4 Questions About Vinyasa Yoga That Nobody is Talking About

Vinyasa in Sanskrit means “to place in a special way”.

This brings up the idea of intention “to move with intention”. Vinyasa yoga uses the breath as a tool to do just that.

But, how good is this style of yoga to deal with different body conditions, and how effective is it compared to other yoga styles and other types of exercise?

That is all we are going to cover in this article.

Read on!

What is vinyasa yoga?

As we discussed before the word Vinyasa in Sanskrit means “to place in a special way”.

But the word Vinyasa can be used in many different ways with many different connotations.

In a nutshell, Vinyasa yoga is a style that involves concatenation of movements also referred to as a flow between two different asanas using the breath to establish an intention of movement.

1. Is vinyasa yoga good for lower back pain?

Before diving into this topic, keep in mind that you should always consult a doctor before practicing any type of exercise if you have a lower back pain condition.

That said, a Vinyasa flow can be very effective to reduce lower back pain as long as you focus on mobilizing and stabilizing the shoulders and low back.

The main objective is to build heat in those areas and to flow from one asana to the other mobilizing the lower back and strengthening the core muscles.

All, while maintaining your attention focused on your breath.

Using a yoga block during your vinyasa flow practice for lower back pain can be beneficial but it’s not necessary.

Physical benefits of Vinyasa yoga that affect the lower back

As we discussed before Vinyasa yoga can be a great lower back pain reliever because:

Strengthens your core muscles
Strengthen and activates your back muscles
Aligns your body and improves your posture
Opens up the front of the thighs reducing tightness on the hip flexors (which can be a cause of low back pain)
Maintains the soft tissues in the lower back healthy by keeping them active thus reducing pain
Increases blood circulation

Practicing Vinyasa yoga regularly has other benefits apart from the ones described above to the physical body that can also have an impact on reducing your lower back pain:

Makes you more conscious of your movements and your body posture
Enhances your mood and reduces emotional stress
Makes you more aware of your body limitations and capacities thus preventing you from doing any wrong movements that may affect your lower back

What type of yoga is best for lower back pain?

Let’s be clear, all yoga styles are mind and body therapies that can help the practitioner attain a higher level of body awareness, flexibility, and overall well-being.

Keeping that in mind, practicing any style of yoga in a state of full-body awareness will bring your body into alignment and balance.

If we had to come up with a specific style of yoga that is more effective to relieve back pain we would lean towards the Hatha, Iyengar, or Vinyasa yoga styles.

All of these practices are very adaptable to the practitioner’s current condition and, if practiced in a state of full-body awareness can bring immense benefits, not only to the back but to the entire body.

What about Ashtanga yoga? Find out here… 👉 Is Ashtanga Yoga Bad For Your Back?

2. Is vinyasa yoga good for weight loss?

Vinyasa yoga is a yoga style that can make you feel rejuvenated and refreshed.

A Vinyasa flow can be executed with different levels of intensity, which in turn will have a considerable effect on its ability to make you lose weight.

It’s also important to note, that losing weight is not all about exercise, but mainly about leading a healthy lifestyle which includes eating healthy and doing regular exercise for your body.

You cannot outpace a poor diet with a lot of exercise when trying to lose weight.

With all of that out of the way…

Vinyasa yoga can be an extremely effective way to lose weight because it’s a full-body workout that includes an intense flow of conscious movements linked at all times to your breath.

Vinyasa yoga flow can also be practiced in a heated room (not as hot as Bikram Yoga), which can also lead to an increased loss in calories.

Again, remember that no matter how much exercise you practice, if you do not have a healthy eating habit formed, your ability to lose weight would be severely reduced.

Is vinyasa the best yoga style to lose weight?

Vinyasa yoga is the style that will make you burn the most calories in a one-hour session.

That said, losing weight involves not only burning calories while doing exercise but also having a healthy eating habit.

Keep in mind that the number of calories that you burn will be directly affected by your body weight and the intensity of your workout.

The table below compares all the yoga styles and the number of calories they can burn for a 170 lb (75kg) woman in a 1-hour session.

You may also like: Can Overweight People Practice Ashtanga?

Yoga style

Vinyasa yoga

Bikram yoga (hot yoga)

Ashtanga yoga

Hatha yoga

Kundalini yoga

Iyengar yoga

Yin yoga

Calories burned

673 cals

540 cals

364 cals

215 cals

200 cals

175 cals

111 cals

Yoga style / Calories burned

Vinyasa yoga

673 cals

Bikram yoga (hot yoga)

540 cals

Ashtanga yoga

364 cals

Hatha yoga

215 cals

Kundalini yoga

200 cals

Iyengar yoga

175 cals

Yin yoga

111 cals

Is vinyasa yoga more effective than a session of cardio for weight loss?

