Vinyasa – The Centre of Your Practice

Vinyasa YOGA

Learning the correct technique for Vinyasa is one of the most important things to nail in your Yoga practice. If you consider how many times we move through a Vinyasa during each Yoga practice, if we put negative strain through these joints many times within one practice & then many times a week & then many times a year, then we are building a large amount of negative load through the body which eventually leads to injury. At Kailash Yoga Ashram, we have a strong emphasis on the correct technique for Vinyasa & we aim to teach you the foundation of Vinyasa through a beginner’s course, & then we continue to teach you the correct technique as your strength builds so your Vinyasa through the Yin Hatha & Hatha Vinyasa classes at the studio.

So some of the essential things to remember are:

1. Always move with your breath. When your exhale begins, so should the movement from plank to chaturanga. You hold the chaturanga position until your inhale begins, and then you move to face the dog.
   It’s common to shorten the inhale in an up-face dog. I encourage you to lengthen your inhale, fill your lungs, and then, when your exhale starts, begin your movement to a down-face dog.
   Now, that movement from chaturanga to upface and then upface to downface dog is one of the most challenging parts of our practice. It takes most people years to develop the strength required to do our Vinyasa with complete integrity. It is often underestimated just how strong this movement is.
   Some other great cues I have learned along the way are: when moving from chaturanga to up-face dog, press your toes down firmly on your mat to prevent your toes from getting crushed. This will protect your joints as you roll over into an up-facing dog.
2. When moving from upface dog to downface dog, you must get your body into a position where you can strongly activate your core before lifting the hips towards downface. Many people overuse their lower back muscles here. So, from the upface dog, start with the head movement, round the shoulders, get yourself to a high plank position, squeeze on the upper abdominals, and then press your way back to the downface dog.

If you have questions about your Vinyasa, please ask your teacher. At Kailash Yoga Ashram, we offer a variety of Vinyasa workshops so that you can work hard to get this part of your practice safe and integrated, so that we can build a great, long-lasting practice.