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Nyasa means "to place." This can refer to a physical placing of the hands in a specific way
or a placing of attention to a specific area. Vi means "special." So vinyasa means to place in a special
way. Often yogis will practice placing mudras in specific places on the body to improve the effectiveness
of the mudra. [1] In the context of moving energy in the body, we will look at vinyasa as the physical
practice of moving the body in a special and specific way.
There are many yang ways to physically stimulate prana to flow through the nadis; sun salutations are
very effective and there are many variations to choose from. Full sun salutations are energizing, warming,
engaging and wonderful for the muscles. They are very essence of yang: bright, hot, and dynamic. Just
before a yin practice, however, they may be too stimulating for the muscles.
Never is never correct and always is always wrong … so there can be times when a vigorous round of sun
salutations before a yin practice may be just what you need. An Alaskan morning in mid-December at 20
below may absolutely require it. But in general, the heating of the muscles that occurs in the sun
salutation will increase the muscles' ability to absorb all the tension arising from the yin postures.
This prevents the stretch from sinking into the deeper connective tissues where we want the tension
to reside.
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So what do you do when you still want to wake up the body, especially the spine, before beginning your
yin practice? There are many vinyasas that will give you the openness you are craving, get your mojo
moving, and yet still keep the muscles relatively cool. The moon salutation is one way; the variation
offered here will also wake up the hips. If the moon is still too bright for you, other choices could
include a mini-sun salutation, the cloud salutation or the least active of all, the Pawanmuktasana
series of Swami Satyananda Saraswati. We will view all of these in the next sections.
A Moon Salutation
A Mini-Sun Salutation
The Cloud Salutation
Pawanmuktasanas
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1 -- As we saw in the first part of our journey, a mudra is a seal or a
circle made by the body. Generally it is
done with the hands but it can be done with the whole body as well.
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