I have wanted to avoid this article, but confusion has created a need. This has nothing to do with people liking my class. I don’t want to be the world’s last Hatha yoga teacher. I don’t want so many yoga students to miss out on the full benefits of yoga.
(Update August 2018: Attended a vinyasa class last night. Same old story. Ego-driven teacher and sycophantic students trying to stay the same despite years of yoga together. I've heard students say "Our teacher really cares, because she asks us how we're doing before class." That's your standard for a teacher's attention? (It was last night.) What about the hour of class? The teacher did not lay one eyeball or word on us (5 students) purposely or as individuals. She was giving a PRESENTATION, vinyasa style. Next time, just play the DVD! They just don't teach in vinyasa. The potential for growth is so limited. Here's the kicker: some students love to be ignored. They want to come in, not be instructed, not be challenged, not change, play with their phone, whatever. It's an insult to yoga.
We did dangerous lunging on one side with unbalanced, delayed transition to the other side. Lunges put the knees and hips (think of all the replacements!) in a compromising position where your own strength and leverage can tear your ligaments and tendons, especially with repetitive movement. Vinyasa's lunge focus draws a certain body type with natural leverage, but it seems to be their only trick. There was no significant backbending (the healers of the spine). For that matter, no significant front side compression, compression of internal organs. No one-leg balance. Teacher blind to a small class doing everything with different INTENTION, not speed or progress or limitations, but purposely doing random things [point toes, flex toes, look up, look down] because there is no solid instruction. It's chaos in a yoga room.
The "half lift" is the most dangerous move in yoga; I never do it. There are several ways to get safely to standing from a forward fold with straight legs and vinyasa seems to find every other way. Another dangerous move we were asked to do is the "starfish," a standing backbend with wide limbs. When we backbend in Hatha, the arms (and legs) are an extension of and support of the spine (straight and tight together). The cycles or "vinyasas" were so fast, as usual, that I couldn't find my body in any shape, much less my breath.
Yoga is a physical doorway into the yoga mind. Though I talk a lot in class, yoga is not a verbal suggestion to relax. Meditative qualities follow from focus on the breath, not "positive thinking." The teacher talked about breath, but no time, no instruction. I taught two workshops called "Align & Refine." Vinyasa does not align or refine. Whatever its intent, vinyasa always ends up a sloppy class, with more mental angst than clarity. Unfortunately, I can stand behind everything I said earlier...)
HATHA yoga is the original yoga. Hatha means sun and moon, as we address opposing forces in the body. Hatha yoga teaches stillness in the postures, stillness in-between postures, and conscious, deep breathing. Hatha yoga is a physical doorway into a mind, body, breath connection, although it can be practiced with just breathing techniques, and little emphasis on body postures. Hatha includes namesake routines such as Bikram, and subsets like Yin yoga.
(Update August 2018: Attended a vinyasa class last night. Same old story. Ego-driven teacher and sycophantic students trying to stay the same despite years of yoga together. I've heard students say "Our teacher really cares, because she asks us how we're doing before class." That's your standard for a teacher's attention? (It was last night.) What about the hour of class? The teacher did not lay one eyeball or word on us (5 students) purposely or as individuals. She was giving a PRESENTATION, vinyasa style. Next time, just play the DVD! They just don't teach in vinyasa. The potential for growth is so limited. Here's the kicker: some students love to be ignored. They want to come in, not be instructed, not be challenged, not change, play with their phone, whatever. It's an insult to yoga.
We did dangerous lunging on one side with unbalanced, delayed transition to the other side. Lunges put the knees and hips (think of all the replacements!) in a compromising position where your own strength and leverage can tear your ligaments and tendons, especially with repetitive movement. Vinyasa's lunge focus draws a certain body type with natural leverage, but it seems to be their only trick. There was no significant backbending (the healers of the spine). For that matter, no significant front side compression, compression of internal organs. No one-leg balance. Teacher blind to a small class doing everything with different INTENTION, not speed or progress or limitations, but purposely doing random things [point toes, flex toes, look up, look down] because there is no solid instruction. It's chaos in a yoga room.
