Vinyasa is a style of yoga characterized by stringing postures together so that you move from one to another, seamlessly, using breath.SkiptocontentWhatisVinyasaYoga?February19,2019/KateSaalON-DEMANDYOGAPutthetheoryintopractice.  GetOn-DemandYogaThatisAccessible,Challenging&Fun8sharesShareVinyasaisastyleofyogacharacterizedbystringingposturestogethersothatyoumovefromonetoanother,seamlessly,usingbreath. Commonlyreferredtoas“flow”yoga,itissometimesconfusedwith“poweryoga“.Vinyasaclassesofferavarietyofposturesandnotwoclassesareeveralike. Theoppositewouldbe“fixedforms”suchasBikramYoga,whichfeaturesthesame26posturesineveryclass,orAshtangawhichhasthesamesequenceeverytime.ThevariablenatureofVinyasaYogahelpstodevelopamorebalancedbodyaswellaspreventrepetitivemotioninjuriesthatcanhappenifyouarealwaysdoingthesamethingeveryday.Asaphilosophy,Vinyasarecognizesthetemporarynatureofthings. Weenterintoaposture,arethereforawhileandthenleave.WhileVinyasa,orVinyasa-Krama,datesbacktotheVedicage—theearliestperiodofyogathousandsofyearsago—itreferredtoaseries,orsequenceofsteps,tomakesomethingsacred.ThemovementpracticeofVinyasaissaidtobeginwithTKrishnamacharyawhohashad thelargestinfluenceonhowyoga,ingeneral,ispracticedtoday.Put allthistogetherandVinyasa,isabreathinitiatedpractice,thatconnectseveryactionofourlifewiththeintentionofmovingtowardswhatissacred,ormostimportanttous.WhileVinyasaYogaisoneofthemostpopularformsofthepracticeintheworldtoday,itisnotwellunderstood.VinyasaYogaDefinitionAswithmanythingsinyoga,thedefinitionisdependentonthecontextandonwhoyouask. Belowarethemorecommondefinitions.“TheSanskritwordVinyasacomesfromaprefixvi,whichmeansvariation,andasuffix,nyasa,whichmeans‘withinprescribedparameters.’” SrivatsaRamaswami,studentofKrishnamacharyaformorethanthirtyyears.Hegoesontorefertoclassicalyoga,fromtheYogaSutrasofPatanjali,forthespecificparameters:Steadiness(Sthira)Comfort(Sukha)SmoothandLongBreathing(PrayatnaSithila)ThetermVinyasaisderivedfromnyasa,meaning“toplace,”andvi,meaning“inas