that we don’t modify Ashtanga yoga. There seem to be some ideas that if we admit to making any changes to the practice, that our practice is no longer authentically Ashtanga. Where does our idealization of not modifying come from? And what is really true? Our research project gave us an opportunity to answer that question. In this article, we’ll focus on when, how, and why Ashtanga practitioners modify their practice.
Briefly, here’s a quick tutorial on what you need to know about statistics to understand the results we share in this article. Statistical analysis, in the most general sense, is a method of calculating the likelihood of one particular outcome in a situation given a specific set of circumstances. We include the information: n=some number, to tell you how many people answered the question we report on. Because survey participants were not required to answer every question, the sample size for each question varies.
Reporting statistical significance
You’ll see within the text, this symbol: p=some number. This value, referred to as the “p-value”, is the probability that variables in the survey are unrelated. If the p-value is less than 0.05, then there is a less than 5% probability that the variables are unrelated. Or, you could say there is more than a 95% probability that the variables are related. We would then say there is a statistically significant relationship between the two variables.
We also report the “effect size” of the relationship between the two variables. Effect size describes the strength of the association between two related variables. For example, we might say that two related variables have a weak, moderate, or strong relationship to one another. This is noted as Cramer’s V=some number. We say there is a small association when Cramer’s V is between 0.1 and 0.2. There is a moderate association when Cramer’s V is between 0.3 and 0.4. And there is a strong association when Cramer’s V is equal to 0.5 or greater.
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Are you breaking the rules when you modify Ashtanga yoga?
Ashtanga yoga is probably best described as a lineage practice as we mentioned above. That too could be debated because Ashtanga yoga as taught by Pattabhi Jois hasn’t been around that long. Of course, Jois learned the underlying fundamentals from Krishnamacharya. And Krishnamacharya learned it from his teacher, whether that was in the current form or not. How long does a practice have to survive in order to be considered part of a lineage? That’s a big question and one that doesn’t really have a single answer.
But I describe Ashtanga as a lineage practice to contrast it with learning a more concrete skill, like adding and subtracting for example. Simple math calculations have right and wrong answers. It makes teaching and learning those skills a more objective process. Learning and teaching something like yoga is far more subjective. Who decides when you’re doing it right? And how do you know when you know enough to know when to change something?
If we change everything then we are no longer doing Ashtanga yoga. But, if we are too rigid, we risk injuring ourselves, and potentially missing other benefits of making appropriate changes to our practice. Somewhere in there exists a healthy middle ground of the right amount of adaptation to context and circumstances while maintaining the lineage. We might look at that as truly being present and responding to the moment at hand.
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What do we mean by “modify Ashtanga yoga”?
Ashtanga yoga has generally been taught as several set sequences. Postures are done in order to presumably create a particular effect. We also have an idea that most postures have an endpoint that we call “full expression”. So we could consider anything that adds to or takes away from the order of postures to modify Ashtanga yoga. We could also think of doing a version of a posture that is something other than full expression as a modification.
As we talk about the idea of modifying our Ashtanga yoga practice, it’s worth considering our language. By using words like modify or change, it sounds like we have an idea that there is one “better” or “right” order of postures or expression of an individual posture. But for me personally, that couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s certainly not the way I approach my personal practice or the way I teach. But these are the words that are most common. Therefore I think they are the clearest way to explain what we mean, among our community of practitioners, when we say modify Ashtanga yoga. But, if nearly everyone is “modifying”, is it really a modification if it’s actually the norm?
Do Ashtangis modify their practice?
Overwhelmingly, yes! Ninety-three percent (910 out of 976 respondents) said they modify their Ashtanga yoga practice some of the time. In a separate question, we asked respondents which of the following are reasons that they modify their practice. The three most common reasons practitioners reported were injury, being short on time, and feeling tired.

When do Ashtangis omit practice altogether?
We could argue that if yoga is broadly about cultivating balance and equanimity, then knowing when to rest is as important as knowing when to practice. Along those lines, we asked survey participants when they chose to skip practice on some days. Similarly to when practitioners modify practice, the most common reasons for skipping practice altogether were: feeling sick, taking a weekly rest day or moon day, and being short on time.

