Vinyasa Flow Yoga: What It Is, Intensity and Who It Suits

What the word means

A US yoga membership organization describes flow yoga as a dynamic physical practice with continuous movement, "also sometimes called vinyasa." [1] In the Ashtanga method of Pattabhi Jois, vinyasa is described as a system of moving and breathing in which each inhalation or exhalation is matched with one specific movement. [2] Jois was a student of the teacher T. Krishnamacharya. [2] The label alone does not tell you how a class is paced or sequenced, so ask the teacher what to expect. For the method the word comes from, see Ashtanga yoga.

The sun salutation sequence, often used in flow classes, has its own history. A 2022 review in an Indian journal says surya namaskar is part of modern-day yogic practice and was neither considered an asana nor a part of traditional yoga. [3] See sun salutations.

What a class tends to involve

In a survey of 968 teachers from 64 countries, those mainly teaching "exercise-based" styles (for example vinyasa or power) spent 60.9% of class time on postures, compared with 50.0% in traditional styles, and gave less time to breathing, meditation, relaxation and chanting. [4] Breath techniques were still included by 88.6% of exercise-based teachers. [4] This is self-report from a snowball sample, so it shows tendencies, not rules.

Within a single class, effort changes. In a lab study of 40 healthy adults doing one 60-minute vinyasa session, energy cost and heart rate differed across the sequences of the class, and the opening "integration" and closing restorative parts had lower heart rates than the sun-salutation, lunge, balancing, standing and back-bending parts. [5] This page does not teach any pose.

How intense is it?

In one study, 38 adults did a 60-minute vinyasa class and two kinds of treadmill walking, with energy use measured by indirect calorimetry. [6] Yoga used less energy than a brisk self-paced walk (about 52 kcal less) and a heart-rate-matched walk (about 80 kcal less); the yoga session averaged 3.6 metabolic equivalents against 4.4 and 4.7 for the walks. [6] The authors concluded that vinyasa yoga meets the criteria for moderate-intensity physical activity. [6] That session included a restorative part. A second study of 24 moderately trained adults in a 90-minute group routine estimated energy use from heart rate, averaging 7.1 kcal per minute and highest during the high-intensity sun-salutation section. [7] Individual cost will vary with the class and the person; see is yoga exercise?.

What research shows for health outcomes

These are short-term responses and one fitness trial, not evidence that vinyasa prevents or treats disease. Long-term health outcomes of vinyasa as a distinct style: Proper evidence not found. PubMed searches of titles and abstracts for vinyasa returned single-session studies, small pilot or open trials and trial protocols, and no systematic review specific to vinyasa. Trials of "yoga" in general are covered in yoga evidence by outcome.