Dialogue on the Definition of the Term Vinyasa in Yoga Practice

This is a dialogue I had with a yoga practitioner about the actual definition of the term vinyasa. I hope you enjoy this.

ELK wrote: Your most recent posting about Stanislavski reminded me to ask you about a
comment you made in class a number of years ago that has stuck with me.

The comment concerned the meaning of the word "Vinyassa", and how it is more nuanced that the usual translations of "breath" or "flow". I think It had something to do with what connects the postures, also with attitude or intention.

I am interested to know more in your own words. I have searched through past postings to see if you've addressed this already in your blog, but I haven't found it yet. Which doesn't mean it isn't there, but, if it's not, perhaps you might want to write about it some time in the future?

Happy 2007. Hope to see you in class before long.

Best,

ELK

=

I replied: The term vinyasa actually does not have much to do with the term flow or movement with breath except for in a roundabout way. Vinyasa is part of a larger term, Vinyasa Krama, which means: taking a step in a special way. That is a fairly literal translation of the term. But it has an essence. The essence is of the process which will bring you from where you are right now to where you want to get to. It is like what many people do in the morning to get ready to go to work. A standard process would be something like, getting up, who knows, perhaps a little stretching, having something to eat, taking a shower and brushing your teeth, putting on cloths and you are ready to meet the rest of the day. That step by step process that prepares you to get out the door would be what Vinyasa actually indicates: a thoughtful process that gets you ready for something. In the actual original "Vinyasa" practice, the "Ashtanga Vinyasa" that Krishnamacharya taught to Brahman boys in Mysore in the 1930's the sequence is a thoughtful and intelligent progression of postures that prepares your body to go deeper and deeper. Each pose prepares you for what is coming up next as the sequence progresses. In a true vinyasa practice this will happen, like the way I link the poses in a logical order so they build on each other.

The way the term gets associated with linking movement with the breath is that, if you get the breath to start before you start to move, and you finish the movement a hare before you have finished breathing so that the breath envelops the movement, it will protect you and practically ensure that you are practicing in a way that is right for your body thereby preparing you for how you are moving from one pose to the next. Unfortunately, it is very rare that people in a "Vinyasa" practice are doing any such thing as synchronizing the movements with the breathing in the way I just described. Often people are not even exhaling on exhale movements or inhaling on inhale movements. When I am teaching, I often hear people take both an inhale and an exhale on one short movement which means that person is breathing very fast and perhaps even erratically. This means that the person is working beyond their actual ability level which means it is the opposite of what vinyasa krama is referring to: taking a step in a specific and special way that is just right for the person practicing, in order to lead that person from where they currently are to where the practice is bringing them. If you want to read a definition from a book, in Heart of Yoga by T. K. V. Desikachar, on page 25 the term is defined. On that page it is explained that krama = "step", -nyasa = "to place", and in this instance the prefix vi- = "in a special way".

=


ELK wrote :THANK YOU!

I wanted you to know what motivated my question, and why I think I’ve remembered that comment for a few years. Partly, as you can tell, I just like to know things. Vinyassa, in the vernacular that is the yoga studio schedule, seems to mean a class less athletic than ashtanga, but requiring some moving around. It is useful to know otherwise. Also, the definition just illuminates something you begin to understand in your body after well-structured yoga classes. As you often point out, one does not need to understand that in order to get all kinds of benefits from yoga, but feeling/understanding/appreciating/observing it brings benefits of another kind. Or so I am learning.

With gratitude,
ELK

=

I replied: ELK, you are welcome. Thanks for the interesting and intelligently constructed question.