What about ladies’ holiday and pregnancy?
We also asked survey respondents to comment on whether ladies’ holiday and/or pregnancy were reasons they chose to modify or skip practice. Of course, those situations don’t apply to everyone in our survey. They don’t even apply to a single individual over the entire course of their practice life. Practitioners to whom it was relevant were pretty evenly divided between whether they usually, sometimes, or rarely practiced during ladies’ holiday. Among those who indicated that they choose not to practice during ladies’ holiday, the most common reason for abstaining was that it simply didn’t feel good to practice. Pregnancy was another reason that practitioners chose to either modify or abstain from practice. But, as this is a whole additional subject on its own, we didn’t ask further questions on this subject.


When do Ashtangis modify their practice?
Years of practice and modification
More specifically, we wanted to know if there was a relationship between the context of practitioners, like age or years of practice, and when they chose to modify their Ashtanga yoga practice. We found small associations between respondents’ reasons for modifying practice and a few aspects of practitioners’ situations. We found a small association between how long someone had been practicing and whether they indicated that they modified their practice for several reasons. Generally, the longer respondents had been practicing, the more likely they were to say they modified their practice when they were tired (p=.005, Cramer’s V=.13), injured (p<.001 Cramer’s V=.22), or short on time (p=.001, Cramer’s V=.14). Interestingly, the longer respondents had been practicing, the less likely they were to modify their practice because a teacher instructed them to (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.18).

Age, gender, and modification
There were also small associations between some contexts and age and gender. We found that practitioners were generally less likely to modify their Ashtanga yoga practice because they were sick (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.14) or because a teacher instructed them to (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.14) as their age increased. Our data also showed that men were less likely to modify practice because they were sick (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.11) or because a teacher instructed them to (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.14) when compared to women.


Practice sequence and modification
Finally, we found a small association between the practice sequence that respondents were doing and whether they modified practice when injured or because their sequence felt anatomically unbalanced. As complexity of practice sequence increased, respondents were more likely to modify their practice when injured (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.16). Those who practiced full intermediate and/or some advanced sequences were more likely to modify practice because their sequence felt anatomically unbalanced (p=.01, Cramer’s V=.12).

