Power Yoga Workout

What do you get when you pair the flowing movements of Vinyasa with Ashtanga yoga? Power yoga. Even though this yoga type has been around for thousands of years, people have recently been discovering it anew. Richard Freeman, a student of yoga since 1968, shows you what all the buzz is about.

Ashtanga yoga in the Vinyasa style is a yoga system that synchronizes the breath with a progressive series of yoga postures. The alignment and action of posture supports the breathing, and the breathing supports, refines and illuminates the posture. Vinyasa is a synchronized method of using the coiling and uncoiling of the body and breath to balance opposing tendencies, to open the core of the body and mind into the present. Pose is followed by counterpose, as inhale is followed by exhale.

The primary tool used in Ashtanga yoga is breath. When you whisper, the sound is soft and aspirant. When you breathe during the postures, make that same soft, aspirant sound with the lips closed. The sound of inhaling and exhaling should be the same. You will want to have a soft internal smile, which will relax the back of your palate. This opening of the back of the palate will allow the movement of the breathing to drop down to the perineum (the floor of the pelvis). This will cause a gradual awakening and toning of the muscles that connect the coccyx (the end of the spinal column) to the pubic bone.

As you begin, you will use the toning along the perineal muscles to keep the rising and spreading movement of the inhale grounded in what is called the mullah, or the root of the body and center of the pelvic floor. Practice with the following method. Breathe in; as you inhale, pull the lower belly right above the pubic bone slightly back. During the entire inhale, imagine that you are drawing a thin thread up through the center of the perineum. Keep the soft palate open as you pull on the perineal thread with the breathing movement. Also, release the pubic bone and coccyx down at the same time as you are inhaling. Inhaling in this manner fills the torso evenly up to the collarbones. When exhaling smoothly, keep the center of the heart area open all the way through. All of the movements and poses are based on and support this internal breathing process.