16 Benefits of Vinyasa Yoga That Will Take your Practice to the Next Level!
I've been a Registered Yoga Teacher since 2017 and I have to say that yoga has really changed my life! I've enjoyed watching my students grow and progress in their practice as they start to feel the benefits of yoga.
The main style I teach is vinyasa yoga, it is a bit different from the others and has specific benefits.
Want to know how good is vinyasa yoga for you? Keep reading. Whether you are a total beginner or have been practicing yoga for ages, you'll love this round-up of the benefits of vinyasa yoga.
For each vinyasa yoga benefit, I will give you a few examples of practices to try so that you can feel it by yourself and take your practice to the next level
Table of Contents
What is vinyasa yoga?
It is a common yoga style where you time your movements with your breaths, often linking one breath and one movement. Also called vinyasa flow yoga, it is considered a more dynamic style than the others. It is a moving meditation that focuses on exploring the relationship between mind, body, and breath. One good example of a flowing vinyasa yoga sequence is Sun Salutations.
Is vinyasa yoga good for beginners? Is vinyasa yoga hard?
Anyone can do this type of yoga, but make sure you research what type of class you are getting into if it is your first time doing vinyasa yoga! Tell the teacher you are a beginner yogi and listen to your body! Try taking a basics class with an easy vinyasa flow sequence first.
What are the benefits of vinyasa yoga? 16 Vinyasa Flow Benefits
What is vinyasa yoga good for? What are the benefits of vinyasa yoga? Keep reading for this full list of benefits of flow yoga.
Improved fitness levels
What does vinyasa yoga do for your body? Yoga is a complete functional exercise. In Vinyasa, we focus on dynamic movements and held postures which make the practice the perfect combination of strength, cardio, and flexibility. Here are a few physical benefits of Vinyasa Yoga:
1. A vinyasa flow practice makes you strong and stable 💪
Does vinyasa yoga build muscle? Is vinyasa yoga a good workout? In short, yes. Held vinyasa yoga postures build muscle strength and are a complete workout. When you start doing this type of yoga, you will be sore in places you've never imagined before as you are working deep muscles, such as your transverse abs that are so important for stabilizing your body.
Practice all the balancing poses like tree pose: they build incredible leg strength and will teach you to engage your core to feel more balanced.
2. Vinyasa yoga counts as cardio 🔥
Is vinyasa yoga cardio? It can be if you are taking dynamic classes or doing sun salutations. Sun Salutations are made to create heat in your body, just as cardio does. The added bonus is that they take your body through most main movements and work most major muscles. Better than spending hours on the elliptical if you ask me!
Is vinyasa yoga enough exercise for you? It depends and it can be as intense or as chill as you make it! I always say that the best type of exercise is the one you can do regularly, so focus on establishing a habit first and they add other forms of exercise to it. The importance of vinyasa yoga in your activity routine should also vary depending on how you feel: it is ok to take a rest day!
3. It makes you flexible
I'll never stress that enough: You don't need to be flexible to practice yoga to feel good, yoga makes you flexible! What happens to your body when you start doing yoga? Well, when I started, I was so stiff and could barely touch my toes. I have now gained space in my body and really feel good from it.
A tip to make sure you don't injure yourself (which will NOT make you more flexible): make sure that the stretch comes from breathing deeply and relaxing into the postures rather than pulling or forcing your body into it!
Vinyasa Yoga helps your mental health
There are many mental vinyasa benefits as it works on creating mindfulness and improving the mind-body-breath connection.
4. Vinyasa yoga exercises relax you and calm your mind
The objective of all types of yoga is to quiet the mind. The physical postures, or asana are here to help you find stillness inside your head and prepare you for mediation.
Yoga and meditation are often mixed together, and meditation is a part of yoga: you will often learn meditation techniques you can leave your attention on during the final resting posture, Savasana.
