Vinyasa Yoga – Advanced And Powerful
The word vinyasa literally means "the intelligent putting together of things"- this literally means order and structure in the entire process. It is composed of poses of breath-synchronized movement. Each posture and transition shifts in accordance to a person's ability to inhale and take all the air in, and exhale and remove all the air out. Does this sound easy? It is not. Because unlike other Yoga methods which allow its practitioners to moderately sweat and concentrates more on the calm state of the mind, this Vinyasa Yoga literally aims to develop the physical body at its limit. It is considered a strong workout that can change a person's life. But only if he or she can survive the advanced and powerful techniques this branch of Yoga teaches. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is designed to create heat in the body through movement and breathing. The natural creation of body head leads to the purification and detoxification of the body manifested through increased circulation and sweating. It also improves flexibility and self-control, which allows the student to practice advanced and difficult postures with reduced risk of injury. The practice consists of six progressively difficult series of connected body postures. Each posture requires the student between 90 minutes to three hours to complete. The structure of this Yoga is repetitious and routinary, some of postures being difficult or even impossible to do.
But the beauty of practicing Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is that following the series of poses properly works like a combination lock. If a person performs all the postures perfectly, then an aspect of the mind and the body are unlocked and discovered. The first of these mind and body discoveries is called the yoga chikitsa (yoga therapy), which realign and detoxify the physical body. It forms considerable physical strength. The intermediate series, called the nadi shodana (cleansing of the nadis or river or channels), strengthens the nervous system and the subtle energy channels. What follows are the four advanced series, collectively known as sthira bhaga (divine stability). These sequences greatly increase the strength, concentration, flexibility, and energy flow cultivated in the first two levels. At this point, the postures are extremely difficult that students may have the risk of being hurt if they attempt to ascend more quickly than their body can handle. This is the reason that while some forms of Yoga, such as the Kripalu or the Bikram Yoga can be joined by many people of different levels and may be enjoyed progressively, the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga poses the hardest of the challenges and may take years for a person to overcome. If a person finds that the challenge which other Yoga techniques pose is not enough, then he or she may find that the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga can truly test his or her mind and body at the peak of endurance. |
