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Friday, 25 January 2008
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Gary is the founder of the American Viniyoga Institute and author of Yoga for Wellness and Yoga for Transformation.
Veteran Ashtanga practitioners may find Viniyoga challenging for its slow, calculating pace, when it may in fact restore any repetitive stress injuries they've developed from a demanding sequence of asanas. In fact, one may not even encounter a single Downward Dog - which could cause unnecessary stress to the neck, wrists, and shoulders - in Viniyoga practice. Instead, one might work on slow variations of Child's nose, modified Trikonasanas to protect the neck, and Virabhadrasanas that allow for bent knees and careful shoulder rotations. What matters is Viniyoga is isolating movements, how we move into postures and loosen muscles, letting our breath be our guide in identifying dysfunctional movements, and adapting postures to fit our needs. Consistency is important in yielding results. Increasing stability can yield better circulation, reduced pain and inflammation, for example.
Viniyoga works on muscle re-education. In doing so, it takes into account the entire musculo-skeletal system and combines its elements into a restorative practice. For the bones, it aims to create alignment; for the joints, stability and range of motion; and for the muscles, a balance between rest and contraction. According to Gary's Viniyoga philosophy, in our yoga toolbox we have asana, pranayama, meditation, and chanting. It is up to us as both teachers and students to adapt these tools so they serve us. Rather than conform to the postures, we ought to adapt the posture to fit the needs of the body and ask whether our practice is helping or hurting us.
To learn more about Yoga therapy, click here
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