When you are doing vinyasa yoga, you are fully guided: every breath and movement is cued. This can help you let go of your mental chatter and know that you are fully supported in listening to your body. This is why Yoga is often recommended for reducing stress, anxiety or even burnout.
If you want to feel this benefit, I recommend you work on fully letting go of judgment (including towards yourself!) and of expectations.
5. Vinyasa yoga makes you sleep better
When your mind is agitated and your body is tense, it is normal to have trouble sleeping.
Vinyasa Yoga acts on sleep in two ways:
It releases tension in your body and helps it reset by moving it through its complete range of motion during a vinyasa flow yoga sequence.
It also creates space in your mind. You might even want to use square breathing or a breathing technique to help you fall asleep faster.
When you are moving and breathing in a way that feels good, it is easier to fall asleep and stay asleep.
6. You will have greater emotional stability
Vinyasa yoga really helps with stabilizing your emotions for several reasons:
Moving from posture to posture helps you see that no experience, positive or negative, is forever, which in turn helps you see the big picture when you are experiencing negative feelings.
Additionally, it gives you a toolbox to come back to balance, using the physical practice, a breathing exercise or a feeling. This is why in my classes I always ask people to pick something to try in their daily life at the end! Try doing that to experience the full emotional benefits of yoga!
Physical health benefits of vinyasa yoga
There are many well-studied physical vinyasa yoga benefits as it combines the advantages of a gentle physical practice with those of mindfulness:
7. Vinyasa yoga has cardiovascular benefits
Yoga is good for your heart as it lowers blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar.
Improved fitness levels through low-intensity exercises have been connected to better cardiovascular health. Even a beginner vinyasa yoga practice will bring you these results!
8. It improves your posture
If you work on your computer, you are probably sitting all day. And you are probably sitting wrong. Gentle vinyasa yoga poses will compensate for a long day of sitting and help you find space in your body. You will become more aware of when you are not sitting or standing properly and will be able to correct yourself.
It can help with back pain which is one of the major consequences of sitting too much: it is recommended by the American College of Physicians to ease the symptoms and improve mobility for people with chronic back pain.
A good way to try it for yourself is to unroll your mat and do a few cat-cows and observe the relationship between your spine and your hips and shoulders. Finding the natural curvature of the spine is key to having a good posture and this pose helps you do just that!
9. It helps you breathe better
Proper breathing is so important in vinyasa yoga as the practice links breath and movement by pairing specific poses with the anatomical changes that occur during an inhale or an exhale.
If you observe your breath during a Sun Salutation, you'll see how instinctively the body is moving in accordance with the breath. We often inhale in movements where we are expanding and finding space (think upward facing dog) and exhale when we fold inward and deepen a relaxation (like in forward fold).
Better breathing comes from the many breathing exercises we practice during Vinyasa Yoga, from counted breaths to Nadi Shodana... there are so many you can try!
10. It increases your energy levels
Taking care of your mental and physical health as incredible benefits on your perceived energy levels and on how you feel throughout the day.
You will have a toolbox to come back to balance and find energy when you are not feeling 100%, whether you need a restorative practice to relax or a dynamic one to wake your body up.
Vinyasa yoga for a peaceful mind and a better mindset
11. It is a tool to make healthy lifestyle choices 🌱
If you practice regularly, making choices that are good for your body and mind will become easier. You'll become more aware of what feels good for you through mindfulness.
Prioritizing your yoga practice forces you to make good choices and to start understanding your body. It's really hard to keep progressing in your practice if you are not nourishing yourself properly or making choices that don't serve you.
Try going to a power vinyasa yoga class after a crazy night out and you'll understand what I mean!
You could start actively making these choices to be able to bring all the perks of yoga into your daily life. For example, if your goal is to sleep better, doing a late evening yoga session helps but so does stopping to drink coffee after a certain hour!
12. Vinyasa yoga helps you be at peace with yourself
Hey, you are doing your best! Nothing will happen if you can't do a specific pose or are doing it better than your class neighbor. All bodies are different and yoga helps you be kind to yourself.
