What Is Functional Yoga?

What is functional yoga?

It's functional yoga if it works.

Functional yoga has taken a bit to catch on, but like most good things, it's here to stay. And let me be clear: Functional Yoga is not another yoga style, but rather a method of practicing. It frees us to be ourselves without making excuses or having unreasonable expectations. It's a strategy that can be used in any situation.

Paul and Suzee Grilley created and organized functional yoga into a system. It's founded on the scientifically proven notion that our skeletons, tissues, physiology, temperament, and motivation are all unique to us.

Functional yoga is based on the scientifically proved notion that our skeletons, tissues, physiology, temperament, and motivation are all unique to us.

This individuality comes with all of the abilities and limits that make us who we are. To put it another way, some of us are musical but terrible at math, while others can run for miles but can't sit cross-legged on the floor. Someone else might cook fantastically yet have trouble distinguishing between left and right. Another person may bend over backwards for amusement but despises athletics. Human anatomy and mind have an endless number of variations.

Experience vs. aesthetics

We acknowledge and respect these variances in Functional Yoga. Instead than focusing on how you should look when performing a posture - the foot should be here, the knee should point that way, the pelvis should align with the front of the mat, etc. – Functional Yoga is more concerned with how you feel while doing the pose.