Reddit reviews The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga: The Authoritative Presentation-Based on 30 Years of Direct Study Under the Legendary Yoga Teacher Krishnamacha

Astanga Vinyasa, especially if you like the mindful, calming movements of tai chi. It's fast-paced enough to constitute a complete workout but with postures held for 5 breaths, you get some space to breathe. The standard series is to be memorized and practiced as a moving meditation. You learn the postures one at a time and the more you progress, the more you add to your repertoire. It's also really cool to "feel" your progress. You develop the strength to 'fly' through postures, which is really rewarding. Tons of free internet resources and online classes.

Initial instruction is highly recommended. Injury is totally possible if you're not doing it right. Also, it takes some clarification in terms of which side comes first, when to progress, where the vinyasas are (the flowing movements in between static postures). Once you learn the series, it's 100% portable and really is a moving meditation.

I used to run, weight train and have done different kinds of yoga but nothing has challenged me more than astanga.

The downsides: some tedium after months of practicing the same postures every day (but then again you can switch it up, or add more); a long-ish practice. A half-primary is 45 minutes, this is all I have time for most days. Full by-the-book practice is 1-1.5 hours. When you first start out, it's about 45 minutes.

YMMV but I'm off of anxiety medications, happy, have better lung capacity but with less injuries than I had when I was runner. Now that I practice every morning, I can't really justify wasting my nights away like I did before. I've built more muscle and lost more weight doing this than any other activity.

Tips, from experience: if you take it on, don't underestimate the importance of getting enough sleep and enough protein, especially if you're doing it every day. When I wasn't watching the two things, I struggled with muscle recovery and was more minor injury-prone.

Free downloads here: http://grimmly2007.blogspot.ca/p/free-downloads.html

Good book here: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Vinyasa-Yoga-Presentation-Based/dp/1569244022/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1317368186&sr=8-1

Cheat sheets here: http://www.ashtangayoga.info/practice/cheat-sheets-pdf/

> I have done a fair bit of reading on this, and I think the major thrust here is on breathing patterns.

This is something I've spent some time with over the last several months, as I've been studying much more closely with someone from the 'old school hatha' days. What I've taken from it in this short time may be 100% off base in terms of where you're coming from, but as someone that's primarily an Ashtangi that started practicing and teaching vinyasa first, and is now starting to dig deeply into Srivatsa Ramaswami's teachings, maybe my perspective will be of use as you continue to learn.

What my current teacher explained was that until he encountered Iyengar's version of hatha yoga, kumbhaka was part of his practice of hatha (something that in my experience, less than 1% realize was EVER a thing). It does seem though, based on our discussions, that it's those seated meditation postures for which it's most beneficial to achieve the 3-hour mastery as opposed to what most of us consider to be a 'full' practice.

Ashtanga stresses the breath in part as pranayama and cleansing throughout the asana practice and in fact, Manju usually only teaches 4 of the pranayamas to practitioners still able to do most of the asana practice simply because at that point, the asana practice itself is doing most of the work. As we age and our physical practice begins to shift, pranayama gains more importance.

In the context of vinyasa krama, Srivatsa Ramaswami stresses that it seems that much of what Krishnamacharya taught as a body of work is being left out and it's the smooth, and in most cases drawn out, flow of the breath with the movements that is key. He contrasts this with the speed of movement in most cases in Ashtanga specifically in one of his books. Ramaswami stresses smooth breath with the movement and smooth transitions. Here's a quote from this book - the definition of vinyasa krama in the introduction- that might provide a bit of clarity where vinyasa is concerned, emphasis mine:

> Vinyasa krama yoga is an ancient practice of physical and spiritual development. It is a systematic method to study, practice, teach, and adapt yoga. This vinyasa krama (movement and sequence methodology) approach to yogasana (yoga posture) practice is unique in all of yoga. By integrating the functions of mind, body, and breath in the same time frame, a practitioner will experience the real joy of a yoga practice. Each of the important postures (asanas) is practiced with many elaborate vinyasas (variations and movements). Each variation is linked to the next one by a succession of specific transitional movements, synchronized with the breath. The mind closely follows the slow, smooth, deliberate ujjayi yogic breathing; and the yoking of mind and body takes place with the breath acting as the harness.

He goes on to discuss prayatna sithila- smooth and long breathing- here's a snippet of a comment regarding how we're intended to move with the breath (do note this is after a bit of discussion regarding length of breath, with more that follows this):

> One should inhale for five seconds during an expansive movement (such as stretching the arms or legs or bending backward) and exhale smoothly when folding forward, turning, twisting, bending the knees, or doing similar body contractions.
>
> The smooth inhalation accompanying expansive movement is known as brahmana kriya, or expansive (breathing) action; the exhaling during contraction of the body is langhana kriya, or reducing or contracting (breathing) action. When you inhale while making an expansive movement and correspondingly exhale during contraction, this is known as anuloma or "with the grain" movement/breathing. Anuloma exercise creates harmony between the tissues of the breathing organs and the body.

All of that said, what Ramaswami communicates here seems to coincide with my understanding of coming into those hatha poses- that entry on an inhale or exhale seemed to follow similar rules. Vinyasa krama uses this continued movement to yoke mind and body as mentioned above.

Again, this is of particular interest because it's something I've gotten much more interested in recently, just from the 'other side' of the fence, so to speak. One of Ramaswami's other books is in my Amazon cart, likely to be ordered today or tomorrow, that he discusses covers more of the theory and less asana than the one linked above. I suspect that once I receive it, the first will take a backseat to the new one until I'm done w/it. https://www.amazon.com/Yoga-Three-Stages-Life-Developing/dp/0892818204

Quality post might be split into a great decision on a look: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Vinyasa-Yoga-Presentation-Based/dp/1569244022

**Here's a look: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Vinyasa-Yoga-Presentation-Based/dp/1569244022