The "half lift" is the most dangerous move in yoga; I never do it. There are several ways to get safely to standing from a forward fold with straight legs and vinyasa seems to find every other way. Another dangerous move we were asked to do is the "starfish," a standing backbend with wide limbs. When we backbend in Hatha, the arms (and legs) are an extension of and support of the spine (straight and tight together). The cycles or "vinyasas" were so fast, as usual, that I couldn't find my body in any shape, much less my breath.
Yoga is a physical doorway into the yoga mind. Though I talk a lot in class, yoga is not a verbal suggestion to relax. Meditative qualities follow from focus on the breath, not "positive thinking." The teacher talked about breath, but no time, no instruction. I taught two workshops called "Align & Refine." Vinyasa does not align or refine. Whatever its intent, vinyasa always ends up a sloppy class, with more mental angst than clarity. Unfortunately, I can stand behind everything I said earlier...)
I’m sorry to say most yoga students do not realize they are doing a particular type of yoga, primarily because they are never told. Students frequently ask me after class, “What type of yoga is this?” It is Hatha yoga. They ask because it is different from all other yoga they’ve been exposed to. They ask because they’ve finally had a yogic experience. What they’ve tried in the past is called Vinyasa yoga, or flow yoga.
It’s convenient to say “people like what they like” and “everyone’s different,” but that’s only valid if they are given a choice. Most students don’t know they have a choice of yoga, and in today’s market, they really do not.
Vinyasa yoga has promoted itself simply as “yoga” and people are basing their opinion of yoga on a flawed practice. Almost every yoga studio in the country that is not a pure Bikram yoga studio prioritizes Vinyasa if not teaching it exclusively. I teach at gyms where ALL other teachers are Vinyasa teachers. If I leave, the students don’t lose a teacher; they lose an entire way of doing yoga—the proper way. Then the worst thing happens: someone anxious to try yoga tries yoga and hates it and quits. Guess what? I dislike Vinyasa yoga too. It wasn’t “yoga” that let you down!
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HATHA yoga is the original yoga. Hatha means sun and moon, as we address opposing forces in the body. Hatha yoga teaches stillness in the postures, stillness in-between postures, and conscious, deep breathing. Hatha yoga is a physical doorway into a mind, body, breath connection, although it can be practiced with just breathing techniques, and little emphasis on body postures. Hatha includes namesake routines such as Bikram, and subsets like Yin yoga.
Hatha yoga has been passed down from sages such as Lord Shiva (historical and spiritual figure in India) and Patanjali (author of Yoga Sutras, the first yoga book) to modern yoga masters B.K.S. Iyengar (his book Light on Yoga is the quintessential yoga posture guide) and Bikram Choudhury (founder of modern hot yoga and the impetus for modern American interest in yoga).
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VINYASA yoga or FLOW yoga is a modern yoga, also passed down from gurus from India. It moves more fluidly or quickly between postures, without necessarily a recovery posture. Many postures are different. There is more emphasis on body weight in the hands, and many forms of lunging. Many postures are dangerous and rely too much on momentum, leverage or body geometry. The breathing is ideally rhythmic with the movement, as it is in sports or calisthenics. Some of us who don’t believe in Vinyasa refer to it as “huff and puff, “churn and burn,” or “flippy yoga.”
Vinyasa is a watered-down modern version of yoga, made to be convenient to the student, at the expense of their development. They’ve removed the most challenging and rewarding parts of yoga to make it “easier” and then made dangerous physical demands on the body to call it “harder.” The yoga is false, the students are cheated, the energy is repellent. It creates segregation: people afraid to step foot into a yoga studio because they don’t think they belong.
When we change yoga to fit a modern life, we’re only fooling and denying ourselves a great opportunity. We like to say, “You’re not here to change the yoga; the yoga is here to change you.”
Yoga helps you develop control over a naturally scattered mind. When you move the body constantly, you are giving in to the “monkey mind.” When I see someone reach for their cell phone the second class ends, I want to yell: “YOU LOSE! You totally failed yourself today. Please don’t tell people you did yoga today.” (Those who reach for their phone during class actually get yelled at.) Yoga is not an outfit that you put on to take a selfie; it is a transformative practice for mature individuals of any age.
