What does ‘Vinyasa’ Really mean?
by Amy Leonard-King
It is likely that you will have heard along your path and through your practice of Yoga that ‘vinyasa’ had a meaning something along the lines of ‘breath guided movement’. I too had the same understanding, until my studies in Jivamukti Yoga began in a more serious way with an immersion with Yogeswari at the Jivamukti Yoga school in Sydney back in 2013. In one workshop experience, I came to understand both the particular term ‘vinyasa’, and the bigger picture of the practice of Yoga, as being an expansion of consciousness, awareness, and a seeking to always look for a deeper understanding than what something seems to be only on the surface.
‘nyasa’ = to place and ‘Vi’ = in a special order or conscious way
If we consider the term ‘breath guided movement’, it is explanatory, linear and simple. The breath guides the movement, the movement follows on the breath, and to expand on this, the two are linking or ‘yoking’ together to form a ‘union’. We can see the pieces of the puzzle of the practices and the goal of Yoga coming together.
Going deeper into our studies, however, and in particular the study and etymology of the Sanskrit language, begins to give even more context to the terms and their meaning. Studying with Yogeswari, I came to understand that the term ‘vinyasa’ did not only mean letting the breath guide the movement, although that was definitely a part of the picture, but there was a much more intentional nuance, which gave a deeper meaning and more value to the term, and thus more meaning to the practice, for me.
Understanding ‘vinyasa’ to mean ‘conscious placement’, started to mean that not only the breath and the body are communicating and moving together through time and space, but that there is an element of the mind that also plays a vital role, and this is the role of intention. A series of movements could be anything, breath and body could move together in any kind of way, but what could give this practice even more potency, was to make those actions conscious, and toward a particular goal, the goal of ‘Yoga’.
Yogeswari described the way a musician arranges the notes and chords of a piece of music, comparing placing them randomly, rather than with a purpose or reason, and with one note linking into the next both suitable and beautiful note, which eventually creates a harmony, song or even a symphony. Every note matters, is placed consciously, and has purpose in the grander scheme of the piece, story and piece of art.
Similarly, in the asana practice, which is fine tuning our being, using the instrument of the physical body in order to align the internal, subtle and potent energetic systems, we must ensure that the asanas are placed with meaning and intention, consciously, if we are interested in reaching our goal. Random placement could badly interrupt the flow of energy, the direction of prana, and end up taking us way off course.
If ‘vinyasa’ means ‘arranging something in a special way’, and is practiced with intention towards the highest goal ~ Self-realisation ~ and with the breath and body moving as one, we are starting to get somewhere way beyond physical exercise and much closer to the roots of Yoga itself, including the deeply spiritual aspect of moving beyond the material, and seeing the one-ness of being...
The ‘Vinyasa Yoga’ of today traces back to the early 1900s, when the great healer Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya began his work teaching Yoga. He is considered by many to be the architect of ‘vinyasa’, through his focus of connecting breathing with movement, hence where the short-hand description may have been derived. Students of his included B.K.S. Iyengar, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, Indra Devi and T.K.V. Desikachar (his son).
Nowadays, you can find many variations and newer schools of Yoga that have also been created from the roots of this lineage. You could say that modern styles of Yoga we know and love today began with Krishnamacharya in the early 1900s, and blossomed into different directions, lineages and styles, but with a similar, underlying method of linking breath with movement. Modern adaptations of Vinyasa Yoga include but are not limited to: Anusara Yoga, Forrest Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, Prana Flow, Embodied Flow, Baptiste Yoga, Power Yoga, Rocket Yoga etc.
“A properly executed vinyasa practice can help break the habit of viewing the world around us as a collection of objects or viewing life as a series of distinct events. It mimics the way nature works-always moving, changing, curvy. Events in nature do not just happen, they unfold, they develop. Thus in our vinyasa practice, we do not “do” standing forward bend, then upward-facing dog, then downward-facing dog in a choppy, static way, but rather we let each asana unfold into the next, the way a seed unfolds into a stem, then into a bud, then into a flower, then back into the earth to nourish the next generation. When asanas, the sequence of changes, are woven together with breath and conscious intention, we align ourselves with the continuous flow, the undulating rhythm, of the universe.” Sharon Gannon, Jivamukti Yoga Focus of the Month, February 2010.
The next time you practice a ‘Vinyasa Yoga’ style, consider to yourself how to go even further beyond the notion of linking breath with movement. Can you infuse your practice with the intention of actions towards the highest good, seeing beyond the material or immediate, and of looking deeper so as to see the Truth?
Happy practicing x
Amy
P.S. Love going deeper in your practice? Final spot left on our 2020 Hatha~Vinyasa Teacher Training with Amy Leonard-King + guests (Online option now available!)