Navigating the different styles of yoga can be overwhelming when starting yoga for the first time.
The best way to understand what to expect from a specific type of yoga is to try a class out and experience it. But during class, we’re focused on doing the practice, and that means there isn’t always time to explain things like the definition of vinyasa yoga, its history and what to expect during your practice.
In this blog, we’ll explore the vinyasa yoga style in depth so that you can better understand it and what you can focus on to get started.
What's the definition of vinyasa yoga?
Vinyasa yoga has several different meanings. The word vinyasa comes from Sanskrit, the ancient Indian language used in yoga.
Vinyasa means linking movement with breath.
Vinyasa yoga is a dynamic practice where you move through a flowing sequence of different yoga poses linked together.
During your yoga practice, you can focus on bringing awareness to your breathing and using it to guide you through the movements. This allows the body to ease gently into postures that build flexibility, strength and balance.
Vinyasa yoga also means one followed by another.
In vinyasa yoga, yoga postures are linked together through a series of movements, each linked to an inhale or exhale.
You’ll practice many of the same postures in each vinyasa yoga class. But, you might approach them differently or through a different posture variation (depending on the theme you’re focused on in class).
Vinyasa yoga isn’t only about working on flexibility and mobility. It’s focused on breathing with movement, building stability, strength, coordination, balance, observation, and awareness.
Regarding balance, you’ll get the opportunity to focus on finding balance with different body parts, balancing on the ground and observing and creating balance within your body. For example, through your yoga practice, you might discover that your left hip is tighter than your right hip. In vinyasa yoga, you can practice yoga postures that help address this difference and create more balance between both hips.
In addition to opening up your body, vinyasa yoga also influences the more subtle levels of your mind and awareness. Focusing on your breath and body helps you develop concentration, often resulting in a calmer and quieter mind. This is why physical yoga is often considered a preparation for sitting for longer periods in meditation.
What's the history and origin of vinyasa yoga?
Although vinyasa yoga as we know it today has only become popular in the last 100 years, the practice of yoga is estimated to be 3000 years old and maybe even older.
Therefore, examining the history and origin of vinyasa yoga over a longer period is interesting to understand how it developed over time.
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Meditation
The origins and tradition of yoga come from India. One of the oldest definitions of yoga we can access today can be found in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, which date from around 400 C.E. In Sanskrit, Patanjali defines yoga as ‘to yoke’ or ‘union’ of body, mind, and spirit. In this context, yoga is described as a goal and state to reach through consistent practice.
There are two intriguing differences between how Patanjali describes yoga and how we use the term in modern times.
One notable difference is that Patanjali describes yoga as a goal or state one aims to reach, while in modern-day terms, we refer to yoga as something one practices.
Perhaps more importantly, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras refer to meditation as the primary way to practice yoga. His definition of ‘Asana’ is a comfortable seat used for meditation, rather than the modern definition, which refers to physical yoga postures.
Despite this difference in definitions, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras contain much we can learn about yoga philosophy, the history of yoga, and our own yoga practice. The Yoga Sutras remain an influential key yoga text to this day. You can read more about the eight limbs of yoga described by Patanjali.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Pranayama
Like anything, yoga has developed and changed over time to meet the needs of the people who practiced it at that time. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, published in the 15th century, is another highly influential yoga text.
Here, specific techniques such as purifications, or ‘Kriya’, physical yoga postures, or ‘Asana’, and breathing techniques, or ‘Pranayama’, are listed as ways that can help practitioners prepare for meditation. Interestingly, there is a big focus on using Pranayama breathing techniques to help find a calm and still state through ‘Kevala Kumbhaka’.
Krishnamacharya’s Vinyasa-Based Yoga
The history of all styles of modern-day physical yoga, including vinyasa yoga, can be traced back to the teaching lineage of Tirumalai Krishnamacharya—often known as the father of modern yoga. Krishnamacharya was arguably the most influential yoga teacher in the 20th century.
Krishnamacharya taught many students a style of yoga known as Vinyasa Krama. Krama means method or order.
Vinyasa Krama is a carefully crafted sequence of yoga poses that flow one after the other.
One of the principles of Krishnamacharya’s teaching that I find most notable is the balance he found between using set sequences and tailoring yoga practices to individual needs.
In his earlier teaching, Krishnamacharya focused on using set sequences to help students build a disciplined practice and move in a meditative flow. In his later years, Krishnamacharya concentrated far more on each student's needs, providing them with personal practices tailored to their individual needs.
Some of Krishnamacharya’s most well-known students included B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and his son T.K.V. Desikachar. These teachers received many students from all over the world and helped popularise the dynamic and more active forms of yoga as we know it today.
Pattabhi Jois founded Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, which involves moving dynamically through set sequences learnt through a linear approach. Iyengar, on the other hand, took a different approach, using props, alignment, and breaking down the pose into different elements.
These teachings contain elements of vinyasa yoga, which ultimately link back to Krishnamacharya's teachings.