Yoga is first and foremost focus on the breath, and yoga breath is much more sophisticated and empowering than breathing in time with your movement. We need stillness to explore the breath fully. In constant movement, calisthenics, repetitive exercise, and most sports, the breath is timed with the movement (ideally). In Hatha yoga, the breath takes on a life of its own, and one full breath can cover a great deal of work. Yoga breath explores and expands the edges and extremes of both the inhale and the exhale. The control of breath (pranayama) is INDEPENDENT of the control of movement, and there is a DICHOTOMY between flowing breath and still body. Vinyasa completely misses these important features of yoga.
1. Repetitive and constant movement may produce some positive effects for the body, but only stillness truly challenges the mind and the breath. Repetitive stress injuries (especially in knees and hips) are made worse by Vinyasa classes. Vinyasa frequently cycles postures, so you do the same posture or sequence 8, 10 or more times. “15 more reps” is not a yoga instruction. You have to give the mind a chance to experience fatigue, restlessness, doubt and NOT LEAVE that state but deal with it. Slip, fall, overcome, just be. Whatever happens, you have to feel it, not run away from it. If you don’t face your fears and weaknesses, a workout becomes a poor substitute for a massage or nap.
2. Vinyasa transitions are dangerous and lopsided. They frequently flip from a backbend into a forward bend with no recovery. Vinyasa routines often move from a one-sided posture into centered postures, where one side is fatigued and dangerous compensation takes over. I’ve exited many Vinyasa classes asking, “Did we even get to the left leg?”
3. Vinyasa teachers tend to pose in front of class, halting their concern for student movements. I’ve watched teachers sit in a pose, blind to what’s happening around them, while 20 students pick their noses and watch in frustration. That’s not yoga class, YET that is what many people will experience and use to judge all yoga. It’s a shame.
4. Vinyasa overcompensates for too much movement with too little. There’s a time and a place for three minutes in child’s pose or downdog, but an hour yoga class is not it. Boring people to death will not inspire anyone to continue a yoga practice. Neither will busting up people’s knees with three minutes in a lunge.
Progression and focus are lost. Connection and union (yoga) are lost. I see classes that are unsafe, unbalanced, unguided. Instead of transformation, I see a style of classes that creates validation: "I'm (already) great." "I (still) stink." "I'm better than." "I can't."
The worst attitude a yoga student can have is: “If I’m not good at this from day one, forget it.” Well, if you were great from day one, there wouldn’t be much point. And a news flash for you Type A’s, go-getters and over-achievers who don’t want to “waste time” being still: you need it more than anyone. Your resistance to surrender and be still and allow life to come to you is not a strength; it is a human weakness that produces a cycle of anxiety and failure.
The studios who promote Vinyasa are now caught up in being certification mills. Instead of teaching people yoga for a fair price, they want to charge $3,000 for a “teaching program” that finally teaches what they should have taught in class! The teachers being cranked out are frighteningly uncommitted to yoga. In this way, Vinyasa teachers overpopulate the yoga world and narrow the landscape for yoga students. Even a “good” teacher can’t make up for a flawed practice.
As a yoga teacher, I strive to instill confidence and technique, remove frustration and judgment, and offer challenge and potential. A proper yoga class should get the most out of a highly trained athlete, while giving beginners an opportunity to see what they can become and get the benefits of yoga today.
My students are courageous to do what they do: face failure, stumble, fall, grow, learn about themselves. I am honored to be in a position to lead.
I can’t teach something I don’t believe in and I haven’t seen work. Vinyasa is like a reflection—it’s there and it looks familiar, but there’s no substance. Practicing Vinyasa is like trying to talk and listen at the same time. Sure, it’s possible. But we all know if you REALLY want to listen and HEAR, you have to SHUT UP at some point.
Using yoga as a mere form of exercise is like using a lightning bolt to open canned soup. It may “work” on some level, but it’s a wasted opportunity. If you want to connect mind, body and breath for the purpose of knowing yourself and knowing universal power, I recommend Hatha yoga exclusively. If yoga isn’t changing your life, find a new yoga. If you believe in that power of change, you will survive a few injuries and missed classes to finally see dynamic improvement in your health and well-being.
© 2018 Robert Powers SUPERPOWERSYOGA
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