Other reasons for modifying practice
From open-answer style questions, we learned that respondents also modify their Ashtanga yoga practice for other reasons that we didn’t list. Those reasons included things like modifying to accommodate a travel schedule or when under mental and emotional stress. Respondents also said they made changes to focus on a specific aspect of practice like standing poses, backbends, or hip-opening.
- Whenever my time or energy or physical or mental condition allowed or desired
- Traveling far distances
- I am not able to do the full expression of some postures but work toward it rather than modify, except backbend as described above
- As I explained in my answer to an earlier question, I am over 70 and have been suffering from painful arthritis for the past few years. During the same period, I’ve also experienced a reduction in strength and flexibility and an increase in tiredness, and therefore have had to modify my regular practice in line with this reduced physical ability and experience of pain.
- Never really had a practice routine. I had multiple restarts over the years. Energized for about a month, then would fade because studio was too hard to get to.
- When I felt like it
- When I was feeling lazy..not necessarily just tired!
- Lack of sleep due to perimenopause
- I do not practice on the first three days of my ladies' holiday and on the first day back to practice, I practice Primary Series and do not do the finishing posture inversions.
- I have been dealing with a knee injury since November of 2019 that is just now healed up. I also have a new issue in my left shoulder which is interfering with my binds. I’m 72, so modifying is part of my practice.
- My teacher lets me modify my practice when I can't do the full expression on a pose because of some limitations. Such as Marichyasana D.
- I don’t do padmasana- it’s not ideal but I keep the entire primary series with intensity.- I’m OK with it. So I modify the marichyasanas etc., I can bind in C. I’ll modify anything that I see might be causing me soreness- eg., jump backs if ankle is sore.
- Over the years my practice has deepened significantly. My lifestyle has also changed due to the powerful depths of this practice. Seasons affect my practice since I live in northern New England with long cold winters.
- My practice is always modified - due to challenges in my wrists.
- I have stopped doing the backbends - last time at a primary led class I went back to an old pattern that creates soreness in my lower back. So now I just to the intermediate up to ustrasana. I do a preparation with legs behind my head before I go into supta kurmasana, take extra time in Marichyasana C and do a modification of Mariyachasana D.
- I began concentrating a lot more on the standing sequence
- Half days off sometimes, sometimes just a totally explorative practice, other days right on the vinyasa, modifying freely when I felt the need or call or string desire... But most of the time, staying closer to the exact way, out of CHOICE.
- When traveling
- When I feel laaaazy
- I have always modified the practice! I add in extra bits (e.g. hip and shoulder openers) and if I can't do a full expression or have an injury I adapt or skip bits out.
- After losing my right leg below the knee in 2016.
- When I hit a plateau of unacceptable duration (beyond months). Stupid me, stopped at Pasasana for 12 years!
- No back bending during full moon and new moon
- Always. Unable today to do original practice
- My Shala was very unsuitable for me - ie lots of idle chitchat from teachers, students talking out loud. Sometimes I would just roll up my mat and leave. Then I’d finish at home but sometimes I’d have to cut it short due to work commitments.
- I take 1-2 days each week and do a shorter practice.
- When needing therapeutics and progressions
- When dealing with intense emotion, anxiety and depression
- Traveling for vacation
- I would modify when my breathing was a struggle.
- I modified my practice after I had been in a three-time roll-over car crash. Before the car crash, I modified when really sick.
- In 2002, I modified my practice after my hysterectomy until I recovered. After I tore my shoulder tendon in 2018, I modified catvari. Otherwise, I'm hardly ever sick. Right now I don't think of myself as "injured" even though I can't practice like I used to. I do whatever I can.
- Modified practice starting in 2013 due to severe osteoarthritis in hips- would sit down to do utthita hasta padangusthasana, for instance. Did not skip poses though. Was using a cane to walk but still did full practice. Had to modify practice after first hip replacement in 2014- told not to practice for one month after surgery- just did PT on my own for that month. Able to resume primary after one month but slowly added in poses- doing full primary within 1-2 months. Added in some intermediate after about 5 months. Same after second hip replacement, although added asanas back in more quickly as I knew more about how to do this. I also didn't practice for 4-5 days after cataract surgeries, and then didn't do headstand for about 3 weeks.
- When mentally stressed
- When I needed to for various reasons - low energy, weather, too busy etc.
- When I have too much to do... 4 kids and the other yogis I help with their practice. When I travel. Practice depends on the season; body is warm or cold.
- I do what feels best for my body
- Grief.
- I modify my own practice to suit me. So when injured, for instance, I practice safely. Allow injuries time to heal, then move appropriately. I am a yoga therapist and trained in anatomy. Know it isn't just on a physical level - but this helps when moving through the body.
- Injury-hand surgery
- I haven't needed to modify my practice until I hit the leg behind the head poses in second series. I have been stuck on these poses for about 8 years now. During this period, I have mostly stuck to the sequence, but I have also realised that the "practice and whole is coming" principle doesn't always apply. I have then started doing a lot of preparatory poses before eka pada sirsasana.
- I would only practice what I could without modification and stop if I was struggling. I’ve learned not to fight posture for the sake of it. If injured I would just do standing until my body feels right to move on stopping was necessary no pressure to achieve more.
- I always include some modifications to facilitate a long-term injury and to avoid several poses which have been shown to be high risk (e.g. should err stand).
How do Ashtangis modify their practice?
Ashtangis indicated that they make different kinds of changes to their practice depending on the situation. Some of the most common ways that respondents reported included: changing something about the pose itself, changing the sequence, modifying the transitions, or shortening the practice. We also learned that Ashtangis modify by softening their practice overall, by stepping instead of jumping in vinyasas, leaving out jump throughs, or simply not going as deep into postures. They make changes that accommodate the reality of their bodies, when they’ve had experiences like having hip replacements, leg amputation, or arthritis. And some practitioners reduced their overall amount of time spent on asana, in order to focus more time on meditation and/or pranayama practice.

