What is Power Vinyasa?

If you’re newer to Yoga, all the different styles of Yoga sound like a mystery buffet of fitness with a hint of spirituality. Then, there are yogic paths that have nothing to do with poses: Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, etc.

It’s said that the various paths are all leading to the same source. What you want to call that source, I’ll leave that up to the individual. Because that’s the point: you can find what works for you, what enhances your best self, and honors the profound roots of the work and lifestyle called Yoga.

Power Vinyasa is a style of yoga asana (asana = poses).

The word Vinyasa’s literal translation is “to place with intention.” Contemporary yogis have used that to refer to the intentional transitioning between the poses; almost as if the transitions are poses in and of themselves.

In modern American English, we’ve used the word Power here to refer to the experience one might find when holding a pose, calming one’s breath, and focusing through eyesight and mindset. In these powerful moments, we often find that heat arises, helping to transform us from one state to another. Heat is purifying, exhilarating, and if I’m being honest, sometimes incredibly challenging (to the point where I get pretty whiney!).

Power Vinyasa is a style of yoga asana where there is intentional movement that matches the concentrated flow of your breath and at other times there is power in holding a physical shape and calming the mind. A Power Vinyasa teacher’s job is to teach the poses clearly and then, maybe even more importantly, tune into the students’ energy and watch them closely to see when to move them and when to hold them. It’s an empowering, revitalizing, and connective experience when done from a place of heart and non-ego.

This is the kind of Yoga we teach at Yoga Hōme. There are many other styles out there that I encourage people to learn as well - Yin, Creative Vinyasa, Forrest, to name a few. See a future blog post on meditation, by the way. The various kinds and how to implement it long term (even when you don’t initially like it!). This is a major part of Yoga that I’d love to see more of in our daily lives!

For now. Warrior 2 - hold 5 breaths. ;)

—Janan