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, it is important to note 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 and Prana awareness 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, essential 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 described below, to 'direct and control' the five physical senses with one's conscious awareness, and goes hand-in-hand with the above principle of Ujjayi breathing, to cultivate deeper concentration, balance, flow, and inner awareness, essential 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 Mindful yogasana practice in alignment with all five core yogasana principles. Please note, this technique does not mean not being aware of external stimuli on the five senses. Actually it means the contrary - being Mindfully aware of external stimuli, but not being attached to, or distracted by, the external stimuli. In this state of Mindfulness, the external stimuli on the five senses often is typically even more vivid than normal day-to-day life, and is one of the profound benefits of yogasana, in that at the completion of the yogasana practice as the practitioner continues along their journey in life, they can choose to Mindfully take along this enhanced vividness of heightened awareness of their five senses, and being in a much more "present" state.

4) Slow, smooth, flowing movement with equal importance on all three phases of 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 stream of meditation in motion. This principle has roots in Raja Yoga:

While practicing the first four principles in and among themselves may have many benefits (e.g. more strength and energy, less stress, increased clarity of mind, better posture, an improved sense of well-being, etc.), I have found this fifth principle is the key to the profound experience of Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana in helping oneself to fully realize all the benefits, especially a sense of overall well-being, and help in living one's full potential every day. This fifth principle involves merging the first four principles together in equal importance and balance, in a continuous uninterrupted stream of consciousness throughout the yogasana session. With the stream of consciousness being in two phases: the first phase being concentration, and once the stream of concentration is sustained with minimal effort, the stream of concentration can give way to the second phase of meditation in motion, which is the ultimate goal of this fifth core principle. With each practitioner being their own Self and many factors involved in one’s yogasana practice, the interval of a practitioner’s yogasana practice in each phase of consciousness can vary a lot from practitioner to practitioner, though typically progresses over time in-line with one's sincere, mindful, regular, yogasana practice - with less and less of one's yogasana practice session in “thinking” or “concentrating”, and more and more in “meditation in motion”, and ultimately possibly experiencing most, if not all, of the yogasana session in the flow of meditation in motion:

a) Concentration: The Raja-Vinyasa Apex Yoga™ yogasana practitioner typically starts at this level at the beginning of a yogasana practice. The Concentration level of consciousness involves an active, intentional, focused effort on maintaining Ujjayi breathing and Drishti gaze synchronized with the slow, smooth, flowing movement of the body, and energy of the body, during the yogasana sequence. I also like to call this level of consciousness during yogasana, Dharana Yogasana, since the practice of concentration is also known as Dharana, the sixth limb of yoga. Once the practitioner can sustain this level of consciousness during the yogasana practice with minimal effort, then concentration can give way to meditation.

b) Meditation: the next higher level of consciousness, where the sustained effort of concentration gives way to a more effortless flow of full awareness and deep presence within the yogasana flow itself - a continuous uninterrupted stream of meditation in motion. I also like to call this level of consciousness during yogasana, Dhyana Yogasana, since the practice of meditation is also known as Dhyana, the 7th limb of yoga. At this level, the practitioner has transitioned from intentional active concentration and physical effort, to a state of being fully present within the yogasana practice itself, with a more effortless flow, which may even give way to a completely effortless flow, aka zone-flow or dancing with the Divine.

An important note of guidance:

During Dharana Yogasana (concentration) one may sometimes experience “loosing concentration” due to the mind going off on a tangent of "thinking”. I have found that the most common reason for this is that the level of concentration weakened or diminished just enough for the mind to break through and do its own thinking. The mind is an organ that has the nature of wanting to think, and this goes right to the heart of the meaning of yoga of calming the mind to allow the practitioner to transition to higher levels of consciousness. Concentrating is one method of calming the mind (through focusing the mind), and the continuous uninterrupted stream of concentration during yogasana is in itself one of those higher levels of consciousness.

So if/when “loosing concentration” occurs and the “observer-self” becomes aware of this (typically fairly quickly), I have found it very helpful to reestablish concentration by simply acknowledging “was thinking”, and proactively reassert intentional focused effort on bringing ones full awareness back to full concentration on maintaining Ujjayi breathing and Drishti gaze synchronized with the slow, smooth, flowing movement of the body and energy of the body during the yogasana sequence.

"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™