08/16/2026
When your vinyasa yoga teacher says to “take a vinyasa,” they’re referring to a specific sequence of poses matched to breath: inhaling from downward-facing dog to plank, exhaling from plank to chaturanga (low push-up), inhaling to upward-facing dog (or cobra), and inhaling back to down dog.
BUT (and we can’t say this enough times!), your vinyasa doesn’t have to look like your neighbors’. Another time for the people in the back: your vinyasa doesn’t have to look like the vinyasa of the person on the mat next to you.
The point of taking a vinyasa is to “clear the slate” mentally and physically between sequences, but you can do this simply by going to a child’s pose and breathing, or with any of the examples shown above.
And it gets even better—you can even mix up how you take a vinyasa within a single class. In fact, it’s usually better not to take chaturana until you’re warmed up, and you might choose to skip the vinayasa entirely on some days to conserve your energy. As long as you keep breathing, you’re good. We promise.
