Is Prasara Really The Best Style Of Yoga?
There’s no such thing as a “best” way to move your body. There are wrong ways – injurious ways, like those awful stretches your high school gym coach used to make you do – but the beauty of yoga is that most of the poses are very difficult to do in a way that could cause you to hurt yourself.
While many styles of yoga insist on following a set sequence of however many poses for however many minutes, the ultimate goal of practicing Prasara is to teach you to flow without thinking of what comes next.
Yes, in the beginning, you’ll be practicing routines (this course includes six of them – more about those later), but through practicing the routines, you’ll actually be giving your body the vocabulary of movement you need in order to improvise your own movements.
That last bit is the real magic of Prasara and what makes it such a natural fit for athletes.
The Prasara Yoga / Martial Arts Connection
It’s no secret that fighters are some of the most versatile and adaptable athletes around. You kind of have to be if you’re job requires you to perform while simultaneously trying to avoid getting socked in the face.
But what a lot of people don’t know is that martial arts and yoga have an awful lot in common.
We’re martial artists. Between the three of us, we’ve trained in a dozen different styles and competed on four continents. We wouldn’t waste our time training anything that didn’t allow us to deliver powerful strikes and kicks with speed and precision.
In the ring, nothing is predictable. It looks like chaos out there, but the fighters have to adapt with agility and grace (the best fighters are always graceful). It might surprise you to learn that the key to developing speed, power, and precision under pressure comes from practicing pre-determined routines over and over.
In traditional martial arts, they’re called kata, but many modern arts also make heavy use of “flow drills” in which partners rehearse preset attack and defense patterns to master various skills. As they get better and more efficient, the drill is altered to become just a little more difficult.
With enough practice, advanced moves happen without any thought – like second nature – and that’s how fighters prepare every technique they plan to use in a match.
We do the same thing with Prasara.
In the beginning, we’ll show you a short sequence of movements. After some practice, we’ll add more. Eventually, it will start to get easier, and you’ll notice that your body sails through the transitions more efficiently, with no wasted movements.
That’s when we level up. Change the drill.
Each of the five core Primer flow routines have three levels of difficulty so you can step up gradually from the most basic variations of each movement to advanced forms that you wouldn’t have even attempted in the beginning.
Since you’ll always be able to choose the appropriate level of practice for any flow, you’ll never have to worry about a movement being too hard or advanced for you. Just practice the level that fits, and over time, you’ll find that you can move on to the higher levels of each movement.
Going with the Flow – On the Field and Off
Though it’s perfect for martial artists, you don’t have to be a fighter to benefit from practicing Prasara. Prasara is possibly the most athletic style of yoga out there because of its dynamic movements and focus on Flow.
If you’re an athlete in any sport, you already know what Flow is. Your focus tightens, and the outside world fades away. You breathe deeper. Time slows down. You get tunnel vision, and the path between you and your goal opens up. You don’t have to think about what to do – you just act, spontaneously, in the moment.
Even if you’re not an athlete, you’ve probably experienced flow while driving on the highway, playing a musical instrument, or doing something else that requires a relaxed concentration.
Flow feels good, and when you’re in it, you don’t want it to end.
Even if you’re not the “sporty” type, you know that one of the least useful things an athlete can do is to stand perfectly still during a match. In fact, that might just be the fastest way to lose in most sports.
No, athletes have to move. So it’s important that a yoga style designed to develop athletic movement not spend too much time sitting still.
Prasara Is Like Injury Insurance For Athletes
You’ve probably seen videos of athletes getting injured. These videos are painful to watch – not only because we can see an injury occurring, but because we can see it coming before they do.
When athletes get surprised, they get hurt.
The ball travels in an unexpected direction. Another player attacks from an unexpected angle. They step on a slippery patch. They get faked out.
Things happen that we can’t predict or control.
Prasara yoga is like injury insurance for athletes because it trains you to always be ready to adapt to changes. If you can’t move the way you had planned, you simply transition to a different position. Flow to the next movement and keep going. Sidestep the other player. Jump to make the catch. Learning to adapt can help you stay in the moment – in Flow – so you don’t get caught off-guard.
And it’s the same thing off the court too.
Be More Confident With Everyday Movements
And don’t think this just applies to athletes – we all use our bodies for a variety of tasks every day, and it’s not uncommon to hear about people twisting an ankle stepping off a curb or pulling a back muscle while bending over to tie a show or pick up a dropped wallet.
What would it be like to know that your body was prepared to adapt to anything that comes up?
Flow isn’t just for sports – it means more confidence in every step. More power and assurance when you open a door and enter a room. More agility to navigate the unexpected challenges life throws at you every single day. And all of this translates to more effective and efficient movements that leave you with less stress, more energy, and a greater feeling of mastery in your environment.
Yoga For Your Lifestyle
And that’s the most important thing, after all: applying Prasara to YOUR life.
Whether you want to improve your athletic performance or just enjoy playing with your kids (or grandkids), Prasara practice will teach you to move with more control and ease. You’ll find greater mobility and confidence in everything you do with your body. And you’ll have fun.
Of course, if you can’t make Prasara practice fit your lifestyle, it won’t help you.
You won’t have to devote a certain amount of time every day to practice. Though you’ll see faster results with more work, just a few minutes at a time is enough to get started, and you can literally do this anywhere, with no equipment or special clothing.
