Beginner’s yoga
Vinyasa and the Namaskar variations - part 4

“Claire Missingham brings us this month's final instalment in the Vinyasa Sun Salutation sequence for beginners. To recap, Vinyasa Flow Yoga is a dynamic yet healing practice that integrates mind, body and breath and fuses the placement of Iyengar Yoga, the flow of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga and the heart and healing of Desikachar’s system of holistic Yoga. The word vinyasa can be broken down into its Sanskrit roots to find its meaning: Nyasa means ‘to place’ and vi means ‘in a special way”. It is breath-synchronised movement. Breath and movement are united in such a way that each action encourages the other. In order to discover this synchronisation, inhalations are linked to upward movements and motions intended to expand the front of the body and create lightness. Exhalations are tied to movements that either compress the navel, as in forward bends and twists, or ground and stabilise us with downward flowing energy. In the Vinyasa Flow Yoga practice, we develop a ‘krama’, or sequences of postures that lead us to a ‘destination’ pose in gradual stages. Each pose in turn deepens the physical body so we are ready for this final pose. Our main purpose is to create awareness of body and mind, using ancient yogic techniques that have been refined to standards of excellence. We move from last month’s pose, Downward Facing Dog, and begin a transition in ‘reverse’ through the previous postures. The final two poses complete the Surya Namaskar sequence.

© Claire Missingham  Photography by M. Uddin.

Details of Claire’s classes, courses and DVD, are available on her website at www.claireyoga.com. You can also download the Sun Salutation sequence as a free podcast for your mp3 player.
See also outline of Part 1,Part 2 and Part 3 of Beginner’s Yoga on this website.