A daily Vinyasa Yoga practice will keep you toned and energized. The fluidity of the style is attractive to yogis at all levels of experience, although some beginners may find it more challenging.

What Is Vinyasa Yoga?

If you've ever practiced the Sun Salutation Sequence, then you've performed Vinyasa Yoga. In Sanskrit, vi means "in a special way", and nyasa means, "to place". The term Vinyasa is used to describe a style of yoga, as well as a category of other forms of yoga. A more precise meaning of Vinyasa is a method by which a student uses a combination of movement and breath to cycle from one point to another. The journey to the pose is as important as the pose itself.

In some yoga styles, a practitioner moves into a pose, holds it, releases it, and moves to another pose. Vinyasa teaches us that to use breath to link the motion is as important as the pose itself. The philosophy of Vinyasa can be incorporated into any form of yoga style. So, if you'd like to establish a daily Vinyasa Yoga practice, one option is to adapt to more of a flow sequence of your regular postures connected by breath.

Establishing a Daily Vinyasa Yoga Practice

Remember, any yoga postures may be used with Vinyasa breath. Here's one example of an energizing standing sequence:

Begin in Mountain Pose
Lower to Forward Fold
Return to Mountain Pose
Lower to Forward Fold again
Extend one leg back for Low Lunge
Rise into Downward Facing Dog
Reach into Plank Pose
Extend the other leg back for Low Lunge
Back into Downward Facing Dog
Return to Plank Pose
Evolve into Side Plank Pose
Return to Plank
Rotate into Side Plank on the other side
Step into Downward Facing Dog
Slide into Upward Facing Dog
Bring one leg forward for Pigeon Pose
Step back into Upward Facing Dog
Bring the other leg forward for Pigeon.
Extend back into Downward Facing Dog
Return to Forward Fold
Stand up in Mountain Pose
You can introduce sitting postures such as Side Twist and Cow-Faced Pose after you complete Pigeon Pose instead of returning to standing. To conclude the entire sequence, lie in Savasana, or Corpse Pose, for relaxation.

Visit our Yoga Pose Gallery for examples of these postures.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

The yoga guru Sri K. Pattabhi Jois is the founder of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga six series, and this is another option for your daily Vinyasa practice. The Sun Salutation Sequence is the opening session, and may be performed up to 10 times. View a slideshow of those postures.

To continue in the Ashtanga Vinyasa style, you would add the Primary series, the Intermediate series, or the Advanced Levels, a backbend, and finally close with a inverted posture. Learn more about this style at Ashtanga.com