Vinyasa Yoga

Apparently my current inability to ride further than a few miles has finally gotten me off my butt to try new things to balance out my high intensity training - like Yoga! Now we know what my shoulder problem is, I am heading to one of the yoga classes at my gym. The instructor is a long-experienced Yoga Therapist (didn't know there were such people), and she has a strong reputation for being able to help people with physical issues. Considering my problem revolves around a large number of brutally tight muscles and fascia (from trauma), yoga seems a good thing to add to my routine. I've been skittish about doing Yoga for some reason, but I have a new mat and am going to check it out today. I've NO idea what "Vinyasa Yoga" might be, but I am going on the reputation of the instructor and have been told by other yoga instructors we have that her class is the one for me - even as a beginner.

So we will see :)

Love love LOVE Vinyasa Yoga!!!

Have fun!

Me, not so much.
However, the only Vinyasa yoga I've done has been from DVDs. The yoga studio I went to, and the classes at my current and former health club all are Kripalu style Hatha yoga. I suspect it's because Kripalu is in western MA, and many of the people went there for training.

I thought vinyasa just referred to the flow, so that the transitions between poses are given attention as well as the poses themselves? So vinyasa classes are more dynamic, vs. held posture classes where you might stay in each pose for one to three minutes at a time? I know there are vinyasa programs at Kripalu.


I think for a beginner, the teacher is a lot more important than the style or the class format. Since you've already got a good grounding in starting your alignment from the extremities, that should help you a lot in getting started. Anyway, have fun!

In Indy, vinyasa is used as a general term to connote linked breath to movement. Some classes will be harder than others. By harder, I mean more advanced poses and/or a faster pace. Just try it. You may like it, you might not. For me, a lot depends on the teacher and the setting/studio. I'm finding fewer and fewer teachers who actually teach proper form, which is a real shame. If I were you, I'd try Ahna Hoke's classes. She's big on proper alignment.

I agree with you Oak that vinyasa classes are more dynamic. We typically spend no more than a breath or two in a given pose and the transitions are pretty fast paced. They often slow things down in the final few poses, but you're otherwise moving. The focus is on linking the breath and movement than on form or alignment.

I am home from the gym, and found the class quite interesting! I spoke with the instructor before class and she had some direct and educated questions about my injuries/issues. This is the slow time of the year so there were only 4 of us in class, and she added some neck and shoulder stretches after we spoke. She also got input from the other 3 students to find out what they wanted to work on. Dona was very attentive and paid close attention to each of us. She commented on how long my legs are compared to how short my arms are and had me use blocks to help me get in proper alignment. The movements did flow from one to another, and we did not hold poses for very long. That was good for me, as there were a few I don't think I COULD have held much longer than I did. She was very attentive to my shoulder and checked in with me halfway through class to see how I was feeling.

Indy and Oak - she did talk a lot about linking breathing with movement - inhale & do this, exhale & do that. She made it easy to understand what she was directing us to do - and she waited to start calling things by their proper pose name until we had done the movement a couple of times.

I enjoyed the class and I can certainly see the benefit of it. Dona appears to really know what she is doing, focuses on proper alignment and appears very knowledgeable about how to deal with physical issues. Well, this is why people directed me to her :)

I don't disagree with your description of vinyasa classes as concentrating more on the flow and moving through the transitions. That's what I didn't like! I like holding the poses, taking a little break, and moving on to the next one. Some poses seem to work better to do the quick transition thing, and I am always a few steps behind when I do those dvds. Trying that, after a few years of the other type of yoga was not fun for me, and I wasted some $.
Funny, I was just looking at some 200 hr. yoga teacher training programs. If I want to be a yoga therapist, I have to have the yoga teacher cert. first, and then do the therapy training. I just don't know what's worse; giving up one weekend a month or 2 two week sessions. I am so not willing to give up my time for riding and skiing, etc. Of course, I'd be willing to not work for awhile to get this done!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do Crankin, it sounds like something you would really enjoy doing! I know that Dona is a Yoga Therapist - and apparently has been for a good number of years, and she has apparently taught many of the local instructors. I felt like I was in good hands.

I didn't realize Dona still teaches at NIFS. She has been around forever and is ideal for someone working through an injury or ROM issue. I just referred a coworker to her with the hope she's schedule some private sessions (she has some low back issues) before joining a yoga class. You're in good hands.

Our varying preferences in yoga is interesting to me. I prefer flow type classes and get really uptight if I have to hold a pose for more than a few breaths. I'm not sure what that says about me. I also think slower classes are a lot harder, physically and mentally. I have a hard time quieting the chatter in my brain and my short attention span gets the better of me.

