[Yoga]

Vinyasa yoga

Yoga delivers health benefits for both the mind and body. Different styles of yoga especially designed to cater such needs have evolved through the years since its inception in ancient India.

Two styles of yoga - Hatha and Vinyasa - both use exercises and postures but they differ in their overall emphasis.

Hatha yoga emphasizes balance through duality, while Vinyasa yoga practice involves synchronizing breathing and movement. Vinyasa is literally translated from Sanskrit as meaning ‘connection’.

In terms of yoga asana, we can interpret this as a connection between movement and breath. Vinyasa yoga is a series of poses that will move you through the power of inhaling and exhaling.

Vinyasa movements are smoothly flowing and almost dance-like, which explains why it is sometimes referred to as Vinyasa Flow or just Flow.

This form of yoga began as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga by a Yogi named Sri Tirumala Krishnamacharya. He was given a place to teach yoga and eventually taught a young boy named Parrabhi Jois about the power of breathing.

As with other styles of yoga, Vinyasa yoga has a diverse set of asanas, but its instructors emphasize moving from position to position while either inhaling or exhaling.

Vinyasa has both mental and physical benefits. Physically, sweat expels toxins and re-energizes your body. Mentally, the synchronized breathing relaxes your mind and helps to release any blockage of energy flow throughout your body.

Vinyasa’s strength is in its diversity. These set of asanas encourages students to find their ‘flow’ by using their own creativity and personal abilities. The pace can vary and there is no one particular sequence that instructors must follow.

In fact, the term Vinyasa can also be translated as ‘variations within parameters’, a flexibility which allows the guru to tailor the sequences to their own philosophy.

It almost certainly includes sun salutations but expect movement, not just stretching.

Vinyasa yoga can be a fun and challenging way to work out. We will begin this series on a new way to perform the sun salutation next week.

Dip in yoga- India