In the Vinyasa Krama system popularised by Matthew Sweeney, we practice multiple set sequences like the Sunshine Sequence and the Moon Sequence. In this branch of yoga, we focus primarily on flowing with our breath while also focusing on alignment, the use of props, finding a meditative flow and learning how to pause, sit in stillness and observe.
If you’re interested in learning more about the history and origins of vinyasa yoga, it’s worth reading some of the publications from the Hatha Yoga Project. This five-year research project aimed to chart the history of physical yoga and has published some interesting findings.
What benefits can you expect from practicing vinyasa yoga?
On a physical level, vinyasa yoga involves dynamic and active stretching, which helps you improve your stability, strength, flexibility, mobility, and balance.
On a more subtle level, vinyasa yoga will help increase your breathing capacity by focusing on deep and steady breathing throughout your yoga practice. This can support deepening and lengthening your natural breathing pattern outside of your yoga practice and calming your nervous system.
In vinyasa yoga, we also prepare for a longer meditation practice by sitting in stillness at the start of every class and relaxing in Savasana at the end. This can help us build our concentration and inner awareness.
On an emotional level, you are likely to feel calmer, more relaxed, and less stressed after your practice. With consistent regular practice, you are likely to also become more aware of your inner dialogue and mindset during your yoga practice and in daily life.
As you practice yoga more regularly, you’ll start to notice patterns in the inner dialogue you have with yourself during your yoga practice. It can be interesting to explore and bring awareness to how these patterns and inner dialogue may appear in other aspects of your life.
Can beginners practice vinyasa yoga, or is it for more advanced yoga students?
Most vinyasa yoga classes are designed for all levels of practitioners—from beginner to more advanced. If you’re joining for the first time a vinyasa yoga group class guided by a teacher, it’s always worth mentioning that you're new. That way, the teacher will be able to give you the cues and options that you might need as a beginner.
A great way to try a class and see if you like it is to follow an online video tutorial. On a platform like YouTube, there are many beginner vinyasa yoga classes that you can try.
Often, a beginner vinyasa yoga class will be slightly slower to allow you more time to move in and out of the poses. The postures themselves will also be explained in more detail.
Due to the flowing nature of the practice, it can be difficult to know if you’re doing the poses correctly when beginning yoga. Take the time to tune into your body and be your own guide. If something doesn’t feel good in your body, find an alternative or ask a teacher for support.
In the beginning, it can feel difficult to find your way into unfamiliar postures while also focusing on a deep and regular breath.
You might find that when practicing new yoga poses and flowing dynamically between poses, you need to focus all your attention on the pose itself. And that’s okay!
As you practice the same yoga poses more often, you’ll start to get familiar with how to approach them physically. This will make it easier to tune into some of the more subtle elements, like your breath.
Based on the ease of your breath, you can decide to lean in or ease off from your practice. Several options are usually given for each pose, allowing you to tailor the practice to what your body feels like on a particular day.
The best advice overall is to choose a style of yoga you enjoy. If you enjoy the dynamic style of vinyasa yoga, then try practicing it! Over time, as you keep practicing, it will get easier.
If you prefer to focus on the details and move more slowly, focusing on alignment, perhaps vinyasa yoga isn’t for you as a beginner yogi. You could try a slow flow, hatha, or vinyasa yoga class for beginners to have more explanation and time to explore a pose.
What can you expect in a typical vinyasa yoga class and sequence?
Each vinyasa class you join will likely include a different sequence of yoga poses. There are some common yoga poses, like the Warrior 1 pose (Virabhadrasana 1), that you’ll find in many vinyasa yoga classes. However, the order in which you approach the poses and focus of the class will likely differ.
The build-up of the sequence will be different depending on the length of the class and the teacher you follow. But generally, the overall flow will be like a curve of a wave broken down into different stages.
There’s a gentle stillness at the beginning of the wave as you sit still, watching your body and breathing. Then, as the wave starts to grow slowly, we start moving the body with gentle, slow-flowing movements.
The middle part of the wave will be the most dynamic, where we will work with more intensity. You may move through a series of sun salutations and standing poses, holding many poses for just one breath. We then perhaps hold these more active and challenging poses for several breaths. Reaching the top of the wave, your peak pose is where the heart rate is raised.
Then, we start to gradually come down the wave. You may practice some seated poses and hip openers, flowing slowly down to twists, inversions, and gentler lying-down restorative poses. Finally, you finish your practice at the bottom of the wave, where we come back to stillness for a short relaxation and meditation.
Depending on the length of your vinyasa yoga practice and teacher, the practice may look slightly different. But typically, there will be this flow of starting slow, gradually building intensity, and then slowly easing back down to stillness.
How can you get started?
So, now that you’ve heard enough about the theory of vinyasa yoga, it’s time to try it out! After all, yoga is 99% practice and 1% theory.
Depending on your personal circumstances, you can choose to start vinyasa yoga classes via free online videos, group classes, introduction workshops, or private yoga classes. As you get more experience, it can be useful to get guidance from a qualified teacher.
If you're interested in first trying out some online yoga classes you could try out the below vinyasa yoga practice. Or access more free of Irene's online classes at Antara Yoga's YouTube channel.
Happy practicing!
💛 Irene
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