The Logic Behind the Flow in Ashtanga
When students new to the Ashtanga practice first step on their mats, a major source of confusion is often:
When do we do a Vinyasa?
To be fair, there’s a lot to absorb right away: you’re learning the order of postures, alignment, breathing as you move in and out. When to transition through can fall low on the list of priorities.
And it can seem kind of arbitrary–sometimes we move back through Chaturanga, up-dog, down-dog, sometimes we don’t. I thought I’d share my understanding of the logic of the sequence and the vinyasas.
But to back up for a moment and reframe the question: instead of when, why do a Vinyasa?
In the Ashtanga system, there’s a relationship between statically holding in the asanas (which in Primary especially consists of deep forward bends, spinal flexion, and twists) and expanding and lengthening through Chaturanga, up-dog, and down-dog.
We bind and compress, then release and open. This rhythm of closing then opening works with and reinforces the breath powerfully as we progress through the series.
The transition also serves as a reset for the major joints after these deep folds and binds. Think about what’s happening in the hips, knees, and shoulders in poses like Marichiasana B and D. The chance to extend the knees and hips after being tied up, bear weight on the hands to stabilize the shoulder serves as a useful counter after all those deep binds.
The rhythm of the Vinyasa transition also helps us return awareness to the breath–which can get lost, or sleepy, or irregular–in the challenge of a pose. So the Vinyasa is a chance to reset the relationship to the breath as well as the body.
In the understanding of the physical body that underwrites this practice, the physical, material matter of muscle, tissue, and bone is conceived of as Tamasic: heavy, dense, cold, inert.
The body wants to be at rest (especially at 5am in the winter when the alarm goes off and it’s time to make your way to practice.)
We practice to create heat, enliven with breath, and with heat and air create fire. We’re trying to wake what wants to be still.
So another reason to move through a Vinyasa is to maintain heat. Seated poses, closer to the ground, are cooler. They require less superficial work (like balance and stabilizing in standing poses) and it’s literally cooler down on the floor than standing. If you’ve been on the floor too long and you find your heat dropping: do a Vinyasa.
A quick anecdote: when I practiced with Mysore teachers in New York, the full led primary series was done in an hour (before, when I was originally taught, it usually took 90 minutes or more). We were moving regularly, with the breath, but the time spent held in poses was brief.
This completely transformed my understanding of the practice.
Not in the speed, but in that it inverted the relationship between pose and transition that I thought I understood. I had always thought of the practice as a series of poses interrupted by transitions. The goal was the asanas, right? But in 60 minutes, we were moving almost continuously; the practice was instead constant movement interrupted by held poses. This is what Vinyasa means. We should be moving and only briefly at rest.
Here’s my summary then of when to do a Vinyasa: do a Vinyasa to reset the joints, to rebuild your relationship to the breath, to maintain heat, when you are still too long, if you find your attention drifting.
Other ways of articulating these principles: do a Vinyasa anytime you fundamentally change your relationship to the floor–like between poses and between right/left sides, and as a marker of the beginning or end of a sequence. So Dandasana to Paschimattanasa is all one string–your connection to the floor remains unchanged–then Vinyasa after to set up Purvattanasana. But shoulderstand and its counterposes are all one long string, then Vinyasa before headstand.
And, because this practice should at its heart be scalable, it’s equally important– when not to do a Vinyasa: you’re already too warm or fatigued, you are limited in time, you’re working with an injury or limitation.
I usually suggest leaving the Vinyasa out between sides–but sit in Dandasana and breathe, or do a lift-up like between rounds of Navasana to maintain heat and focus. But but but: take these decisions mindfully and consistently.
And another side note. I have an book by the Italian teacher Lino Miele who was taught to do a ‘full’ Vinyasa–back to standing from down-dog–when he originally learned in the ‘90s. What I’ve discussed above is typically thought of as only a ‘half’ Vinyasa.
“Practicing the correct Vinyasa as listed in the following text requires immense skill, strength, and stamina. Once the primary or secondary series begins the sequence moves into full Vinyasa. Full Vinyasa means that each asana starts from Samasthitih and ends at Samasthitih….Full Vinyasa develops strength and stamina but for some students this is too demanding at first so it is advised to practice half Vinyasa”
Little did you know, you were slacking off this whole time... For the record, I have never seen this practiced or ever taught. But for those with maybe about 2 hours and lots of extra energy, work toward full Vinyasa.
If you look at the Vinyasas in primary, there are a lot early, and they taper off.
One of the goals in primary is establishing strength and stability, not only flexibility. All those Vinyasas through right/left in the Janus and Marichis definitely accomplish that. But after Navasa, the transitions occur less often–think Baddha Konasana A into B, Upavisthta Konasana A into B, the glorious lack of Vinyasa between right/left in Supta Padandusthasana near the end.
Intermediate series continues that theme and has fewer Vinyasa, more poses moving A to B to C in a string. Although it also has 5 jumps up and back in Nekrasana so maybe it all evens out…
My usual advice to students wondering when/if to take a Vinyasa. Yes. When in doubt, do a Vinyasa!