Is Vinyasa Yoga good for flexibility? Vinyasa is a form of power yoga that is beneficial, in order to attain flexibility. Like other varieties of yoga, vinyasa makes you limber and agile. It focuses on poses that stretch. In the same vein, it strengthens muscles in all areas of the body.

Vinyasa shows how to link movement with strategic breathing. Recently, vinyasa yoga has become a very popular style of yoga. Through the linking of breath and movements, it’s practice will keep your heart rate elevated throughout the session.

No matter if you are a beginner to yoga, or have been practicing for many years, vinyasa yoga will promote and enhance your flexibility.

People who are flexible are always talking about stretching, and stretching is obviously good for you.

Nonetheless, is stretching really a good strategy for generating flexibility? In this sense, does it lead to greater flexibility or to less?

Yoga may be more flexible than most people think.

Is Vinyasa Yoga good for flexibility?

Vinyasa yoga is one type that promotes flexibility, among others. It is good for flexibility, as one of your goals in embarking on yoga, because regularly practicing such style can protect your body from stiffness and rigidity.

Moreover, engaging yourself in yoga disciplines, like vinyasa, will assist you in fighting idleness and inactivity. The latter, among others, can ossify you.

It originated in the yoga of Krishnamacharya,^[1]Tirumalai Krishnamacharya a yoga master who taught it to his own students. He is widely considered as an architect of Vinyasa.^[2]Ibid.

The mats tend to be pretty crowded in a vinyasa class.

The teacher’s words are not heard, and students don’t watch each other.

Instead, they follow the postures and try to connect them with breath.

As mentioned, vinyasa yoga has become popular. However, most people who take vinyasa sessions aren’t just necessarily looking for a yoga experience.

They want to get more flexible, and maybe a little toned, as far their conditioning goals are concerned and their objective of achieving their optimum health.

They don’t want to spend a lot of time thinking about yoga philosophy or breathing or meditation.

Therefore, is vinyasa a good yoga? Maybe. It will depend on what you mean by good yoga, or what is your view of the same.

If you mean yoga that emphasizes meditation or philosophy, you might want to try another kind of yoga.

If you mean yoga that helps people live longer, or with fewer physical problems, or with more energy, then vinyasa yoga is probably better.

Similarly, if you want to become more flexible, then vinyasa will probably get you there.

How does Vinyasa Yoga help with flexibility?

The vinyasa style consists of a series of asanas, or postures that flow from one pose onto another. The asanas, or postures, move from a resting position to a standing, sitting, or lying posture, and back again.

Most people who practice vinyasa yoga are serious about the same, and they usually do it at least three times a week. Obviously, regular practice promotes flexibility.

Vinyasa Yoga is a style of yoga that combines movements with breathing. With pranayama alongside, Asanas, or postures, are central to vinyasa yoga. It is characterized by a rapid sequence of positions, or “vinyasas”, that flow smoothly from pose to pose.

Vinyasa Yoga sessions often include inversions, or “sarvangasana”, or balancing poses. Inversions are practiced to facilitate breathing and circulation.

There are three main reasons that Vinyasa Yoga helps with flexibility. First, it places more emphasis on stretching the muscles than on the joints. So the muscles stretch, and the joints are not strained.

Second, it underscores holding stretches for relatively long periods, so that your muscles get stronger. You will also enhance your balance.

Third, it targets and concentrates on breathing, which relaxes the muscles and makes them less resistant to stretching. Flexibility is one of the things that tends to decline with age.

Exercise may help slow that process. More importantly, proper yoga can probably take it much further. However, a related, but not identical, problem is stiffness.

While stiffness may be a factor of age, the main culprit is inactivity. There are general reasons that one becomes creaky with his body. Muscles and bone issues are things to consider.

The most common reason is arthritis. Lots of older people have this, and yoga may help one deal with it.

A joint can be also tight and rigid at times. Yet, yoga may provide solution. Some older people have sore joints from repetitive motion. Guided yoga practice, after being cleared by medical experts, may invite beneficial effect.

Another common reason is sports injuries. Yoga can be a factor in determining solutions for that kind of predicament.

