What is Vinyasa Yoga?
The first yoga class I ever took was listed on the schedule as “Vinyasa Flow.” Even then, with little to no understanding of what the word vinyasa meant, I remember feeling charmed by its sound. As I continued going to classes, I heard this term used in myriad ways and eventually came away with the lay understanding that vinyasa described a sequence of physical poses linked together with breath. It wasn’t until much later, during my first Yoga teacher training, that I became aware of the semantic interpretations of vinyasa. The following cursory introduction, akin to a page from the dictionary, still left much to be desired.
nyasa (v.) to place
vi (prefix) in a special way
vinyas (v.) to put down, deposit, place or lay on, fix in, turn or direct towards
vinyasa (n.) a series; an arrangement, a collection, an arrangement of distinct movements
As objective definitions, these words served me well as an entry point, but the potency of vinyasa did not begin to unfold until I found myself under the tutelage of Tantric devotee, Shiva Rea and Indo-philologist, Christopher Tompkins. Through their personal commitment to source texts, I have come to understand that vinyasa has but a single meaning:
vinyasa (n.) a series of actions performed with clear intention, in purposeful order, to illuminate conscious awareness
Like many Sanskrit sounds and words, any attempt to bring the term vinyasa to life using a foreign language is inevitably deficient; a purely etymological approach will always fall short, not because it is inaccurate, but because it lacks the inherent intimacy of the practice: the layered understanding of vinyasa is experiential and inextricably linked to the vibratory consciousness it describes. Vinyasa is a vehicle of Yoga, a practice of uniting mind, body and spirit through the art of attention and intelligent progression. Before we venture into the “how” and the “why” however, let us first consider the origins of Vinyasa Yoga that support this embodied practice.
Vinyasa Yoga: The Heart of Modern Postural Practice
The Tantric Origins of Vinyasa
Tantra refers to the body-positive spiritual lineage that recognizes universal divinity extant within the individual. Moreover, this divinity is expressed through complementary qualities of Shiva and Shakti, namely latent consciousness and creative flow. In Tantric philosophy, the realization of this absolute truth: that we are divine intelligence, can be attained through embodiment and direct experience, not merely through strict adherence to prescribed restraints and observances.
“Tantra teaches us that there is a unifying continuity between our physical bodies, the activities of our mind and emotions, and all forms of interior awareness.”
::Christopher Tompkins
When referring to a source text, the word tantra also calls to mind what Lorin Roche eloquently calls, “a tapestry of knowledge weaving together threads of yoga technique.” In his Radiance Sutras, Roche offers the more direct translation as well, “a manual of practices.” It is not clear when the earliest Tantras were written, although this lineage thrived between the 9^th^ and 12^th^ centuries. And from it, some believe, Vinyasa Yoga also emerged.
Mining for Wisdom
As a Sanskrit philologist and Tantric scholar, Christopher Tompkins has spent the better part of the last decade mining source texts for the wisdom of vinyasa and embodied practice; a pilgrimage requested of him by his father who experienced the transformational power of Yoga while battling cancer. Tompkins has methodically uncovered the roots of vinyasa imbued in the earliest Tantras and is now teaching them with poetic clarity for the edification of the global Yoga community. Tompkins has found, universally across an expansive corpus of source texts, a common, innovative sadhana (practice) that, despite changing shape from one lineage to the next, is life-affirming, not life-renouncing. He also describes in an interview with Sutra Journal, “the operative word in the Tantras for this sadhana is usually ‘sequence’ (vinyasa), wherein the ritual liturgy of ‘rites’ (kramas) are the yoga practices comprising it, which must be performed in a specific order.” Vinyasa is at the heart of the earliest postural Yoga practices.
Born of Source Texts
As co-creator of the ‘History of Yoga’ course, curated with Shiva Rea, Tompkins takes painstaking care to distinguish in his teaching between source texts and reference texts. In doing so, he explains that many of the canonical Hatha Yoga texts, such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, are in actuality, reference materials that draw upon earlier Tantric wisdom. Compiled during a time when the sacred feminine was experiencing the first hints of social renunciation, these popularized reference texts omitted or distorted the inherently fluid and feminine Tantric essence of vinyasa, leaving it buried in byzantine source texts which were far more intricate and less immediately accessible. As a result, Vinyasa Yoga appeared to materialize in the age of Krishnamacharya, around the 30’s and 40’s, seemingly unsubstantiated by ancient yogic tradition.