- I had stiffness in my right big toe joint, so practiced non-ashtanga poses before or after the practice to open it up. I had stiffness/weakness/eversion in my right ankle so fixed that with various postures such as vrikshasana and tadasana variations which are not in the primary series
- I did the same as I was doing before but this time it is more focus on dristhi, ujjyayi, bandha, and all postures are performing very gently.
- I sometimes add some posture to prepare for the certain posture (especially back bending) to make more accessible to the full posture.
- Backbend preps instead of Urdhva Dhanurasana
- All of the above
- Practice 5-6 times a week, learned more poses, doing full primary series now
- I have done whatever my teacher recommended.
- Due to my spine fracture, I had to be very careful of what I am doing and many times modifying the pose appropriately, especially when trying some backbends. Also putting in extra positions outside ashtanga to strenghten my back or relieve back pain. But I tried to keep the pattern of Jois scheme. If putting some other movement, always trying to intuitively do it in order of what is probably good to do before or after a certain posture.
- Only during pregnancies and even then, it was never suggested to simply remove postures. If it was one that I could no longer access, I would mentally count the vinyasas in my mind so that I maintained the full circle of the series. Also, I mean, some of the last postures I have been given in Advanced A now are so challenging - in my very best, I am modifying, not because my teacher told me to modify until I cultivate the strength to do it but just because it's the closest thing I can get to the posture while maintaining the correct vinyasa and tristana practice. To an outsider, it might certainly look modified!
- There’s many ways to modify- many of the above are options- I like to continue practicing as much as possible so I can modify a posture donut doesn’t aggregate soreness or an injury. If I’m sick meditation in some form is healing and preferable.
- My right hip is severely arthritic and has to be replced. My left hip has alredy been replaced. My "practice" needs to account for that. Ashanga teachers need to recognize that students get old and their joints deteriorate.
- I've used props, mainly blocks to help me with jump back & through, or for a better alignment eg in trikonasana
- Eliminated straining elements like pick up and jump back if I need to save energy or if I feel like it will give me a headache or if I do not want to much work for my pelvic floor on certain days
- Hip Openers or back drops preparation, also some exercises to strength the knees
- In lack of time: using 3 breaths per pose instead of 5
- I left out vinyasa between sides of the same posture
- The modifications that I make and have made over the last several years are an attempt to take care of my body and provide for health as I age. Many postures that I can still do have been dropped or modified in this spirit.
- I concentrated more on the breath and didn‘t go so deep into the poses
- I do research and/or therapy asanas after Urdhva Danurasana but before finishing.
- I have added hugging a block between my thighs in all backbends: camel thru kapo, wheel and drop backs due to arthritis in my lower back, L5. I also use a shoulder stand pad due to a herniated disk in neck. I am still able to do headstands in 2nd but try to be very mindful of pressure on my head.
- I’ve had 7 surgeries on my wrists and practiced for almost 3 years without putting my hands on my mat. I modified by using my elbows as my foundation and using bolsters for support when necessary. It is possible to do a full primary series without placing the hands on the ground. I still use my elbows and forearms when my wrists are sore.
- I've "split" my practice to include more movement toward back-bending, and have reduced the number of forward folds I have been doing to help mitigate the effects of depression after a breakdown.
- I've added pranayama and meditation to my daily practice, and reduced the amount of time I spend in asana.
- I've left out postures/ modified postures that are dangerous to my particular anatomy i.e knees.
- I mix the series.
- I repeat postures for there theraputic benifits- to create strength, help assist release and to address knots in mymind and body.
- Poses as suggested by my teachers at the end of practice to address strength or injury issues.
- Since the pandemic and being able to work with my teacher regularly I've had some injuries happen which resulted in being provided with a short series of asanas, stretches, or movements to address those issues and in some cases a modified practice. For example, the warmup was that series, followed by cat/cow in lieu of sun salutations, then a selection of poses that matched the order in which they appear in the sequence but left out anything that would be problematic while keeping me from overdoing with the injury.
- The key modification I've had to make to practice regularly and sustainably was to remove the chaturanga (or even knees-chest-chin) to updog transition from my practice to address my shoulder injuries. Until I stopped working a few in to see how it would feel, I kept having issues. I stuck with just plank for the exhale and inhale, then pushed back to down dog. Eventually I dropped my knees so I could bring shoulders into position for a cobra or up dog on a few of the vinyasas, gradually increasing the frequency. I definitely notice the difference - the resulting imbalance - inherent in having done so, but am working on addressing it as I'm adding the backbends back in.
- During COVID-19 home practice, I've done all kinds of stuff in the middle, beginning, and end of my practice.
- In 1999 Guruji told me to skip vinyasas between right and left sides. I'd had a bleeding episode and was very anemic. Normally I prefer not to skip vinyasas. On days when I had ample practice time, I did Primary plus Intermediate. if there wasn't time or I was tired I practiced Sun salutations, backbends and inversions, which I always thought of as Guruji's practice for Seniors. Sometimes I just do Intermediate to Kapotasana. In late 2018 I experienced a tear in my supraspinatus tendon. Starting late last year when I was in Mysore, catvari became nearly impossible. This year I began experiencing pain and weakness in my left leg, and I was diagnosed with spinal stenosis. This has made practice very challenging, physically and psychologically. Since the shutdown, my practice has changed quite a bit. At the present time, I haven't practiced full Primary series in about two weeks.
- I have levoscoliosis from postponing hip replacement and severe pain/walking with a cane prior to surgery. I added in poses to help correct this/ease this, such as the ones I listed. I skip the intermediate poses that involve a leg behind my head as I feel this would be problematic for my hip replacement. If I could think of more poses for therapy, then I would add them!
- I have combined shortened bits of multiple sequences while maintaining the order of postures in their respective sequences e.g. primary to Marichyasana A + Intermediate to Eka Pada Sirsasana + Advanced A to Urdhva Kukutasana C
- Everythibg occasionally. But I often add twists or other backbends than urdhva in half primary because it felt more balanced. Or I do sitting hip openers in closing.
- I have never modified my practice - gosh, do you think I am a little bit OCD?
- At the height of my illness I was hospitalised for 2 weeks. When I was able I still went to yoga practice but some mornings mainly lay on blankets. Slowly my practice returned -- 5 years later my practice is almost back to where it was before I was diagnosed
- I do kapotasana, usually not that deep, I do 2 prep exercises (one for shoulders and one for chest) and I repeat the kapotasana, usually with much deeper effect
- No change
- I believe in personal practice - not one size fits all - and until we have the knowledge to modify ourselves, a teacher is helpful - when we understand enough to create our own practice, fine. But I believe always useful to find a teacher who can impart more (show us direction when we are stuck) as we can always grow in our practice, as long as we own it.
- Softer vinyasa if tired
- Yin practice some days with onset of menopause
- All of the above, especially after lockdown. I’d rather continue to practice 6x a week without injury or or burnout and if I can find a way to “settle” into that consistency without chickening out or getting too dogmatic about correct method. So I’ve tried a lotta stuff, just because I could.
- I’ve modified for contraindications due to my health issues.
- When I couldn't do the full expression of a pose
We found some small relationships between the context of the practitioner and the ways that they chose to modify practice. As years that respondents had been practicing increased, they were generally more likely to modify their Ashtanga yoga practice by shortening it (p=.03, Cramer’s V=0.1), making a change that avoided pain/injury (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.23), changing the sequence (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.15), leaving out poses (p=.01, Cramer’s V=.12), and changing the transitions (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.14).

