ashtanga v vinyasa

bungaro79

did hatha before and i liked it but it wasn't exactly what i was looking for. thinking about doing something a bit more dynamic so was looking into ashtanga or vinyasa but any of the descriptions i've read so far have confused me so can someone please put the differences into laymans terms for me?!
thanks!

strandroad

Both ashtanga and vinyasa involve a lot of movement in out and between poses. There is strong connection between breath and movement.

Ashtanga has a set sequence of asanas which students practice on their own under the teacher's supervision (Mysore style class) or during a lead class when all students practice together. Due to the length of a complete series a lead class would usually consist of some sort of outtakes form a series. You are generally encouraged to develop a daily practice of the series your in. It is very repetitive so your goal is to perfect your execution and only tack on new poses when you are ready for them; therefore modifications are rare.

Vinyasa is more free form in that there is no set sequence although a lot of typical sequences are derived from ashtanga and mixed up. Depending on a particular style it might also be more fluid/flowy than ashtanga. In some classes there might be music played (it's more of an American thing though, I think). Modifications are more frequent too.

bungaro79

thanks mhge, think theres a bikram place opening here in cork next week so going to give that a shot but might check out vinyasa too from what you said below.

Big Mig

Ashtanga is very structured, very challenging and a physical practice....

As I said in another post, I'm a cyclist and love the challenge of Ashtanga, between learning the poses and I also think (for me) that the practice of Ashtanga actually goes beyond the physical practice :-)

I like the fact that its structured with the same set of poses.....it sounds a bit boring but actually its really not....

Hope this helps :-)