A Corrected Timeline: Closing the Gap between Ancient and Modern Practice
In the absence of a complete examination of innumerable Tantric verses, there have been recent claims suggesting the Vinyasa Yoga practiced by many Westerners was developed not roughly a thousand years ago with the advent of yogic tradition, but much later in the 20th century by Krishnamacharya, supposedly influenced by modern movement modalities like gymnastics. Tompkins rightly disputes this claim with new discoveries of postural sequences and rituals buried inside the early Vinyasa Yoga practiced today.
This is good news for modern Vinyasa Yoga practitioners because it validates our devotion to a “divinely transmitted” and thousand-year vetted practice. With his devout scholarship, Christopher Tompkins has essentially joined the first appearance of vinyasa in Tantric rituals from a thousand years ago to modern Yoga practice.
Vinyasa Yoga: Sacred Cycle and Intelligent Order
How You Do Anything is How You Do Everything
Empirical vinyasa is available to us at all times, from the mundane completion of household chores to the exquisite embrace of someone we love. Our lifetimes are a growing a collection of nows and the way we utilize each gifted moment inexorably shapes our reality. How we do anything is how we do everything, so why not do it in a special way? This is living vinyasa. A process of unifying the outer state with the inner state by completing any sequence of activities in such a way that we experience awareness and connection to source Self. The art of vinyasa is to unearth its potential in our everyday rhythm, be it breathing, speaking, working, eating or sleeping. Below are a few examples of disengaging the all too familiar autopilot and participating in the vinyasa of daily life:
- When you wake up, acknowledge the natural light you see and focus your gaze intentionally on something comforting, a photograph, a plant or someone sleeping beside you. Enjoy a long slow inhale and exhale before rising to a seat at the side of your bed. Cultivate gratitude by silently calling to mind something for which you are thankful. Placing both feet on the floor, feel the support of the ground as you stand. Whisper to yourself, “may I awaken to infinite potential.”
- In preparing a meal, try not to let your mind wander, feel the texture of your food and inhale the aromas. Contemplate the innovative and industrious beings that made this meal possible. Eat slowly while sitting down, avoiding the temptation to multitask. Instead, receive both physical and emotional sustenance by invoking the mantra, “may I be nourished,” throughout your meal.
Order Matters: The Sacred Arc of Vinyasa
“The idea of vinyasa, begin from where you are, go to a point, and come back to where you have to be.”
::-T.K.V. Desikachar
Vinyasa describes a sequential order of actions that progress according to the three rhythms in nature. That is, the organic arc of vinyasa proceeds from the beginning, through the middle and to the end. Consider, for example, the typical morning vinyasa of bathing and getting dressed. You wouldn’t put on your clothes before getting into the shower just like you wouldn’t towel off while the water was still running. The order is so implicit, we likely don’t even know it exists and yet, the order matters greatly.
Any sequence in life can evoke the qualities of vinyasa when we honor these cyclical rhythms. In the context of Vinyasa Yoga, both on and off the mat, these rhythms are:
- Shrishti (emanation): This is the igniting energy of beginnings and sets the foundation upon which to build any sequence of actions. Critical to initiating any vinyasa is the ability to observe and evaluate where we are at any given moment. Only then can we proceed in the way that best suits our needs, considering where we are starting from and the desired end result. Any time you feel yourself resisting a particular sequence of tasks, consider the mantra, “just begin.” After all, you can’t finish something you haven’t started.
- Sthiti (maintenance): After building momentum, this is the peak of any sequence, the fullest expression of actions. This phase of the cycle yields the sustaining energy that promotes growth and continuous expansion beyond the present cycle. When in this rhythm, I suggest using the mantra taught to me by Chuck Miller, “don’t stop, but don’t struggle.”
- Samhara (resorption): Completion is perhaps the most important rhythm in vinyasa and it is often the easiest to forget. In a culture of urgency, time scarcity and chronic hurry, we often neglect the skillful completion of tasks because we are too eager to move on. By honoring the completing energy of vinyasa, we retain what we need to support subsequent actions and dissolve any residue that might become a hindrance. Invite the mantra, “I surrender and start anew.”