Finally, older people often have trouble getting in and out of a chair. Yoga can help with that too.

Vinyasa Yoga Benefits

As mentioned above, vinyasa yoga is a flowing series of poses. The way the positioning are sequenced means that you move fluidly from one posture onto the next, repeating the same one several times.

This is in contrast to some other yoga styles, which use a series of poses to build up to a final pose, or you might do one set of poses and then a set of poses that complement the first set.

Vinyasa yoga may have lots of benefits. The common positive results that may occasion through regular practice of vinyasa yoga are flexibility and strength, among others.

The flow of positions means that you will stretch your body into different angles, and that variety of poses that you perform will flex and stretch different areas of the body.

In particular, the flow from posture to posture keeps your body supple. Flexible muscles are easier to lengthen.

A supple person bounces back quickly when she falls. She has good balance. She can twist and turn without falling over.

Flexibility and suppleness will help you to do, perform, and execute vinyasa properly.

On the matter of strength and flexibility, these are, by analogy, two sides of the same coin. Flexibility is the resistance to internal forces, and strength is the resistance to external forces.

Asana practice is a way to increase your flexibility. As a result, it helps you develop and enhance your strength.

The difference is that, while flexibility depends on inward resistance, strength depends on outward struggle.

Flexibility and strength are, therefore, related. Yoga is good to nurture both.

A flexible body will be able to do exercises that strengthen the muscles. Pragmatically, flexible body is less prone to injury.

The flow of vinyasa yoga makes exercise easier. The easier that a fitness activity gets will make you more likely to do it and regularly practice the same.

Aside from attaining flexibility, strength, and suppleness, vinyasa yoga is good for motivation, as well. When you feel that you already can perform the postures with ease and balance, the more that you will be motivated.

You can apply such motivation not only in your fitness goals but more so with your life, even when you a faced with challenging situations.

This will also signify that yoga discipline may well be good for you in addition to your goals of being flexible and stronger. This is for much the same reason as the benefits of exercise are more than just making you fit.

Vinyasa Flow Yoga

Vinyasa yoga is a style of yoga that emphasizes fluidity. The latter is a yoga virtue. Thus, it is about flow, and flow is the thing.

The practice, historically called vinyasa, is a Sanskrit word “nyasa” that means “to place” and “vi“^[3]Consciousness in Motion: Vinyasa to signify “in a special way”.

The placing in a special way will also correlate to linking. Thus, the method is not just about holding poses; it also concerns the linking of the postures.

In Vinyasa flow yoga, the poses are the means to an end. They are the links that connect a sequence of moves into one continuous flow.

It bears stressing as well that vinyasa flow yoga is about energy. That may sound like a yoga cliché; yet, it’s true.

Energy is not the same thing as power, but it is powerful in its own way. Power is the ability to make things happen. Energy is the potential to do those things.

In Vinyasa flow yoga, energy may necessarily be about focus. Focus is the ability to obviate the possibility of distractions. It will do away disturbance that may hinder your concentration.

When you direct your attention to one thing, you focus your energy. When you lose focus, you dissipate your energy. One thing, yoga is about focus, because yoga is about harnessing your energy.

Final Thoughts

One of the resultant effect of yoga is flexibility. A common yoga routine, known as vinyasa yoga, may otherwise help in achieving this objective. Such yoga, as discussed above, incorporates a standing series, arm balances, and other fluid postures.

It is in this terms that vinyasa yoga can increase one’s range of motion and flexibility. The poses, or asanas, are practiced in a flowing manner, and this encourages the muscles to move and stretch.

The flexibility that comes with vinyasa yoga is the result of becoming familiar with the body, not just moving it. Being acquainted with the body movement following the flow sequence will aid you to achieve your flexibility goal.

The cycle moves slowly, with intervals of stillness, and as the body learns to move without effort, it releases the tension that once held it in place. Your muscles will learn and adapt as a consequence.

Finally, it is equally important to bear in mind that flexibility isn’t just about your muscles. It’s also about your mind. You need to train yourself to relax and stretch. You need to have a mental picture of yourself stretching. You need to believe that you can do it.