There is no competition, and some days you'll find your practice easier than others, but that is normal. You are just learning about your body, your breath, and your mind!
This is actually one benefit of vinyasa yoga I'm passionate about. My education was always very competitive, having to go through a lot of selective exams and internships. Going to a yoga class and learning that it is a safe space where I can explore and do my best with what I have just felt so good! I now try to make my classes as accessible as possible and always show easier options so that students can drop the comparison game!
Hey, you are doing your best! Nothing will happen if you can't do a specific pose or are doing it better than your class neighbor. All bodies are different and yoga helps you be kind to yourself.
There is no competition, and some days you'll find your practice easier than others, but that is normal. You are just learning about your body, your breath, and your mind!
This is actually one benefit of vinyasa yoga I'm passionate about. My education was always very competitive, having to go through a lot of selective exams and internships. Going to a yoga class and learning that it is a safe space where I can explore and do my best with what I have just felt so good! I now try to make my classes as accessible as possible and always show easier options so that students can drop the comparison game!
Vinyasa Yoga is the best Yoga for weight loss
I'm often asked questions such as: Is vinyasa yoga good for weight loss? Does vinyasa yoga help lose weight? Does vinyasa yoga tone your body? The answer is yes, but not only!
A dynamic vinyasa yoga class is a workout and will tone your body (see 1 to 4). It helps you ditch the diet mindset and learn to honor your body and give it the nourishment it deserves. So don’t do vinyasa yoga for weight loss only, instead fully enjoy the practice and do not attach to the outcome! This will bring you better long-term results if your goal is to lose weight.
But do not judge yourself if your goal is to shed a few pounds with yoga: I see a lot of people coming to class to have nice abs and stay for the total life transformation yoga brings them!
Here are two ways vinyasa yoga helps you lose weight:
13. It improves your body image
One of the purposes of vinyasa yoga is self-discovery! Your teacher will encourage you to do what feels good for your body and take the options that are right for you, focusing on how a pose feels rather than how it looks. You will learn to do your best with what's available to you on a given day and not force your body into something that hurts.
You will also be trying fun new yoga postures you had no idea you could do and let go of fear! I always love the look on the face of a student who just realized they could totally get into that "impossible" pose. You'll realize that your body is capable of so much.
14. Helps you lose weight by curbing emotional eating
Yoga is a good strategy to control emotional eating as it trains the mind to be more present and more aware of when certain thoughts and feelings that can lead to emotional eating are coming up. You become more aware of your patterns and let go of negative judgment surrounding food, which helps you come back to balance faster.
By being more mindful, you learn to fully appreciate the food you are eating, as well as the context you are eating it in, which in turn leaves you feeling more satisfied.
Vinyasa Yoga improves your mental performance
15. Vinyasa yoga improves your focus
This is one of the big pros of doing yoga: it trains the mind to be more focused. When you are taking a vinyasa class, you'll be refining each movement and going through interesting transitions. You'll quickly learn to be aware of everything that comes into play during each specific movement.
You can explore that during balancing poses, where having a single point of focus helps you with your stability.
During your physical practice (asana) and especially during meditation, you'll learn to not engage with unwanted thoughts and let them go to fully relax.
16. You'll make better decisions
During a vinyasa class, you'll make so many decisions: should I try going into a headstand? Should I take the easy option or try to push myself?
You'll be able to understand better what your body needs on a given day and take the appropriate option to challenge yourself in a safe way and avoid getting injured.
I encourage you to start with variations of Sun Salutations and see how they make you feel on different days. Maybe even journal about it!
And here are the 16 benefits of vinyasa flow yoga! You now understand better what vinyasa yoga is good for.
I hope you've enjoyed this article on the pros of yoga and got ideas to switch up your vinyasa yoga routine!
Do you think this article could be useful to someone else? Share it on social or send it to someone who needs to know about this! I’d really appreciate it! ⤵️