Synchronize with Spanda
One of the most emotive definitions of vinyasa, and the one that resonates with me personally, comes from Shiva Rea’s “Tending the Heart Fire.”
“Vinyasa in its original meaning from early Tantras is understood as the “sequence of consciousness,” or how life unfolds from spanda: the creative pulse of life.”
::-Shiva Rea
Vinyasa requires a willingness to co-create with the universe within the parinama (continually transforming) nature of reality. It is the ultimate ability to “go with the flow,” without losing direction or aim. Vinyasa embodies the water-like quality of adapting to the path of least resistance, responding to obstacles rather than resisting them. In this way, Vinyasa Yoga is what Shiva Rea also describes as an “open system.” This will be covered in more detail in part II of this article, but in summary, it means vinyasa intuits order and action according to organic need.
Vinyasa Yoga: Life Practice
Just as Yoga is more than simply creating shapes with the body, vinyasa is much more than the order in which we place those shapes. From the instantaneous cycle of a single breath to the year-long circumnavigation of the Earth around the Sun, vinyasa permeates all rhythms of the universe, within and without. My hope in sharing this article is that we might first appreciate Vinyasa Yoga from a vantage point off the mat to bring greater awareness to the intrinsic intelligence available in physical practice.
About the Author
What is Hatha Yoga?
If you’ve been practicing yoga for any length of time, you’ve probably heard of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. The text, which was written around the second century CE, consists of a compilation of yoga practices derived from older Hindu and Buddhist yogic traditions. Consisting of four chapters of 196 aphorisms, the text enumerates the eight-limbed ashtanga approach to yoga.
Patanjali’s ashtanga yoga system, (not to be confused with the contemporary ashtanga system of Pattabhi Jois) details a full overview of yogic practices. It includes social and ethical precepts, (yama and niyama) guidelines for physical practices, (asana and pranayama) and a full overview of mental states that arise during meditative concentration (pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and Samadhi).
Yoga as a Cohesive System
The Yoga Sutras are important because it was the first time that the central elements of Yogic theory and practice had been collected and documented in one place. Before Patanjali, most textual mentions of yoga were scattered among a large number of manuscripts from different traditions. During that time, anyone wishing to engage in a full comprehensive overview of yogic practices would be required to learn a number of different languages in order to study a diverse number of traditional texts drawn from Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sources.
Once Patanjali had codified this systematic approach to yoga practices, the practice itself became more accessible. As a result yoga continued to mature as a discipline over the coming centuries. With time, other full-fledged yogic systems came into being as well. One of the most well-known systems – Hatha Yoga (the forceful yoga) began to develop sometime between the 9th and 12th century CE.
The Godfather of Hatha Yoga: Gorakshanath
Hindu traditions accredit the creation of Hatha Yoga to Gorakshanath and his teacher Matsyendranath. Both of these men were Bengali in origin. Goraksha Nath in particular was recognized as a highly accomplished practitioner, and was considered by many to be a miracle worker, saint, and revered teacher during his time. During his time, he founded the Nath movement in Northern India.
Known to have drawn inspiration from both Buddhist and Hindu sources, Gorakshanath is accredited with the creation of a number of important oral teachings and Sanskrit texts. These texts include The Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, and a separate important treaty on Hatha Yoga, titled the Goraksa Sataka.
With time, other well-known Hatha Yoga practitioners continued to contribute to the Hatha Yoga canon and additional texts were written to support the practice as well. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century) and Gheranda Samhita (17th century) – both anthologies of various texts – are important treatises on the practice of Hatha Yoga.
Divine Purification through Physical Means
Though many of the tenants and practices of Hatha Yoga parallel the eight limbed system found in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, there are substantial differences as well. The Hatha yoga of Goraksha Nath established a close connection between Indian medicine, and the principles of yoga and alchemy. As such, traditional Hatha Yoga teachings tended to emphasize physical practices more extensively than did the Yoga Sutras.
Like the Yoga Sutras, the ultimate aim of the Hatha Yogi was enlightenment. However, the practices differed substantially in their respective methodologies. Followers of the Yoga Sutras believed that the restraint of consciousness was the way to achieve liberation. In contrast, Hatha Yogis believed that liberation could be more quickly achieved through a sophisticated set of transformational practices designed to purify the physical body and mind through energy practices.
