The Different Yoga Types And Styles

Summary: Explore the article to know about the different yoga poses and styles to practice in a contemporary life.

Yoga is an ancient science of an ocean-wide wisdom that covers infinite aspects to achieve a complete mental, physical, and spiritual well being. The ultimate aim of Yoga practice is to connect the body, mind, and soul and unify with the universal consciousness. To achieve the ultimate goal, there are different yoga types and styles that can be practiced as per the inclination.

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Outlining, five major classical Yoga types:

1. Hatha Yoga

The yoga type is about practicing the postures or asana. Hatha expresses ‘Ha’- the vital force ruling the body and ‘Tha’- the mental force awakening the energies. The Hatha Yoga techniques are more about cleaning and purifying the body system and preparing the mind to focus on practicing the advanced Chakras.

2. Ashtanga Yoga

The Ashtanga Yoga works on the basics of Yoga Sutra that discusses the eight-limbed practice or the eight different aspects of the Yoga practice including Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana, and Samadhi.

3. Kundalini Yoga

The yoga type focuses on the awakening of the chakras or the psychic centers. There are six main chakras in the body and with the practice of Kundalini, we unfold each layer. With every layer, we step towards the higher level of consciousness.

4. Bhakti Yoga

The Bhakti yoga focuses more on the spiritual aspect of the yoga practice. People who follow this path have faith in God or the Supreme consciousness in any form like a spiritual guru or a deity. Bhakti Yoga works on purifying the inner self and decreases the ego, and helps attain the state of Self-Realization.

5. Karma Yoga

Karma Yoga means choosing a path of ‘dedication to the work’ where a person loses his identity and works selflessly. It is difficult to acquire this state because at first a person expects fruits out of his efforts, but later, with a continuous action, he detaches from the ego. His work becomes worship. He achieves a mind stability and his actions represent the will of God.

Styles of Yoga

1. Vinyasa Yoga

Vinyasa Yoga means synchronizing the breath with the body movements. It is a vigorous style of yoga. Vinyasa yoga is also known as Vinyasa Flow Yoga as the style is based on a smooth flow of poses from one to the next. The Vinyasa Yoga class includes Sun Salutation practice and balancing poses along with various categories of the asanas.

2. Iyengar Yoga

This intense style of yoga, Iyengar yoga is the perfect way to practice traditional and authentic yoga. In this yoga, a practitioner holds the poses for a longer time. This improves attention and alignment. Using props, blocks, bolsters, belts, towel, blanket, etc., is the trademark of Iyengar Yoga practice.

3. Bikram Yoga

A yoga style that is best for reducing weight and body detoxification. Bikram Yoga class consists of 26 postures and two breathing techniques and the same order continues for 90 minutes in a heated room (40 degree Celsius). The style involves a lot of sweating and is both physically and mentally challenging.

4. Anusara Yoga

This yoga style is a modern form of Hatha Yoga which means going with the flow. The practice based on the universal principle of alignment is becoming quite popular. The yoga style focuses on experiencing joy, peace, and bliss during the practice.

5. Yin Yoga

Yin Yoga is about calming and balancing the body and mind. The practice is slow-paced, more of a meditative one, and focuses on going deeper within. You can use props for the body support during its practice.

These are the basic and commonly practiced styles and types.

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Manmohan Singh is a passionate Yogi and a Yoga Teacher. He provides yoga teacher training in India.