Vinyasa Can Be Described as a Moving Meditation

Vinyasa yoga is focused on a series of poses that flows from one to another in conjunction with the breath. Vinyasa requires a lot of flexibility, balance, and control between poses and is a very beautiful and slow-paced form. This form of yoga is sometimes known as power yoga and is taught as advanced poses in yoga studios across the country. Here is a quick guide to the Vinyasa style of yoga.

yoga at sunset

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Vinyasa Yoga Poses

Vinyasa can be described as a moving meditation. Focusing on meditation before and after engaging in your poses is part of the Vinyasa style of yoga so as to get you focused on each and every breath you take amongst the poses. Breathing is a much important to the entire routine as balancing your body with your center.

Vinyasa is about flow, just as the air flows in and out of your lungs. A sun salutation pose is one of the most common elementary poses for Vinyasa. The main element of the pose is when you stretch your arms up to the sky as if you are saluting the sun high in the sky. Your back and legs remain straight throughout the pose as you go up and come back down from the entire body movement.

What Are The Benefits of Doing A Vinyasa Yoga Routine?

One of the obvious benefits of Vinyasa is better lung capacity when you stretch to different poses. One of the main overall applications of this kind of yoga is the entire focus of bringing together the mind, breath, and body all at once. Your focus inward becomes your results outward–taking this one step forward to the rest of your life is the next step in Vinyasa yoga.

Increased blood flow is also a party of Vinyasa routine as your lungs and heart work more efficiently to achieve your focus. Increased focus on breathing also helps you take control of your body and hence your spirit and your life. Your entire body’s metabolism changes with the altering of your breathing and heart rate for better overall management of your health. As your body relaxes, so does your mind and your stress and tension are both diminished.

Vinyasa doesn’t require much extra equipment except comfortable clothes, a yoga mat, and perhaps a straight wall for some poses if you aren’t used to it. Training with an instruction is probably best to start with yoga, or at least have a partner to spot you when you try some advanced poses.

Vinyasa Can Be Described as a Moving Meditation

Vinyasa means “breathing smoothly” and “connection between movement and breath.” A person who performs vinyasa is a yogi. The word is also used as a noun to describe the practice of yoga as well as a verb to indicate what someone does or is doing during their yoga practice.

In other words, to practice vinyasa, or to perform vinyasa, means to do one’s yoga.

Vinyasa- Movements With Breath

Vinyasa is a very effective way of making sure you are doing your yoga postures because it helps you coordinate your movements with your breath. Without this connection between movement and breathing, you can end up in contorted positions that may not be in alignment and could in fact be harmful.

For this reason, vinyasa is often used in traditional yoga practices such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. Vinyasa can also be called “power yoga.” Not to be confused with “Pilates,” power yoga is a way of performing poses that simultaneously builds strength and burn fat while practicing yoga.

Traditional and Non-Traditional Yoga

Although vinyasa is a traditional practice, it is also used in non-traditional ways. Many people who don’t even do yoga still use the term “vinyasa” to describe not only their practice of breathing and movement but also their thought processes. For example, you could say that someone has a “vinyasa mind,” which means they are always thinking of how things are connected, or that they are smoothly connecting their thoughts.

Contrary to what you might think, the term “vinyasa” doesn’t come from India at all! The word was created in America by one man, within the context of yoga postures. This man is named Krishnamacharya.

Krishnamacharya

Krishnamacharya was born sometime around the year 1888 in the city of Bellur in South India. At age 13 he began studying yoga under his father for four hours a day. He also studied with other teachers until he reached the age of 24 when he had mastered 5 major branches of Indian philosophy and over 60 minor ones as well.

It wasn’t until he was nearly 40 that Krishnamacharya began teaching yoga. Even after doing so, however, he continued to study everything from Ayurveda to astrology and anatomy. He also studied for a year in Tibet with a master of Vajrayana Buddhism.

Krishnamacharya’s knowledge became so great that he has been called the father of modern yoga because of his use of asanas (the poses) as well as his adaptation of some traditional philosophies into new forms or making up entirely new systems such as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, which is considered by many people to be one of the most effective ways of practicing yoga ever created.

Mysore style

In addition to this practice, Krishnamacharya is also known for creating the Mysore style of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. This way is still used today and includes a specific sequence of yoga postures that gets progressively more difficult as you progress through the series.

Today, Krishnamacharya is most commonly referred to as “the yoga teacher who tried to kill Gandhi!” This is because he was invited by Gandhi himself to teach him how to do poses in order to keep up with his demanding schedule which included meetings and traveling. He succeeded at keeping the fast-paced leader in good shape but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. For example, once they were on a train together when the movement while doing yoga caused one of Gandhi’s false teeth to fly out!