To begin these practices, Hatha Yogis were required to perform extensive purification rituals before beginning asana and pranayama practices under the careful guidance of a guru.
As part of their training, students of Hatha Yoga were also required to learn a comprehensive energy map of the body. This map contained among other things an overview of channels (nadis), chakras (energy wheels), winds (vayus) and “drops” (bindu) consisting of male (lunar) and female (solar) energies.
Once the Hatha Yogi had completed this preliminary work, they engaged in a persistent, daily effort to force the body’s energy winds (vayus) to enter the central energy channel (Susumna). The energy from these winds was then used to unite contrasting polarities of masculine and feminine energy.
The term Hatha makes reference to this practice and is often explained as the conjunction of the feminine solar force – represented by the syllable HA – and the masculine lunar force symbolized by the syllable THA.
Typically, this process of conjoining energies was accomplished through a combination of physical asanas, breathing exercises and meditative contemplations based on deities.
The overall aim of this practice of conjoining energies was to activate the vital life force (Kundulini) that is said to lie dormant in the central channel. In the Buddhist tradition of Hatha Yoga (Naljor), practitioners activate a great heat at the navel chakra. This heat was then used to induce four states of bliss that could provide deeper insights into the ultimate nature of reality.
Through this process the Hatha Yoga gradually strove to transform the physical body into a subtle, divine body. This body, (sometimes referred to as the adamantine body or vajra body) was said to be purer than the sky impervious to disease, void of any defects, eternally youthful, and the bearer of paranormal, magical powers.
Techniques and Benefits of Hatha Yoga
While asana and pranayama played an important role in Hatha Yoga practices, other disciplines were used for physical purification as well. The Gheranda Samhita, a seventeenth century manual of Hatha Yoga, lists six separate purification practices that were used to achieve the adamantine body by tempering the physical body through the fire of yoga.”
These practices include:
Neti
Neti practices primarily consist of nasal cleansing exercises with oil, water or a thin string. Benefits of this practice include lubrication of the mucous membrane, less susceptibility to colds, an improvement in allergy related symptoms and a clearing of the nasal passages.
Dhauti
These cleansing techniques include a diverse set of practices to cleanse the stomach with a combination of saline solutions, air, or a long swath of cotton cloth. Benefits of these practices are said to include an alleviation of constipation, indigestion, hypo and hyper acidity.
Nauli
This forceful exercise consists of a strong rotation of the abdominal muscles and is said to stimulate digestion, tone the abdominal organs and massage the internal organs.
Vasti
Vasti practices utilize various types of enema to encourage the expulsion of accumulated toxins in the colon. Benefits of this Hatha Yoga practice can include regular bowel movements and increased digestive health.
Kapalabhati
Also called the skull shining breath, Kapalabhati is an active breathing practice that can be used to purify energy channels, calm the mind and tone the abdominal muscles.
Trataka
In Hatha Yoga, trataka exercises are used to purify the eyes. To do this exercise, the practitioner fixes his or her eyes on a single point for extended periods of time. Regular practice of trataka can improve the ability to concentrate and deepen meditative practices.
Adaptation to the Modern World
Traditional Hindu and Buddhist Hatha Yoga is still practiced to this day in unaltered form in Tibetan Buddhist monasteries and Hindu ashrams around the world. However, Hatha Yoga as a whole has continued to evolve and adapt to fit the needs of the modern world.
Since the turn of the 20th century, the Hatha Yoga postural corpus has continued to grow. During the Hatha Yoga Renaissance, there were less than 100 recognized yoga postures. Today, this number has grown to thousands of potential variations which are regularly practiced in yoga studios throughout the world.
Three Indian teachers in the early part of the twentieth century contributed to the ever-changing landscape of Hatha Yoga practice through independent study and practice.
By expanding the Hatha Yoga repertoire and presenting it not only to the uninitiated layman, but to women as well, these teachers popularized the practice and made it available to millions around the world.
Swami Kuvalayananda focused primarily on the health benefits of practicing yoga; Swami Sivananda in Rishikesh fused together three different types of practice (Karma, Jnana and Bhakti) to create a modern approach to yoga, and T. Krishnamacharya (the teacher of B.K.S. Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois) of Mysore concentrated on developing a larger and more varied postural repository by integrating an eclectic array of exercises from other movement disciplines into the practice.
