Ashtanga Not for Me?

I attended an interesting yoga workshop yesterday on something called Mysore Yoga.  Based on Ashtanga (more about that later), Mysore classes are not instructor-led.  Instead, the student arrives any time during the hours the practice is available, and does his or her yoga.  A lead instructor and some assistants are available to guide students individually.

This practice just became available in the studio where I take yoga classes (and where I received my 200-hour yoga teacher training).  I've been wondering if it's something that would work for me, with its flexible arrangement (it's open from 5:30-8am M-F, and a little later on Sunday.  You pay by the month, rather than by the class,  so if you go several times a week you get the most for your money.

But I'd been reluctant to go, not knowing how it operated.  The instructor asks that new students contact her first, so she can guide them when they get there.  But I still wanted to know more in advance--how do students know what to do?

Some of my takeaways from yesterday's workshop:

- You do the yoga in a prescribed sequence, which builds up over time.  But it always starts with 10 Sun Salutations--5 A, 5 B.  Right there, that's a problem for someone with low bone density--that means you're doing 20 deep forward folds just to start, putting pressure on the spinal discs.  I can do this, I say to myself.  But should I.  And every day?  What if I don't want to start that way?

- The room is heated to between 78 and 80 degrees, and they don't want you to drink water during the practice.  There's a philosophy behind this, and it's also a tenet of Bikram and other types of hot yoga.  The idea being that you want to build up your body heat, and water will dissipate that.  Is this really medically sound?  Add in the ups and downs of Sun Salutation, and I may end up getting dizzy.  I've found that water helps keep me from getting nauseous.  They say they will let you drink water (as in "leave the room to get water") if you have a medical reason for doing so.  But I'm still skeptical of this whole approach.  Why do they want me to work up a sweat?  How is this supposed to help with Enlightenment?

- YOU DO THE SAME THING EVERY DAY.  I know the practitioners would chafe at that description, but it's so different from the classes I teach and take, where the idea is to be creative and come up with new movements and combinations.  To keep things interesting, and so you're not working the exact same muscles in the exact same sequence every time.  What if I don't want to do revolved triangle?  Ever, as a matter of fact, since I heard that someone dislocated her hip trying to do the prescribed Iyengar alignment.  Is it medically sound to do the same sequence every day?

So while there is flexibility in terms of when you do your practice (within the prescribed morning hours), and you go at your own pace--appealing to those of us who are tired of the same class times and instructors--the practice itself is prescribed.  An alternative is the open session, where everyone shows up and does whatever they want.  But then why pay for that?

So there are some good reasons why I shouldn't do this sort of practice, but it still has an appeal--because I like to think I COULD do it.  Even though it's probably not a good idea.  I'll do some research ("google") to see what I can find out from relatively objective sources.