1) Maintaining heightened awareness of the body, including alignment of the body, movement of the body, movement of the energy of the body, and the feeling within the body:

This includes being conscientious to not reach any point or boundary, throughout the entire yogasana practice, of feeling discomfort or pain. And calmly pausing or stopping progression into a pose, and even backing off if/as needed, to prevent any feeling of discomfort or pain throughout the entire yogasana practice.

A very wise yoga sage once told me "if there is pain, then it’s not yoga." So if you ever feel the need to pause or stop your yogasana practice for any reason, it is perfectly fine to back-off, to pause or stop, to go into Child's Pose, or whatever you feel is appropriate for you, and respectful of others in the yogasana session.

2) Maintaining Ujjayi rhythmic breathing synchronized with the movement of the body:

The Ujjayi Pranayama breath, also known as the victorious breath or ocean breath, sounds somewhat like the sound of fogging a mirror with the breath, with a comfortable, slow, smooth, continuous inhale and exhale. With the breathing having a similar sound on both the exhale and inhale, and the breathing typically through the nose, except for some movements of controlled exertion where breathing through the mouth feels most natural.

Also, as part of the Ujjayi Pranayama, this includes expanding one's Mindfulness to include the Prana, the life-force energy within the breath, flowing into and throughout the body on the inhale, energizing, strengthening, and purifying the body, and on the exhale, expelling impurities from the body.

This principle of maintaining Ujjayi rhythmic breathing synchronized with the movement of the body, goes hand-in-hand with the following practice of drishti gaze, to cultivate deeper concentration, balance, flow, and inner awareness, assisting in achieving the higher experience of moving meditation of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga ™ yogasana.

3) Maintaining a soft steady drishti gaze, and detaching awareness from external distractions on the five senses:

This principle is a combination of the two practices below, to ''direct and control' the five physical senses with one's conscious awareness, to cultivate deeper concentration, balance, flow, and inner awareness, assisting in achieving the higher experience of moving meditation of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana:

a) The first practice, drishti, is maintaining a soft steady gaze on a specific point, that simply is in the center of vision as one smoothly moves throughout the yogasana sequence. When the head is in motion, the eyes stay centered and synchronized with the movement of the head (not moving the muscles of the eyes to “look around” at different objects or search for a drishti point), and the drishti is a point upon whatever is in front of the eyes’ gaze in each moment. So when the head is in motion, the drishti is actually a soft, smooth continuous flow, across that which is in the eyes' gaze. When the head is not in motion, the eyes simply stay fixed on the drishti point, with the gaze upon whatever is directly in front of the eyes, still maintaining their “centered” position in the head, without using the muscles of the eyes to “look around”.

b) The second practice is specific to the fifth limb of yoga, Pratyahara, in which one consciously chooses to detach/withdraw their attention from the distractions of external stimuli on the five physical senses, and instead focus their attention on the mindful yogasana practice in alignment with all the other yogasana principles.

4) Slow, smooth, flowing movement with equal importance on all three phases of yogasana movement, including the transitions between the poses, the poses themselves, and the apex/peak within each pose. This principle has roots in Vinyasa Yoga:

Key to this principle is the slow, smooth, flowing movement synchronized with the Ujjayi breathing and drishti gaze throughout the yogasana practice. This is an important part of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana, and essential in achieving the higher experience of moving meditation of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga ™ yogasana.

Also, it is very important to note that as one smoothly progresses into a pose, there is a subtle transition from the appearance of 'external movement' to 'internal movement' . This is one of the key points and benefits of yogasana - the 'internal movement and experience' leading to, and within, the 'Apex' of the pose. In other words, the practitioner subtly, but with equal importance, awareness, and mindfulness, transitions the Vinyasa flow to smaller subtler movements deeper within their being, perhaps even micro-movements, arriving gracefully into the 'Apex' of the pose, in which they breath for as long as they choose. Then the practitioner consciously transitions gracefully from the Apex of the pose, with smooth 'internal movement' of that pose experience, into the slow smooth flowing transition into the next pose, with no delineation/demarcation between the end of one pose and the beginning of the next pose.

5) Merging all four core principles above into a continuous uninterrupted stream of super-conscious moving meditation. This principle has roots in Raja Yoga:

This fifth principle is the highest of all the five core principles, and the key to the profound experience of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana - merging all of the first four principles together, in equal importance and balance, creating a continuous uninterrupted stream of super-conscious moving meditation. In other words, surrendering into the merging of the first four core principles of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana together into Dhyana yogasana. Practicing the 7th limb of yoga, Dhyana, during yogasana, in which the practitioner may also come to experience the 8th limb of yoga as well, Samadhi, in which the practitioner transitions into total absorption in, and oneness with, the yogasana experience and greater powers that be.

Given all the above, in it’s ultimate form, one may experience Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana as a truly profound experience in the realms of 'effortless effort', 'superconscious zone-flow/flow-state', 'samyama yogasana', 'dancing with the Divine', or 'Oneness with All That Is'. "

"Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga ™ yogasana is based on the following five core principles practiced in union, upon a foundation of Mindfulness:

Om Shanti,

Keith Wolfe, founder of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™