Ashtanga vinyasa yoga teachers followed a similar trend, however unlike Pattahbhi Jois' students, attribute all their knowledge to Sharath. This stands in contradiction to the fact that Sharath does not teach or speak about alignment at any point in his instruction of students or teachers. Breathing is ideally even and steady in the length of the inhale and exhale. Drishti is where one focuses the eyes while in the asana. In the ashtanga yoga method, there is a prescribed point of focus for every asana. There are nine dristhis: the nose, between the eyebrows, navel, thumb, hands, feet, up, right side and left
Ashtanga vinyasa yoga and never taught by Sharath. However most of his teachers who claim to have been taught by him will teach the above methods, exercises, & postures, even though none of what they teach is part of the Ashtanga method of instruction under Sharath. Pattabhi Jois also did not require students to independently drop back and come up from back bending before progressing to the 2nd series. Sharath changed the requirements, and has now made this mandatory. However, it is important to note that Pattabhi Jois was the founder of the system, and taught each of his original students differently, instructing