Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

The system of yoga that I teach is called Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, distinguished from Patanjali’s Ashtanga yoga, the eightfold path of meditation. Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga has been developed as a system of movement, postures and a certain breathing technique to progressively purify and tone the body and quiet the mind.

The Ashtanga Vinyasa system is intelligently sequenced so that each posture prepares the practitioner for the next. One must master each posture and sequence to a certain degree before moving on to the next. The series gets progressively more demanding, challenging the body to increasing levels of strength, flexibility, agility and balance as well as challenging the mind to increasing levels of concentration and relaxation.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga is a set series of postures linked together with a specific breathing technique. This combination of postures, movement and breathing creates a meditative flow that strengthens and tones the body, relaxes the mind and provides a strong foundation for deeper spiritual inquiry.

I consider Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga a profound moving meditation and I teach it as such. It is a practice that anyone can do no matter how old. It only requires a willingness to learn.

“It is encouraging to see so many Westerners turning to yoga,” Feuerstein is quoted in Yoga Journal. “I see ‘fitness yoga’ as an opportunity for discovering yoga’s deeper side: mind training leading to inner freedom and happiness. Yoga teachers have an obligation to be grounded in yoga’s understanding of the human mind, its profound philosophical and moral teachings, and its many practices. Only then can the Western yoga movement make a lasting contribution to modern humanity.”

I teach led Ashtanga classes as well as Mysore Style Self-Practice classes at The Life Centre in Notting Hill and at Triyoga in Primrose Hill. See Classes for more information.