SOME STEP BY STEP PROGRESSION IN VINYASA FLOW SEQUENCING...
Vinyasa Krama means a step by step progression into something, or to a certain
goal. A goal in this case being a complex or advanced asana (posture).
To give a little more explanation of the words we have:
Vinyasa – which is the principle of synchronising movement with the breath and
Krama – which literally means steps or stages
You can also say that with Vinyasa Krama you build onto something, or grow into
something. So what I do when I apply Vinyasa Krama in my sequences, is work my
way from simple to more complex poses. I prepare the body within certain poses to
move into the more advanced or complex “peak pose”.
Where did you I come across it? Well, I came from the Iyengar yoga method, I
trained and certified in it. I didn’t even know that there was a style of yoga called
Vinyasa Flow but I came across a few teachers using this principle of vinyasa in their
classes. I found myself moving in a certain way in the asana practice and I was
immediately drawn to it. I guess it’s in my body, because I also come from a dance
background. So my body is always naturally looking for movement.
I found myself doing Vinyasa Flow more and more in my own practice and started to
teach it as well. Along the way I started to go deeper into it. I studied it more with
Vinyasa Flow teachers like Shiva Rea and I started to understand the whole principle
of Vinyasa Krama, the step-by-step progression.
What is it to me? Vinyasa Krama makes sense in my body, my mind, my energy
and the way feel it spiritually, so basically that’s the way I teach.
How do you I apply Vinyasa Krama in my classes? The way I teach Vinyasa Flow
classes is by using creative sequences with a lot of transitions. The sequence is
based on a theme, it could be back bends for example, but within that I also bring in
all the other ingredients for an all-round class. If you do a forward bend class with me
you will still do a twist, a back bend and so on but the main theme will be forward
bends.
So if I’m doing a backbend theme class, let’s say we are going to build up to a peak
pose of upward bow or wheel pose then the body of course needs preparation for
this complex pose, so moving from simple to complex we’ll start with poses like
cobra, upward facing dog, then to more complex like Camel pose or Bridge pose and
then to Wheel that would be my peak posture, my final destination. I think about
these poses in that order and build my sequence around them.
I really find Vinyasa Krama important to apply in my classes. I always get people
coming up after class and saying "the way you build up is such a natural logical
unfolding, I feel ready for it when I come across that peak pose". So, I teach Vinyasa
Flow but within it’s all about Vinyasa Krama. It is the method I use for creating my
Vinyasa Flow classes.
Whether you are able to do the full pose will depend on many things. For sure some
people will not be able to do Double Pigeon, that's fine we can just modify it. You
have still prepared your body for something. You will still feel the progression.
If you are a teacher yourself and are curious and want to learn all about sequencing
and how to apply Vinyasa Krama for your classes, you might be interested in signing
up for the Online Sequencing Training via Zoom.