Interestingly, as age increased, respondents were less likely to modify their Ashtanga yoga practice by shortening it (p=.01, Cramer’s V=.11). As complexity of practice sequence increased, practitioners were more likely to modify practice by changing it to avoid pain/injury (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.17), changing the sequence (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.17), and adding preps (p<.001, Cramer’s V=.16).


How do we know how and when to modify Ashtanga yoga?
So now that we know how and when practitioners modify their Ashtanga yoga practice, it’s worth considering what level of experience is required to know that you are modifying for a “good” or “worthy” reason. Hopefully, in the early years of practice, we have a teacher who is helping us understand how and when to make those decisions. Hopefully, that teacher is teaching us as students to think through a process that can empower us to make those decisions when we are practicing on our own.
When are we avoiding something that could be advantageous for us or just being lazy? Personally, if we intend to practice Ashtanga for the long term, then I’m not sure it’s helpful to think of ourselves as lazy for simply making changes to our practice. I lean more towards simply considering the choices we have and that they have particular effects. If we practice more consistently, then we experience more of the benefits of yoga. We showed that in our previous research study. If we only practice once in a while then the effects are different.
Making choices in practice
Ultimately, we make a choice about where we want to put our energy and time and how hard we want to work in practice. Working as hard as possible to “achieve” full expression of challenging postures may not be our goal in practice. As teachers, we have an opportunity to engage with our students and learn what their goals for practice are. Why are they in our class? That helps us then tailor the structure of the practice to meet them where they are. If we consider our lineage to go back from Pattabhi Jois to Krishnamacharya, then modification, otherwise known as teaching to the student, IS our lineage.
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Get the latest articles in your inbox each month. Based on our data across a well-represented range of experience levels among practitioners, what actually seems true is that most Ashtangis are not rigid at all. When it comes down to our daily practice, we modify Ashtanga yoga. We learn to flow with the changes from day to day. Some days we have more time on the mat, have more energy, and are in top health. Other days we’re tired, have a full day of work or family commitments, or are coming down with a cold. What our data says is that as a community of practitioners, we adapt. And I think that says something really positive about the Ashtanga practice itself: it’s adaptable. Our experience as practitioners bears that out.