Vinyasa Yoga Teacher Training | An Innovative Yoga Practice

Yoga literally means to ‘yoke’ - to unite, or bring together. It melds all aspects of who we are - connecting our mental, spiritual and physical body as one. We practice to come home to the truth that we are, at the heart of us, divine beings living human lives. That connection to our divinity is where we will find liberation.

This sense of liberation is a key aspect of yoga. We become free from our worldly dramas and mental afflictions, and if we practice with this as our true intention, we will arrive to Moksha, meaning ‘freedom.’

HOWEVER…This isn’t the whole story. There are many people in the world who practice yoga as a form of exercise - to be physically fit and flexible, to bring their bodies to wellness. There are others who may practice in order to journey to a particular pose or acquire a new skill - and dedicate themselves in discipline to reach this goal. There will be people practicing yoga for stress relief. Then there are many that may be practicing yoga without a clear idea of why, apart from hearing that it’s good for you.

Think for a moment - if you practice yoga - what is your reason for getting on the mat?

Now more than ever, yoga styles are constantly being created, recreated and shared. We have a multitude of yoga styles - Ashtanga, Hatha, Vinyasa, Bikram, Jivamukti, yoga with goats, and so on. So considering that yoga is 5000, 3000 or however many thousand years old that is often claimed - does that make these new styles - like Vinyasa - inauthentic?

Some will claim that there is only one way to practice, and that is in line with the most ancient of traditions of yoga. Many practitioners may remark that these ‘new’ forms of yoga aren’t true to the roots of ‘real’ yoga.

Though if we consider the roots and history of yoga, and the movement it made through India, and eventually to the West, you may be surprised to see just how much this tradition has evolved over the years. What we find is a sense of appreciation for the innovation of yoga, the evolution, and also a sense of freedom of the practice. Delivering us back to the idea that is yoga is about uniting - then maybe it is less about the specifics of what it is you practice, and more about how you practice.

As you’ll discover, true yoga cannot be stemmed down to one traditional text or sole creator. If you’re looking for that one true answer - then you’ll be let down. Though, if you’re interested in unraveling some if the history of how yoga came to be as it is today - especially in its journey from East to West, and how Vinyasa Teacher Training experiences came to be so popular - then read on.

Yoga enters the west | Vinyasa Yoga Certification is Created

In the that period of late 19th century and early 20th century, yoga began to make its mark on the Western world. Swami Vivekananda was another Yogi who focused largely on the inner aspect of yoga. He travelled to America to speak about Yogic philosophy in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition (also known now as ’The World’s Fair’) in Chicago. He planted the seed of Yoga as a system, though not in terms of physical asana and the practices that we recognise today.

The physical ‘asana’ aspect of yoga in the West spread in a different way. Krishnamacharya, as mentioned above, had 3 key students in the 1930s. Indra Devi was the first Western woman to study with Krishnamacharya. She travelled around the world teaching, eventually landing in Hollywood, where she opened a yoga studio in the late 1940s. Her style had roots in the classical system of Patanjali, making her teaching similar to that of the later created Ashtanga yoga system.

Another notable name is B.K.S Iyengar, who is actually Krishnamacharya’s brother-in-law. He began teaching in the late 1930s in India and had many locals and travellers from all over the world come to learn and practice his style. In 1954 he went to Switzerland, and two years later made it to the U.S. There are still countless Iyengar yoga centers around the world.

Pattabhi Jois was the creator of Ashtanga yoga, and he was another main student of Krishnamacharya. He taught for many years in India, and as his name spread with the word of Yoga, people from the West began to travel to India to learn from him.

In 1975 Pattabhi Jois taught his first class in the U.S, in Encinitas, California. David Williams, who studied with Pattabhi in India, sponsored Pattabhi and his son Manju to travel to America. The people who attended his class went on to create their own studios, styles and classes - further spreading yoga to the West with different takes on the practice.

From this spreading seed of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, we have many innovations in styles we recognise today, such as various Vinyasa styles, or more well known practices of Jivamukti (1984) and Anusara (1997), among countless others. This is how Vinyasa yoga was birthed, and began to evolve as practitioners branched out with their own philosophies, focuses and traditions. Practitioners began to then create systems of certifying people to teach their Vinyasa styles, and people began to acquire their own Vinyasa yoga certification through various Vinyasa teacher training experiences around the world.