What is Vinyasa Flow Yoga (and is it right for me?)

Do you ever get seriously confused by all the different types of yoga? Hatha? Yin? Yoga Nidra? Bikram? The list goes on! It can be really daunting and a bit off putting if before you’ve even decided on a class you feel like you’re out of your depth!

I teach vinyasa flow yoga, which is easy to explain in simple terms – it’s a series of yoga postures put together into a flow sequence. So instead of holding a yoga posture or pose for a long time and then moving onto something else, you’re flowing between the postures, linking them all together. And the most important bit? That you’re linking the postures together using your breath, usually inhaling for one movement and exhaling to the next. Once you engage your breath and the movement together it feels like magic. Plus using your breath in a conscious way like that whilst also flowing and moving is amazing for your mental and physical health (I’ll write a whole different post about the importance of breath!).

I love vinyasa flow yoga because the options are endless – you can put any yoga postures you like into a sequence and flow through them. It’s quite different to Ashtanga Yoga (the same sequence every time) or Bikram Yoga (26 set postures every time). In my classes we change our focus each month, so we learn the flow for long enough that you get to know it so you can really engage with your breath and focus on deepening and improving your postures. At in person classes we often practise to gentle music, which really adds to the ‘flowing’ sensation – when you’re in the zone – breathing and moving in unison to music – it really does feel like dancing.

As you can probably tell, I absolutely LOVE vinyasa flow yoga. I leave classes feeling lighter, stronger, calmer and happier. I hope you join me on our yoga mats soon to feel the magic too!

xxx