Vinyasa and Victory
What is Vinyasa Yoga? In the early 20th century, a local king in Mysore, southern India, wanted to learn Yoga. He
brought a master yogi down from the Himalayas, Sri T Krishnamacharya, who then taught two students who
became two teachers that had a huge impact on Yoga as it came to the West. They are Sri K Patthabi Jois, the
founder of the Ashtanga Yoga Method, which has both retained its traditional format plus influenced the general
sequencing and “flow” of more creative formats, and Sri BKS Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar Yoga Method, who
also taught a dynamic flow style and pioneered our modern understanding of props and alignment.
Vinyasa is a compound Sanskrit word, as most are. Nyasa means to place, and Vi means in a special way.
It is a way of gathering ourselves up, so that we can have an experience of wholeness. Three principles of Vinyasa
Yoga to consider are Intention, Breath, and Movement. We have spoken at length about Intention, especially last
month in our focus on Sadhana, so now let’s focus more practically on the second two.
There is an emphasis on a special kind of breath: Ujjayi Pranayama. It is often called “Victorious Breath”, activated
by breathing in and out of the nose, constricting the vocal cords to create an ocean-like sound. Inhales and
exhales are equal length. This heats the body from within, encourages prana flow, increases oxygen saturation,
ability to focus, and can be used at any time to release and relax the nervous system. Next time you find yourself
stuck in traffic or about to “go off” on someone... Try 3 Ujjayi breaths first! Jaya, the root of Ujjayi, means victory.
Victory over smallness, separateness, darkness... everything less than our potential for greatness and goodness.
As far as movement is concerned, the breath is then consciously, intentionally linked to the body in motion. Each
movement and breath are accounted for - nothing is random. Typically inhales are paired with upward movements
and lengthening, typically exhales are paired with downward movements and contraction, or moving into space
created. Breaths are spread evenly throughout each movement. Asanas are consciously placed in sequence, a
particular order to achieve a desired result, established by the intention. A micro example of this is the flow from
Chaturanga to Upward Dog to Downward Dog to neutralize the spine in between sequences. A macro example is
the way sequences are linked together to serve some greater intentional purpose, maybe leading up to a particular
peak pose, or perhaps attending to the subtle body anatomy (Chakra system) from root towards crown to leave
practitioners with an overall sense of alignment and energetic wellbeing.
As we learn to align with the principles of Vinyasa on the mat, we also learn to pay attention to our own intention,
movement and breath off the mat, attuning to a sequence and flow not only within our own lives, but in greater
harmony with the natural world.
