What is Vinyasa Yoga?

Vinyasa Yoga: the art of breathing and moving with awareness.

Vinyasa Yoga is one of the most popular styles in Western society. Its swaying of constant movements and ujayi breathing empowers people who practice it regularly. It restores their ability to move with grace and ease. Awakens energy and feeds vitality.

Similar to dance, Vinyasa Yoga is characterized by its flow and harmony . The "asanas" (postures in Sanskrit) are linked one after the other through conscious breathing and powerful transitions. The art of moving defines this dynamic style of Yoga.

Breathing is powerful: its vigor awakens the latent energy of the human being so that he feels the force of life run through his body , nourish the cells and restore the brain. It is a kind of meditation in movement: each gesture is thought, felt and lived. Each zone has an important value: it breathes towards all places.

Vinyasa Yoga is, therefore, a dance of consciousness where movement and breathing are coupled to create postures and link them with ease. Here we explain some of its features:

Conscious and harmonious linking of poses: Vinyasa Yoga practice links one pose to the next using conscious breathing (usually the “ujayi” breath). When the postures are practiced in such a way, they flow into each other, following each other from a meditative state enabled by the breath . That is why it is sometimes called "Vinyasa Flow Yoga". It is the practice that teaches the art of moving with presence, concentration, fluidity and compassion: transitions are just as important as static postures. Thanks to the work of pranayama, the student can link one asana with another from long and intense inhalations and exhalations. This style of Yoga awakens in the individual his divine consciousness: beyond having a body, it shows him the way to be the body .

The breath initiates the movement: as we have already mentioned before, the transition from one asana to the next starts from conscious breathing. This can become deeper and tighter due to physical activity, but ideally (with practice, patience, and perseverance), it should remain regular and through the nose. The breath creates the rhythm and timing that underlie the linking of the postures. At first it seems like hard and complicated work; over time it becomes something very nutritious and natural.

Cardiovascular exercise : the practice of Vinyasa Yoga generally involves intense movements and generates a cardiovascular exercise that is not always present in Hatha Yoga or Yiengar (more leisurely styles of Yoga, where the main objective is to connect with more subtle energies of the physical body). . The heart is irrigated with blood and oxygen ; the muscles tense and relax to the rhythm of the movements of expansion and contraction. This type of training turns the practice of Vinyasa Yoga into a complete discipline, fun and even somewhat sporty. The fire that this type of sequence awakens explains its success and its power of attraction: it gives us the chance to disconnect in the middle of the action .

Variety – A defining characteristic of Vinyasa Flow classes, which also accounts for their fame, is the variation in sequence from class to class . No two classes are the same. Every day is different. Vinyasa Flow teachers are very creative: some even adopt exercises from other fields of sport to incorporate into their classes. It is very common to modify the original posture, create dynamic movements within the asana itself, or teach powerful transitions to turn the practice into an explosion of fire, vigor, awareness and concentration.

The Vinyasa Flow practice, although demanding and challenging, can be practiced by everyone. There are Vinyasa Basic classes to teach the principles of this discipline : body awareness, alignment, execution of transitions and harmony between movement and breathing. From Believe Athletics, we encourage you to try various Yoga disciplines , to combine them with each other and enjoy them. Each one brings with it benefits and positive effects: they are all there to teach, heal and transform. You can dedicate your energy to deepen a discipline or combine them with each other according to the needs of each day.

Mae Knapnougel