MYSORE-STYLE ASHTANGA
Our Practice Method
At Burning Spirits Yoga, we teach traditional Ashtanga yoga in Mysore-style — a method where each student practices individually within a supportive group setting. Rather than following a led class, you receive one-on-one instruction that evolves with your own pace, body, and breath.
Students learn the sequence gradually, posture by posture, building strength, awareness, and independence in their practice.
Beginners are warmly welcomed and supported, while more experienced practitioners are guided deeper into the art of subtlety and refinement.
Our teaching is rooted in the method shared by David Garrigues — a devotional, breath-centered, and energetically intelligent approach to the Ashtanga tradition. It emphasizes conscious breathing, intelligent alignment, and cultivating tapas (inner heat and discipline) through regular practice.
In this lineage, learning is a sacred conversation between the student, the teacher, and the tradition itself.
Sandee’s Approach
Sandee teaches in the lineage of her teacher David Garrigues, continuing to share the teachings as they have been passed to her. She strives to create a welcoming and accessible shala for all who wish to experience the transformational healing of this practice — meeting you exactly where you are.
Her approach is non-dogmatic and supportive, grounded in a trauma-informed lens. She guides by consent, with consent cards available at every class — and encourages students to use props and chairs as part of the practice. These are not afterthoughts or modifications; they are intelligent tools for embodiment.
Sandee’s intention is to help you find ease in your breath so you can connect with your body, mind, and spirit. You will not find aggressive adjustments or rigid teaching here. What you will find is a a co-creative journey toward what supports you best. Sandee is committed to cultivating an inclusive and compassionate yoga community. Rise Up Warriors and heal.
What is Mysore-style Ashtanga really?
Ashtanga yoga is learned in what’s called a “Mysore Style” class where you develop an individualized practice with the support and guidance of a teacher who, if certified, has spent decades steeped in the tradition and engaged in serious practice. This was the teaching method in (Mysuru) Mysore, South India, hence the source of the name “Mysore Style”.
In a Mysore style class you memorize the Ashtanga sequences by learning one posture at a time in a manner similar to learning a traditional chanting or music practice in India. As you repeat and master the postures within the given sequences, you gradually increase your knowledge and create an independent, mature personal practice.
A Mysore style practice is developed slowly over days, weeks and years. Through discipline and intelligent practice you come to understand the breathing system and gain the necessary freedom to express a great variety of postures. And as you develop your postures you gather the mental strength and agility to concentrate your mind.
The study in a Mysore class occurs in a traditional manner, a one to one exchange between the teacher and student, an exchange centered around uncovering the Self by way of sharing in the ever-renewing tradition that has been passed down. The study also happens in community with others who engaged in the same important discipline and discovery as you are. Inspiration and friendship are generated in Ashtanga yoga Mysore rooms where people share daily in a serious, vigorous and enthusiastic study of yoga.
In the class the instructor is there to teach you the postures by means of verbal and hands-on adjustments and help you learn the proper vinyasa protocol for each posture in each sequence. And also the Mysore style class is structured so that your learning can be adjusted according to your individual needs, according to your age, state of health, level of life responsibilities, strength and flexibility and other relevant variables. The class setting provides the proper circumstances for you to receive the individual attention needed to create an ongoing practice that suits you. Daily you find your own rhythm and pace, you are able to go into your own internal mental space and this creates an atmosphere where important reflection and self-study can happen. The Mysore style class is not structured like a typical yoga class, it’s more like receiving a private class in a group setting, you practice amidst the sounds of breathing and amongst others who are working at their own level and their own pace, focusing within themselves along side you. At first the apparent disorganization, the heat and powerful vibration of a group of people keenly striving can be disorienting and even seem intimidating or cause fear. But once you get your bearings and have familiarized yourself with what is happening in the class, you’ll find that you fit right in and you’ll love it, you’ll find you can’t imagine doing your daily practice in any other way.
This Mysore style description was given with permission and written by my teacher; certified Ashtanga teacher, David Garrigues
LINEAGE
Ashtanga yoga is a complete yoga method based on Bhakti (devotion) to a breathing and movement system called vinyasa. Through Ashtanga yoga you come to realize your Self and your purpose by learning to systematically combine several internal and external techniques including: breathing, internal locks, meditation, posture, conscious movement and gazing. When these basic techniques are applied with discipline, subtlety and skill, they are excellent tools for becoming physically and mentally strong and perceptive. When you’ve developed your practice, you learn to ‘inhabit’ your body like an animal moving freely in the wild and at the same time your mind becomes strong and fit for meditation. Practicing to create this combination of physical grace and power and mental clarity and openness leads to spiritual awakening. The method consists of learning rigorous, well-balanced sets of postures and the vinyasa positions that form the set sequences. The alternating, opposing movement and breathing patterns within the given sequences help you to internalize your mind and to gain depth and wisdom by observing the true nature of what is happening within you.
The Ashtanga yoga method was originally taught in Mysuru (Mysore) southern India. Since the first Ashtanga classes were taught in Mysuru (Mysore), this style of teaching is named after the city and is really just short for “Mysore Style Ashtanga.”
This Summary of the Ashtanga yoga lineage was given with permission and written by my teacher, David Garrigues