How we make our pose sheets

A Vinyala pose sheet is a guide to one yoga pose. It describes the pose’s form and what your body does in it, with steps, body details, adaptations, variations, and ways to connect it with other poses. The sheets help you study a pose and understand its physical actions as you practice.

Our pose sheets are researched against a reference canon. It includes classical texts, manuals, and anatomy and biomechanics books. We use anatomy and scientific research for claims about the body, and traditional texts for names and traditional technique. When sources disagree, we follow the most widely documented form and include the others as variations. Sources for each pose are available in its study sheet.

Classical texts

• Patañjali, Yoga Sūtra; Svātmārāma, Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā.
• Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā, Śiva Saṃhitā, Haṭharatnāvalī, and Śrītattvanidhi.

Yoga and anatomy references

• B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga and Light on Prāṇāyāma.
• T. Krishnamacharya, Yoga Makaranda; K. Pattabhi Jois, Yoga Mālā.
• Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha; Sivananda / Vishnudevananda, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga.
• Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews, Yoga Anatomy; Ray Long, The Key Muscles of Yoga and The Key Poses of Yoga.
• H. David Coulter, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga; Mark Stephens, Teaching Yoga and Yoga Sequencing.

These works are references we consult, not endorsements.

Each sheet goes through two passes. The first researches the pose and cites its factual claims. A second, independent pass challenges each claim and removes anything the sources do not support. We investigate open questions and check any new information, too. An external audit also reviews a randomly selected sample.

Each sheet is reviewed by a yoga instructor before publication. Our notes describe what the body does; they do not promise health benefits, diagnose conditions, or give medical advice.

Educational content, not medical advice.

We update a sheet when a source review or a reported error supports a change, and we review the evidence before changing it.