Visons of Vinyasa: An Interview with Rolf Gates

The following is excerpted from a talk on "Visions of Vinyasa" given by Rolf Gates.

Q: What is Vinyasa?
A:  Well there are two components to Vinyasa Yoga, sequencing and rhythm. A posture is a timeless understanding that we arrive at physically, mentally and emotionally. The art of sequencing is the ability to communicate through the medium of these experiences. The proper juxtaposition of two postures, “we do this then we do this,” explains them both. The experience of the second posture redefines the first and the experience of the first posture makes possible our understanding of the second posture.

Vinyasa is teaching and learning through a series of juxtapositions. One moment grasped holistically, deeply, reinvented as it is experienced in relation to the moment that came before it and the moment that comes after it. Time, knowledge, and duality are deconstructed.

Q: So sequencing is a way that yoga teachers communicate to their students.
A: Right, Vinyasa is an experiential language.

Q: How does rhythm fit into this?
A: The other aspect of Vinyasa is rhythm. Not only are you flowing from one experience to the next, but the pacing with which you do so, moving to the steady rhythm of breath, quiets the mind creating the possibility of moving from one moment to the next in a state of seamless concentration. Rhythm, like Asana, is timeless. We experience rhythm and asana at a level of our being which exists outside of time. Vinyasa is what happens when we combine rhythm and Asana.

Q: Any final words of advice to a Vinyasa Yoga student.
A: Yes there is a great line in the movie Lady killers. "Flow like a leaf on the river of  life." That about sums it up.

Rolf Gates, is the author of Meditations from the Mat (Random House) and a Vinyasa Yoga Teacher and teacher of teachers.  He conducts weekend workshops and weeklong retreats in the US and abroad.  His next weeklong intensive retreat is taking place at the Menla Mountain Retreat Center in the Catskill Mountains, NY.  (August 16th-23rd)

He can also be found teaching at the studio he co-owns and directs in Boston.  For further information on the Menla Mountain Vinyasa Intensive and Rolf’s 2004/2005 Workshop and Teacher Training Schedule contact:  www.rolfgates.com.
We thank Rolf for his contribution.

Copyright 2004
Rolf Gates
All rights reserved