A session of Vinyasa yoga can be more effective than a session of cardio if we compare the calories you can burn doing any of these two.

However, as we previously discussed, the number of calories you burn is not the only thing that matters if you want to lose weight.

That said, in the table below, we’ve compiled a series of alternative cardio exercises comparing the number of calories you can burn when you practice one of them for an hour vs a full session of vinyasa yoga (1hr).

Note: these numbers are based on a single session of any of these activities and based on a woman of 170 lb (75kg) that exercises regularly.

Activity

Vinyasa yoga

Running (at 5mph)

Swimming laps (freestyle)

Aerobics

Calories burned

673 cals

590 cals

510 cals

480 cals

How many calories do you burn doing vinyasa yoga?

The number of calories you can burn after a yoga vinyasa flow session can vary depending on:

Your body weight
The intensity of your workout
If you practice in a heated room or not
And your metabolism

Having that in mind…

The average range of calories burned during a single vinyasa yoga session for a woman with 170 lb (75kg) that practices regularly in an unheated room is between 550 cals – 724 cals.

Keep in mind that the number of calories you burn may increase if your body weight is higher or if you practiced in a heated room.

And it may decrease if your body weight is lower or if you do not practice regularly.

At the end of the day, the amount of weight you lose will be a consequence of, not only the exercise you practice, but also of how regularly you practice, and how healthy your diet is.

How to maximize your calorie burn doing Vinyasa yoga?

There are several things you can do to maximize the number of calories you burn after a vinyasa yoga practice.

But in reality, what you should be focusing on is not in the calories that you burn, but in the weight that you are able to shed.

Somebody that’s overweight will naturally burn more calories than someone that’s not, the key question to ask is how can you maximize your weight loss by doing vinyasa yoga.

Keep on reading…

1. Practice regularly

This is very important…

Regular practice of any exercise activity will increase your metabolic rate thus increasing the number of calories you burn after a single session.

By regular practice, we do not mean practicing 3 times a day for a month and then stopping, but practicing two or three times a week for a year.

Consistency is much more important than intensity.

2. Stay consistent

Staying consistent means building up a habit and practicing your vinyasa yoga sessions as part of your weekly routine.

The key to staying consistent is to let go of the desire to attain your goal.

The biggest enemy to your success at losing weight is the fact that you will be looking for evidence of your progress too soon…

This innate habit we humans have for counting and comparing is the greatest enemy of consistency.

If you turn your vinyasa yoga flow practice into a weekly habit, you will see the results you seek…

And when you do, if you’ve built a habit around it, you will continue to stay consistent, which in turn leads you to not only losing weight but staying that way…

3. Reduce your calorie intake

This translates to eating healthier…

Avoid processed foods (anything that comes in a package) and eat more vegetables.

Calories are just an energy reservoir for the body.

If you want to lose weight, you have to make sure that the calories you burn regularly are more than the calories you intake (save) from the food you eat.

Not sure about what to eat before and after yoga? Read this article 👉 What to eat and drink before and after yoga

3. Is vinyasa yoga good for flexibility?

As we mentioned before, vinyasa yoga, like any other yoga style, is a type of body and mind therapy.

Vinyasa yoga, in particular, it’s a very athletic type of yoga that will definitely increase your body’s flexibility, alignment, and posture.

That said, vinyasa is a very adaptable yoga style that can be practiced in different ways and intensities which will, in turn, have a different impact on your flexibility.

Depending on how your yoga flow is structured, it can be emphasized on increasing your hamstring flexibility, your spine flexibility, or your hips flexibility just a name a few…

Vinyasa is one of the best yoga styles to increase your flexibility because of the concatenation of movement and the different asanas used in this style.

Other styles that will help you increase flexibility include Ashtanga Yoga, Hatha Yoga, Yin Yoga, and Iyengar yoga.

It’s hard to pinpoint a single yoga style that is best for increasing flexibility since all of the above-mentioned include powerful asanas that will improve your elasticity.

The key to becoming more flexible doing any type of yoga practice is to do it consistently over time.

By just practicing 10 minutes every day, you will see incredible results in about 6 months to both your flexibility and your posture.

Give it a try!

Conclusion

Vinyasa yoga is a great type of yoga practice that can relieve you from back pain and it’s incredibly effective for you to lose weight and increase flexibility.

It’s important to note that the regular practice of vinyasa yoga is a very healthy habit to add to your weekly routine.

Yoga is an amazing and life-changing practice.

Want to learn more about yoga & flexibility or yoga & weight loss? Here are some interesting resources to check out:

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