What is Vinyasa

What is Vinyasa?

Vinyasa is a commonly used term in modern yoga. It can mean anything from describing a style of yoga where movement is linked to breath to a specific sequence of poses (normally the chatturanga dandasana-upward dog-downward dog sequence). In Sanskrit, Vinyasa can be broken into its component terms: Nyasa meaning “to place” and vi meaning “in a special way.”

At Yoga Eight, our vinyasa classes are taught with in an Ashtanga-like style. We don’t call our Vinyasa classes Ashtanga, so to avoid confusion between the classes. But the traditional poses and focuses of Ashtanga are present in all our Vinyasa classes.

Our Vinyasa classes are also directly inspired from the Rocket series, created by and taught by Larry Schultz of It’s Yoga. Larry studied with Pattabhi Jois for many years before starting his own studio in San Francisco. The Rocket sequence was developed during a period of time when Larry was teaching the Grateful Dead yoga. It presents a different take on the traditional Ashtanga sequencing which many people have found to be enjoyable

What is the difference between Vinyasa yoga and Power yoga?

The teacher. Every teacher brings his or her own experiences and influences on their teaching practice. Even within sequences that are strictly defined, such as the Ashtanga primary series or Bikram’s hot yoga, students will find different teachers have different energy and styles with may or may not resonate with them.

We believe that some styles of yoga resonate with some people more than others. There is a style out there for everyone, and you just need to find the one that fits with who you are.