The primary function of Vinyasa Flow Yoga is to link the body and the breath, allowing the breath to guide you from one posture to the next.
Vinyasa yoga stills and trains the mind because it has so many focal points that train the mind: the breath, movements, bandhas (energetic locks in the body), postures, and sequences, giving it the ability to process what the practice brings up to the surface —both joyful and uncomfortable.
“Vinyasa” is derived from the Sanskrit term nyasa, which means “to place,” and the prefix vi, “in a special way” the steps along a path to the top of a mountain, or the linking of one posture to the next. In the yoga world the most common understanding of vinyasa is as a flowing sequence of specific asanas or postures coordinated with the movements of the breath. it is mostly associated with Ashtanga Yoga.
In Ashtanga Yoga the Vinyasa is used to retain heat, reset the body between sides and create strength. So in this was Vinyasa Flow yoga is can be a faster paced dynamic form of yoga aiming to get into all the areas of the body we tend to forget about in our more daily lives and to use the breath the nourish them.