Ashtanga yoga

The word means eight limbs, a reference to the eightfold path set out in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. As a modern practice, Ashtanga refers to the method taught in Mysore by Krishna Pattabhi Jois: fixed series of postures, each one entered and left on a counted breath, practised in the same order every session. The Primary Series alone takes about ninety minutes once you know it.

What it is for is depth through repetition. Because the sequence never changes, you stop deciding what comes next and start noticing what is different in your body today. Three things run underneath it the whole way: ujjayi breathing, the internal locks known as bandhas, and a fixed gaze point, or drishti, for each posture. Traditionally it is practised in a Mysore-style room where everyone works through their own sequence at their own pace while the teacher moves between them.

In a KEO session you will not find a full Ashtanga class, and that is deliberate — it is a committed practice that wants a dedicated teacher and six mornings a week. What Ben borrows from it shows up constantly: the breath count, the sun salutations at the start of a flow, and the habit of keeping your eyes on one point instead of on the person next to you.