After more than 20 years in Hatha Yoga training and practice our founder had an experience with ViniYoga, and everything changed! What struck her was the focus on the movement with adaptation that honored the yogi as they are in moment. And, having this combined with the breath lead movement that had been a part of her practice for decades, she knew she had stumbled onto a foundation for her own practice that would eventually lead us to the beginning of the Life of Wellness Institute. 

Four Key Differentiators of ViniYoga

• Linkage of Breath and Movement: Viniyoga links movement with the breath, which makes each movement more powerful, mindful, and structurally integrated than non-breath-centered movement. Some poses are done on inhale; others, on exhale. We even use the breath to do subtle, yet powerful, micro-movements when we stay in a pose.
• Use of Movement and Stay: Viniyoga students move in and out of poses before staying in them. Movement systematically prepares the body to hold a pose by warming the muscle groups that will be taxed in that pose. Movement also helps reprogram habitual movement patterns, so students move more functionally, even in non-yoga activities. We can also flow between poses with the best of them!
• Adaptation: Viniyoga adapts poses to the practitioner, rather than assuming there is one “right” way to do a pose. The goal is to achieve the function of a pose, instead of its form. This means that two students can do the same pose but look significantly different from each other. Ideally, they are feeling the same effects of the pose in their body.
• Sequencing: Viniyoga teachers carefully design classes so that each pose prepares for or erases strain from the poses before and after it. Proper sequencing both makes the practices safer (both in the short term and for years of consistent practice) and allows the practitioner to move more deeply into each posture with greater ease.