hey everyone welcome to yoga with
Adriene I'm Adriene today we're tackling
the question what is a vinyasa this
comes up a lot and it's a totally
awesome question because it's confusing
we go to public classes and the teachers
like and vinyasa vinyasa
mufasa so first things first we'll break
this down very quickly for you first
things first is like most sanskrit terms
the word vinyasa has many meanings the
first thing we'll do is break down the
word the Sanskrit word vinyasa means to
to place the the first part means to
place Yassa
in a special way so forget about that
chaturanga to updog for a second just
think about that that the Sanskrit term
itself means to place in a special way
now I'm not trying to get on my Sanskrit
high horse of our yogic high horse here
but I feel like that's really cool and
really important especially as a
beginner but even for anyone who might
be listening to this wanting to kind of
deepen your practice and embrace the
yogic philosophy in your asana practice
and hopefully in your everyday life so
to place in a special way for me that
brings up the idea of you know intention
to move with intention so honestly there
are many definitions to the word vinyasa
and for this vinyasa but to place in a
special way I feel like my favorite
definition is definitely like how do you
move with intention to move with
intention so that brings me to another
way of interpreting this word vinyasa
and that is that is a systematic
approach to moving from one point to the
next with the breath so very important
with the breath moving from point A to
point B with the breath so we have this
idea of moving with intention and now we
have this understanding or this idea of
moving from one pose to the next or just
moving from point A to point B with the
breath so it's breath and intention now
to like the park you know to the
confusing question but what you know I
look at a yoga schedule and I see
there's a vinyasa
class so linking body movement with the
breath has become you know this very
popular way to get the heart rate going
to flow in and out of the postures so
using my hands a lot so we also will
refer to this word as you know flow a
flow class the vinyasa class so you know
what to expect when you show up to that
class
to link breath and body movement
probably moves it a semi Swift pace if
you're in the West and then the final
kind of practical thing that you might
be wondering well what about when I'm in
that vinyasa class and the teacher says
and now take your vinyasa or rest you
know and that is looking at the word in
a whole nother way but still with the
same principles of moving with intention
linking body movement with breath and
that is that little sequence between our
downward-facing dogs so that moment
between Auto MOCA and Auto mukha usually
and so typically that'll be lowering
down to the belly opening your heart and
Kol removing with the breath and then
exhaling back to down dog or again
really common in the West and in these
kind of more fast-paced classes we will
and we and we do them here on the
channel as well we will take that
opportunity that vinyasa as a chaturanga
to upward facing dog and then a return
to your downward facing dog so I hope
I'm not confusing you there are lots of
meanings to the word vinyasa there are
also these practical applications the
name of the class
you know the noun the the moment between
the downward facing dog but if we really
go back to the root of the Sanskrit word
where we're talking about moving with
intention and using the breath as a tool
to do just that so hopefully it's helped
you figure out the word vinyasa it
doesn't always have to be that fancy
chaturanga to updog to perform a vinyasa
if you're in a class and that moment
comes along and you're not prepared to
do that or you're working on shoulder
stuff or you're just growing that
chaturanga as long as you're moving with
your breath you're doing it right
doing it awesome so anyway that's all
for today keep the questions coming we
love to respond to the requests because
it means that we're having a real
conversation we're not just yoga robots
wore this shirt especially for you is my
first time to wear it in a long time I
made this when I was in fifth grade for
a track-and-field day
that might be an overshare but I think
it's pretty cool okay anyway take care
everyone we'll see you next time free
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join the conversation namaste that was
really cheesy