Flow Yoga: Slow Your Flow

March 26, 2025 by Fitness On Earth

This entry was published on March 26, 2025 by Charlotte Bell.

Vinyasa (alias Flow Yoga) has been the most popular form of ASANA practice for some time now. Based on concepts introduced via Ashtanga Yoga, Vinyasa has a yoga “routine”, a sequence of fluid movement. In most popular classes, students cross the sequence to a fairly good clip. Quickly move from a installation to the next increases the heart rate. In some classes, teachers increase heat, which induces sweat. This makes sense for western practitioners.

In the West, exercise almost always included these two factors, among others. Thus, as yoga has integrated in Western culture, it looks like a combination of ASANA practice and Western exercise. The realization of a unique yoga flow gives teachers the opportunity to bend their creative muscles. Surya Namaskar (Sun Salting) took all kinds of fun and innovative fantasy flights in the advent of the popularity of Vinyasa.

But some of us, old -fashioned yogis and more meditative types like to cool the temperature. I like to bind poses in a sequence, but I prefer to slow down my flow. For me, the practice of yoga is a moment to calm my nervous system through a conscious movement. I prefer bodybuilding and walking in nature to develop muscles and raise my heart rate. What I like about Yoga Asana is his ability to promote mindfulness. The slowdown in my flow promotes bodily connection.

Here is why you should try to slow down your Flow Yoga

Deployment: When you spend time in each pose, your body has a chance to relax resistance to soft tissue. It takes time to move on to immobility in a pose. Our bodies and minds need time to adapt to each new position, and it is only when we can relax in the pose that the “magic” of yoga can take place. This magic is the integration of body and mind, abandoning effort. Remember that the “mastery” of ASANA in Sutras yoga is defined as this (in the translation of Alistair Shearer): “It is mastered when all the efforts are softening and that the mind is absorbed by infinity.” Taking your time in each installation, allows you to make adjustments so that you can relax the effort.
Mindfulness: One of the key elements of mindfulness practice is to slow down. Practicing slow flow yoga gives us time to connect to the constantly evolving process of each Asana. The slowdown allows us to feel the breathing process, the way breathing moves our body and the effort process so that we can “be” to pose rather than “do” the pose.
Accessories: It is quite difficult to incorporate yoga accessories into a quick flow. When you have installed your accessories, the rest of the class has often passed to the next installation. Yoga accessories help us practice with structural integrity. This structural integrity allows us to let go of the effort and to be Asana.
Transitions: This is probably my favorite way of slowing down the flow. I think of each vinyasa like a long Asana. Rather than seeing yoga in flow as a succession of poses, I make the transitions between poses as important as formal asanas. The slowdown makes it easier. Try to give equal attention to the movements between the formal poses. This promotes mindfulness in motion.

Your individual flow practice

If a quick rhythm yoga flow is your favorite practice, continue by all means. But sometimes you may want to try to slow it down. Get to know each Asana in a different way. Feel the transitions. The slowdown in your flow practice could sometimes enrich your fast flow practice.

About Charlotte Bell

Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and started teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyding Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. His third book is entitled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Pratitioner’s Guide to Protect of the Hips and Avoid Si Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly chronicle for Catalyst Magazine and is online Yoga U publisher. Charlotte is a founding member of the board of directors of Greentree Yoga, a non -profit organization that brings yoga to poorly served populations. Musician for life, Charlotte plays an oboe and an English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and the Sextuant Folk Red rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy Awards.