Keep Calm And Vinyasa Flow!

I READ a magazine feature the other day that asked people to say what their favourite exercise move was. My favourite yoga move is most definitely the Vinyasa.

So what is a Vinyasa? Vinyasa, in Sanskrit, means to ‘move in a special way’. When you Vinyasa, you move with intention. I teach Vinyasa Flow yoga, where we do Vinyasas between the seated poses. We cross the legs, roll to the palms, step or jump back to plank with bent elbows, through to updog then downdog. We breathe in normally then step or jump through, crossing our legs, on our outer breath. It’s like a mini handstand and makes our practice a moving meditation.

Never force yourself to do every Vinyasa if you’re not feeling it. Make your yoga your own practice. Some sessions you’ll feel like you need the dynamic, energetic practice that Vinyasas will give you, other times you’ll prefer a more meditative practice and will just hold the seated poses while you focus on Ocean Breath.

Vinyasas increase muscle strength and flexibility, giving you lovely toned arms. They also give cardiovascular benefits, creating internal heat and increasing circulation. They therefore give us a nice sweat that will purify the body, releasing toxins.

The flowing movement linked with breath of the Vinyasa means you need to focus the mind to keep up, so it stops you from thinking/doing anything else and completely opens you to the moment. That’s what I love most about Vinyasa flow!