National Yoga Awareness Month Series: Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Welcome back to part two of the Simply Savor September yoga series to celebrate National Yoga Awareness Month! (Missed part one of the series? Read about Bikram yoga here!)
The next style of yoga I thought I’d bring up today is Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga. Here’s a little background to see if this practice is (or isn’t) right for you!
The Eight Limbs:
The term ashtanga literally means 8 limbs symbolizing the path to purification (as outlined in the Yoga Sutras):
1) Abstain (Yama)
2) Observe (Niyama)
3) Postures (Asana)
4) Breath control (Pranayama)
5) Control/withdrawl of our senses (Pratyahara)
6) Concentration (Dharana)
7) Meditation (Dhyana)
Contemplation (Samadhi)
It is believed that by practicing the first 4 external paths, we can begin to internally cultivate the last 4 paths.
Remember to breathe…
This particular style of yoga is done with a focus on vinyasa—the practice of keeping your breath and movement in constant synchrony to create an inner heat within the body. This heat cleanses toxins, relieves tension from muscles and organs, and releases beneficial nutrients within our systems. The goal is to keep deep, steady breaths throughout your practice, along with a focused gaze.
Sun Salutations—the standard vinyasa
-series of 12 flowing movement postures in a sequence while focusing on breath
-Inhale: extend/stretch -Exhale: fold/contract
(this adorable instruction courtesy of yogasite.com)
1. Mountain
2. Hands up
On your next inhale, in one sweeping movement, raise your arms up overhead and gently arch back as far as feels comfortable and safe.
3. Head to knees
As you exhale, bend forward, bending the knees if necessary, and bring your hands to rest beside your feet.
4. Lunge
Inhale and step the right leg back
5. Plank
Exhale and step the left leg back into plank position. Hold the position and inhale.
6. Stick
Exhale and lower yourself as if coming down from a pushup. Only your hands and feet should touch the floor.
7. Upward Dog
Inhale and stretch forward and up, bending at the waist. Use your arms to lift your torso, but only bend back as far as feels comfortable and safe. Lift your legs up so that only the tops of your feet and your ahnds touch the floor. It’s okay to keep your arms bent at the elbow.
8. Downward dog
Exhale, lift from the hips and push back and up.
9. Lunge
Inhale and step the right foot
forward.
10. Head to knees
Exhale, bring the left foot forward and step into head-to-knee position.
11. Hands up
Inhale and rise slowly while keeping arms extended .
12. Mountain
Exhale, and in a slow, sweeping motion, lower your arms to the sides. End by bringing your hands up into prayer position. Repeat the sequence, stepping with the left leg.
Ashtanga Vinyasa Flow
The typical structure of this class looks something like this:
1) Opening sequence: Multiple sun salutations and standing poses
2) Primary/Intermediate/Advanced Series (depending on level) to purify and align (internally and externally), strengthens and tones, and increase flexibility
3) Back bend sequence
4) Finishing sequence: Inverted postures
+ + + + + +
Some questions for you:
Have you practiced Ashtanga before? Tell me about it!
What do you like most/least when practicing yoga?
I love the constant improvement that I see with my practice. Each week I can always go a little deeper, try a more advanced pose, lift my leg a little higher, balance a little longer… Or on the flipside, if I’m tired, I can always concentrate less on strength and more on breathing. Yoga is never stagnant, it’s a constant challenge to learn new things + listen to my body with every class. Things I don’t like: When savasanas (or relaxation) at the end of a tough practice is too short 
Anyone have any particular yoga styles you’d like me to address for Part 3 of the series?? I’m open to suggestions!
Hope you all enjoyed part two of the September yoga series!
Till next time…Namaste yogis!
the pics are awfully cute!! haha.. so adorable. I’ll try them. Haven’t done yoga before cos i’m not good at meditation..
i’m not a big meditation person either (although my mom is trying to teach me!). This is why I like yoga, because it gives me the chance to calm my mind while still moving my body so it’s not quite so ‘meditative-like”
Kristen great job on the site. It’s nice to see someone doing something they love. So for the yoga do you think a beginner can get away with steps 1&12 only? Let me know.
Renaldo
lol great question RENALDO…the good thing about yoga is you can take it at your own pace and lay down (savasana) anytime you want to. i’m sure the more you practice, the more steps you’ll be able to do
I agree, I love the improvement that I see as each week goes by. I am not super flexible, and each time I do a yoga sesh I can feel my muscles becoming more limber… and the visible changes in muscle tone aren’t a bad affect either!
LOL, I love the little yoga guys
I am loving yoga, I’ve done it a total of *3* times only, but I can see myself really getting into it!
that’s great, keep it up! i actually hated yoga the first time i tried, but then slowly grew to love it the more i learned about it and practiced it the right way
I do vinyasa yoga, it’s a flow yoga, more dynamic and incorporate many of astanga poses. I enjoy doing it because as you said, I can see my improvement each week and also discover my weakness.
Great post!
My favorite thing about practicing yoga is its calming effect. Sometimes when you’re exercising you don’t necessarily feel calm until afterwards, but with yoga I feel calm the entire way through
i totally agree with you on this one–its a great way to calm the mind especially when school gets crazy!
Great post! I love the sun salutations stick figure demo
I practice ashtanga yoga here in Korea about 4 days a week.
I have been doing yoga for about 4 months now and am loving it.
I have seen so many physical improvements in my body and strength, it’s great.
I think the only setback for me is that sometimes I get bored with the repetitiveness of the salutations; where I am more focused on when it is going to be done and less on my breathing and movements. That is not always, just sometimes. The majority of time I love it and it’s a neat experience learning yoga in different language/culture.
wow it must be amazing to practice yoga in a different language and culture. i’d love to hear more about what that’s like!
Love the pics! I have done ashtanga before on a home dvd… it was just when I was first getting into yoga. At first, it was intense for me. I was not very good at it. Than I realized yoga is all about the journey not being great at it at first. (being an competitive athlete this was difficult for me). Though I practice this type of yoga here and there. I really like Bikram yoga (hot yoga). That really kicks my butt, but I like it. I am still trying to figure out what type of yoga is for me. It is hard because I see the benefits in each one and have likes and dislikes for each one. Not sure how to pick on to really focus on?
I think I will do this next week instead of my regular yoga dvd. Looks great Kristen!!
Ooh, love the description of ashtango yoga. I would love to get more into yoga but can’t make it to classes. Any good dvd suggestions?
I really enjoy the Gaiam Power Yoga DVD and also Denise Austen has some good ones that I enjoy for all different levels! I usually take some out at the library and test them out before buying one
I’ve never practiced this type of yoga before, I would love to give it a try.
I actually really want to start experimenting more with Yoga, not necessarily this one–I feel like I spend so much time with everything else that it’d be nice to devote a couple of days a week to it.
I love how rested I feel after Yoga – must do some tonight!
The type of yoga I practice is power/vinyasa yoga. I love it! I like how yoga incorporates every aspect of your body and mind into the practice. Your body gets a full workout by getting twisted, lengthened and stretched and your mind gets exercised as well. I’ve been practicing power/vinyasa yoga for close to six years now and it’s always a challenge for me. But the great thing is, I’m not competing with or against anyone. It’s just me on the mat and I do the best I can. Yoga can completely humble me. And just when I feel as if I’m right at my edge and I can’t do anymore, there’s this inner strength inside me that tells me ‘I can’.
OK, time to hop off of my soap box now
Very informative! Thanks!