Heat up your practice with Vinyasas
Bob’s heart is pounding, sweat is dripping from his brow, his body is getting hotter and hotter.
Bob is wondering what is going on. He thought this was a yoga class, where you sit in a yoga pose and you hum.
Why is he so hot? Why is his heart beating so fast? What is going on. Bob is in a vigorous yoga class that is incorporating the Vinyasa sequence.
What is a Vinyasa sequence
The Vinyasa sequence is a series of connecting movement that you do to the breath between one yoga posture and the next. The Vinyasa sequence is very similar to a Sun Salute but it does have a few differences.
How many kinds of Vinyasa sequences are there
There are three Vinyasa sequences divided into two groups.
Between standing postures you do a Standing Vinyasa.
Between seated postures you do either a Full Vinyasa or a Half Vinyasa sequence.
How do you do a Vinyasa
You should learn the Vinyasa sequence from your yoga teacher. Here I am providing an overview of the various postures that make up each of the Vinyasa sequences.
First let’s look at the Standing Vinyasa.
Standing Vinyasa
— Exit the current posture and return to Tadasana standing at the front of your yoga mat
— Inhale and bring your arms up
— Exhale fold forward bring and bring your hands to the floor beside your feet
— Inhale lift your chest, leaving your hands on the floor
— Exhale and jump or walk back lowering your body toward the floor
— Inhale, lift the chest and straighten your ams and move into upward facing dog
— Exhale, lift the hops and move into downward facing dog
— Inhale and move into the next posture from downward facing dog
Next let’s examine the seated Full Vinyasa
Full Vinyasa
— Exit the current posture and return to Dandasana seated with your legs together in front of you
— Inhale, cross your legs and lift your hips and legs from the floor
— Exhale and move into Chattarunga Dandasana with your legs behind you and your body hovering just above the floor
— Inhale and move into upward facing dog
— Exhale and move into downward facing dog
— Inhale and jump or walk your feet up between your hands lifting the chest
— Exhale and lower you torso toward your legs
— Inhale and lift your chest, bringing your arms up over your head and look up
— Exhale and lower your arms to your side
— Inhale bring your arms up over your head and look up
— Exhale and lower your torso toward your legs
— Inhale lift your chest and leave your hands on the floor
— Exhale and jump or walk back lowering your body toward the floor and enter Chattarunga Dandasana once more
— Inhale and move to upward facing dog
— Exhale lift the hips and move to downward facing dog
— Inhale and bring the legs between the arms and sit on the floor in Dandasana
— Move into the next posture from here
And finally look at the Seated Half Vinyasa
Half Vinyasa
— Exit the current posture and return to Dandasana seated with your legs together in front of you
— Inhale, cross your legs and lift your hips and legs from the floor
— Exhale and move into Chattarunga Dandasana with your legs behind you and your body hovering just above the floor
— Inhale and move into upward facing dog
— Exhale and move into downward facing dog
— Inhale and bring the legs between the arms and sit on the floor in Dandasana
— Move into the next posture from here
You do not come to standing when you do a Half Vinyasa like you do in a Seated Full Vinyasa. A Half Vinyasa requires less energy and time than a Seated Full Vinyasa.
Bob is wondering why he is doing these Vinyasa sequences throughout his yoga practise.
Why do you do a Vinyasa
There are three reasons that Bob is doing the Vinyasa sequence.
1. Heat the body
When you do the Vinyasa sequence in combination with the Ujjayi breath you increase your heart rate into the aerobic zone and you generate lots of heat in your body. The Ujjayi breath brings lots of oxygen fuel into the body and the Vinyasa sequence consumes this fuel and generates the heat. When your body is hot your muscles are hot as well and you can safely stretch them and avoid injury.
2. Reset the body
Moving through the Vinyasa sequence you are moving all parts of your body through various positions. This movement of your body results in reseting the muscles, ligaments, tendons, and joints into a neutral position. This movement to a neutral position prepares you to enter the next posture safely.
3. Calm the mind
The Vinyasa once you learn it is an easy sequence to follow. After you have gained some familiarity with the sequence you no longer need to think about when to breath and where to move the body to. This familiarity allows you to focus your mind on your breath and as a result a Vinyasa sequence becomes a meditation in motion. This meditation in motion helps to calm your mind and reduce stress.
When do you do a Vinyasa sequence
For standing postures you do the standing Vinyasa between various standing postures.
For seated postures, there are two variations to choose from depending on your energy and strength levels.
Variation 1
You do a Full Vinyasa between seated postures and you do a Half Vinyasa between the sides of seated postures
Variation 2
You do a Half Vinyasa between seated postures and you do not do any Vinyasa between the sides of seated postures.
If you are lacking energy or time you may want to choose the second variation.
How is a Vinyasa different from a Sun Salute
A Vinyasa and a Sun Salute are almost identical. However there are a few differences.
In a Vinyasa you do not hold the Downward Facing Dog position for five breaths like you do in a Sun Salute.
You end the Full or Half Vinyasa after you do the Downward Facing Dog posture. From Downward facing dog you return to Dandasana and start your next posture.
What do I do if I get tired
Doing a Vinyasas sequence between postures does require a considerable amount of energy and you may find yourself getting very tired.
You have a couple of choices to help manage your energy during your yoga practise. Each item in the list saves more energy than the item that comes earlier in the list.
1. Change the Full Vinyasa between seated postures to Half Vinyasa. The Half vinyasa requires less energy than the Full Vinyasa sequence.
2. Stop doing Half Vinaysa between sides of seated postures and either do a Full Vinyasa or Half Vinyasa between postures.
3. Stop doing any Vinyasa between sets of seated postures.
4. Move into Balasana or Child’s pose and take a break until your energy levels recover.
Summary
Bob’s vigorous yoga class is including several Vinyasa sequences. A Vinyasa sequence is made up of postures that you do to the breath between yoga postures.
A Vinyasa sequence
— heats the body up, preparing the muscles to be stretched safely
— resets your body, preparing it for the next posture and
— it calms the mind
There are a couple of variations of the Vinyasa sequence that Bob can use in his yoga practise if he finds that his strength and energy levels start to fall.
Next Steps
You should work with your yoga teacher to learn the three Vinyasa sequences.