She still teaches there twice a week, and I guess she teaches other places as well. We do have quite a few classes, but everyone said to go to her. So I did :)

I am not talking about the type of yoga therapy your instructor is doing.I am talking about yoga therapy, as in yoga psychotherapy, to help people heal, from trauma and depression/anxiety. I am a real believer in bodywork as the key to healing psychological things, but it is going to take some work to get certified. In the meantime, as soon as I get my clinical license in the fall, I am going to start working on becoming a certified wellness counselor, through ACSM. It's an on-line course, so I can do that while working.

Very interesting Crankin! I didn't Know there WAS such a type of therapy. I can certainly see how it could be useful.

Different strokes -I really like Yin yoga where you hold poses for ~3 minutes. The tightness in my joints dissipates and I use the time to put my attention on releasing the tension.

What I like best is the way I feel when I leave. Very centered, focused and calm.

I like a variety of styles. The only thing I don't like is a class that moves too fast. I'm not advanced enough to self-cue and self-correct things like "pull muhla bandha," "hands, feet and head," "lift the sitting bones," "four corners of the feet," "externally rotate the upper arms, internally rotate the forearms," and "all five finger mounds" in fractions of a second. How long it just took you to read that is about a third of the time it takes me to do it. :D And I'm sure I've missed five or six critical cues. If I'm not in a pose for at least a minute, I'll wind up flaking on at least one of those things, usually more, which at best means I don't get the benefit of the pose and at worst can lead to injury.

I do think I get more flexibility benefits from traditional, eccentric contraction type of work, than from relaxed yin work.

I hope to get back to my class this Saturday, I didn't go last week since I rode that morning. I've nothing to compare it with outside of the fact that nothing hurts :) I had tried a yoga class at my last gym and it left me in a fair amount of pain - and that was prior to my assorted sports-related injuries since then.

Oakleaf - does Vinyasa = relaxed yin work? I suppose I should start to read a little if I am going to continue with this. In the end, I KNOW my body needs something to balance out the intense training I make it endure, and I was really struck by how calm I felt after the last class I attended. Indeed, I felt kind of floaty, like a natural high for a short time afterwards. I think that means my body approves - of at least I HOPE that's what it means!

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Originally Posted by Catrin

I hope to get back to my class this Saturday, I didn't go last week since I rode that morning. I've nothing to compare it with outside of the fact that nothing hurts :) I had tried a yoga class at my last gym and it left me in a fair amount of pain - and that was prior to my assorted sports-related injuries since then.

Oakleaf - does Vinyasa = relaxed yin work? I suppose I should start to read a little if I am going to continue with this. In the end, I KNOW my body needs something to balance out the intense training I make it endure, and I was really struck by how calm I felt after the last class I attended. Indeed, I felt kind of floaty, like a natural high for a short time afterwards. I think that means my body approves - of at least I HOPE that's what it means!

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Yin yoga and the typical vinyasa class are quite different. Vinyasa is a generic term, but in my experience in Indy it typically refers to a class that moves relatively quickly from asana (pose) to asana, with an emphasis on linking the breath to movement. A class might include some breathwork at the beginning, followed by a series of sun saluations, then a series of standing poses, and ending with a series of seated poses and Shavasana. Some of the poses may be held only for a breath, some as much as five or ten breaths. But, generally speaking, you will be moving relatively quickly from pose to pose. Again, vinyasa is a general term, so this may vary from class to class, studio to studio. What's important to emphasize is that the class will focus primarily on active poses and on "yang" tissues, i.e., muscle tissues. I would add that most of my vinyasa classes include some yin poses, typically in the latter third of class.

Yin classes focus more on connective tissue, e.g., joints, ligaments, fascia, and tendons, and bone. You hold poses for longer periods of time, sometimes up to 20 minutes. Poses are more passsive than active, but don't misunderstand that to mean that they're easy. It, my opinion, it can be very hard mentally and physically to hold a pose--even as a seated one--for long periods of time.

My particular vinyasa classes are hard; they are not a physical "break" from my training, although I'd note that not all vinyasa classes are equally challenging. Mentally, I like vinyasa classes. My mind is too frenzied to relax in a yin class, but that says more about me than yin yoga. I can't say what would be best for you. It might be to your benefit to try different styles and teachers. But if you're looking for just some gentle, meditative stretching, look for classes billed as such. Ultimately, I think your best bet may be to worry less about the style of yoga and more about the quality and experience of the teacher.

Indy - thanks for the description! I really like Dona and trust her skill and ability to help me modify what I need to in order to not hurt myself - at this point I don't really care what style we use - I don't know enough to care about the difference.. As a lot of my issues are fascia related more than anything, it sounds like I might eventually want to try a yin class.

I really like that Dona starts out asking us if we have any particular body part we would like to address, and she fits things in so apparently seamlessly! Then again, she is very experienced.