The second point that differentiates viniyoga asana from other traditions is the use of adaptation of the form of the posture.

This is fundamentally a functional orientation to practice.

The insight of the great masters who developed this tradition is that although there are theoretical ideal forms many bodies who achieve those forms achieve them because of imbalances in their body – hypermobility of the joints for example.

Instead of thinking that each posture has only one precise form in viniyoga we teach that there are multiple forms of any posture and adapting the form of the posture will produce different effects for any given body.

Furthermore certain individuals will benefit more from certain forms than others.

The idea is to modify the form of the posture to suit the needs of the body rather than adapting, contorting or forcing the body to conform to an externally conceived form that may not be beneficial and could inhibit your body from achieving functional benefit from the posture - even be damaging to your body.


Viniyoga Breathing

The third point that differentiates viniyoga asana practice from other traditions is the primacy of the breath.

In many traditions of practice asana is developed just through muscular contraction. You have a concept in your mind of what the posture is supposed to look like and you contract your muscles trying to achieve that form.

There's very little or no emphasis placed on breathing. Or maybe at best lip service is paid to breathing.

In Viniyoga there's an articulated, detailed science of how to control the inhale and exhale.

In fact we could almost say inhalation and exhalation are the focal point in asana and asana is movement of the spine that extend inherent and adapted effects of inhalation and exhalation.

You could almost say we use asana to develop the breath.

The power of your breathing in viniyoga asana practice is two-fold.

First it's your breath and the respiritory muscles themselves that allow you to have a much more intimate effect on the subtle movement of the spine.

The use of your respiratory muscles like your diaphram and intercostals during respiration enables you to create axial extention (the stretching of your back) and intervetebral spacing (getting the vertebrae in your back to move apart from each other).

Second your breath helps you link your awareness to the mobilization of your spine.

So in viniyoga your breath is almost a medium that your awareness travels on to feel more intimately what's happening.

If we're moving unconsciously we move mechanically and follow pre-established movement patterns.

But if our movement is initiated and we move through the medium of our breath and our breath is conscious then it opens up the possibility that our movements will be conscious in a much more detailed way.