What Are the Benefits of Vinyasa Yoga?

“Inhale, exhale, inhale.”

That’s the regular cue you hear in a vinyasa yoga practice as you move from pose to pose with each breath. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like you stay long enough in a pose to really feel the effects of a stretch. It’s often much less time than the 10 to 30 seconds recommended by the American College of Sports Medicine.

However, vinyasa yoga benefits include increased flexibility, mental focus, cardiovascular conditioning, calorie-burn and muscle development. Check out a class next time you see it posted on your gym or studio schedule. It’s well worth your time.

Physical Benefits

While you don’t always hold a stretch for a  long time in vinyasa yoga, by repeating postures and movements you accumulate the 60 seconds recommended by ACSM to benefit. This active yoga practice also gets you moving.  Sitting so much makes your joints stiff, contributes to weight gain and chronic disease.

Flowing movement of vinyasa yoga also burns calories. In 45 minutes of vinyasa yoga, a 150-pound woman burns 415 calories — more than in 45 minutes of jogging or 45 minutes of jumping jacks. To burn the 415 calories, you should be actively flowing the whole time. Vinyasa yoga beats out other slower forms of yoga in terms of calorie burn, too.

Vinyasa poses are usually linked together with Sun Salutations, which include Chaturangas — a push-up-like a motion that builds strength in the upper body. Combine this with repeated visits to Crescent Lunge, Warrior I and II, Horse and Boat for a strength benefit. Yoga practice won’t turn you into a bodybuilder, but it does contribute to toned muscles and functional strength.

Vinyasa yoga also provides a mild cardiovascular response. Yoga training can improve people’s fitness levels and resulted in better exercise tolerance. While the cardiovascular benefits aren’t quite the same as running a marathon, vinyasa certainly provides enough of a benefit to improve your health and wellbeing.

Calm the Mind

One of the most substantial benefits of vinyasa yoga is its ability to calm the mind. Instead of worrying, you focus entirely on the breath, movement and pose sequences. This makes vinyasa yoga a moving meditation.

Yoga, including vinyasa, helps teach your body how to mitigate the stress response by using the breath and mental focus.  Yoga improves sleep, reduces stress, quells anxiety and treats addiction. Vinyasa is particularly effective because you are encouraged to focus on breath and bodily sensations.

By: Andrea Cespedes at Live Strong

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