The Ashtanga Vinyasa series of yoga has its origins in an ancient text called the Yoga Korunta, which was put together, originally, by Vamana Rishi. It was then received by Krishnamacharya from his Guru, Rama Mohan Brahmachari, at Mount Kailash. Also, there’s a lot of evidence that the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series incorporates various exercises from Indian wrestling and British gymnastics.

This particular style of yoga is characterized by

a focus on vinyasa: “a dynamic connecting posture”. This particular posture creates a flow between the more static postures that traditional yoga does not have. Vinyasa yoga focuses on really linking the movement to the breath so that everything is smooth–essentially, the breath dictates

the movement as well as the length of time that you hold the posture.

Now, I’ve got a video here that will take you through the first, or primary, series of Ashtanga–mind you, it’s 52 minutes long, but it’s very well done and it’s free 🙂



Additional Resources on Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga

Check out this site to see all the different poses of the first Ashtanga series.