Yoga Styles- Guide to The Most Popular Types

If you want to start practicing yoga, here is a quick guide to the basic types of yoga. While most of them are based on the same ancient postures, each yoga style has a different focus. Some of the yoga styles focus on strengthening the body while others focus on flexibility. Other types of yoga focus mainly on breathing, relaxation, and meditation.
Most of the yoga styles that were adopted in the west, were derived from the Hatha Yoga, which is a general term that refers to the physical branches of the ancient Indian philosophy. The purpose of the traditional Hatha Yoga was to achieve balance between mind and body through moral discipline and physical exercises, which are expressed by a series of asana: postures, panorama: breathing and meditation.
Western culture adopted mainly the physical aspects of the Hatha Yoga and ignored the moral aspects, usually even the breathing and meditations aspects. All the yoga styles that were derived from the Hatha Yoga share the same basic principle that mental balance can be achieved through practice of physical exercises and postures.
Each yoga style chooses to focus on different aspect.

Ashtanga Yoga
This focuses on the flow of postures in order to improve strength, stamina and flexibility of the body. During a Asthanga Yoga class, the participants jump from one posture to another. Therefore, this type of yoga is not the ideal for beginners. People who are not well fit may find it too difficult and demanding. However, if you are interested in improving your strength, flexibility and stamina and you are fit enough to deal with an hour of jumping from one posture to another, Asthanga Yoga can suit you.

Power Yoga

This is an American development of the Asthanga Yoga that also adopted several elements from other types of yoga styles. You can find Power Yoga classes mainly in fitness and health clubs. Power Yoga focuses on strengthening the body by performing Hatha Yoga postures for a longer time to improve both physical flexibility and mental focus. Power Yoga can be a good exercise for athletes, people who practice types of fitness activities and people who want to tone their body.

Bikram Yoga

A Bikram Yoga class features a series of 26 Hatha Yoga postures practiced in a heated room. It is also known as Hot Yoga. The purpose of the heat is to allow the participants to get into each of the yoga poses in a deeper and safer manner. The heat also helps clean the body from toxins promoting sweating. Bikram Yoga focuses more on the workout of the entire body, including the internal organs and less on flexibility. Bikram Yoga is not recommended to pregnant women and people who suffer from high blood pressure and heart conditions, but it can improve the physical fitness of people who recover from injuries.

Iyengar Yoga

This focuses on the physical alignment of the body and the accurate performance of each posture. Some of the Iyengar Yoga postures are practiced with the assistance of props such as blocks and belts that are designed to help the participants achieve the most accurate posture and to protect their bodies from injuries. Since the flows between postures are not practiced, Iyengar Yoga classes are less intense and therefore more suitable for people who are less fit. Iyengar Yoga improves body strength and flexibility and can fit people of any age and every physical condition.

A Guide to Yoga Style

Perhaps you’ve heard of yoga from someone at the office or come across a random article on the internet espousing the benefits of this time honored movement practice only to find out that there are a few different types of yoga to choose from.

On the surface, most yoga practices look quite similar, but knowing the nuances can help you set off on the right path for your fitness and spiritual goals and make your overall experience much more rewarding.

The Absolute Basics: Newbies Start Here
The word Yoga is actually derived from the Sanskrit ‘yug’, meaning union. As both a spiritual and physical movement style, yoga is designed to unite the mind, body and soul with the aim of reaching a perfect state in which the mind is clear, the soul turns inward and the body is pure and strong.

All the different types of yoga offer their own benefits; physically, yoga offers relief from an endless array of ailments that plague the body and remains an excellent form of cross training which builds flexibility, balance, strength and promotes weight loss. With this greater awareness of your body comes better agility and better sense of self-confidence.

As for the mind and spirit, yoga can help focus, concentration, and confidence. It also hones your body to better handle stressful or challenging situations that test us every day. Many people that partake of it have also found that it can help balance mood swings and result in a calmer state of mind.

Different Yoga Styles
The major types of yoga (by no means all of them) include Bikram, Ashtanga, Iyengar, and Sivanada. Confusion abounds at first but the best way to choose the type of yoga that’s best for you is to decide what your needs are first and explore options that help you reach your goals.

Each of these styles is derived from or has been influenced by a form called Hatha yoga. It is the most common one taught in the western world because of its focus on awareness, relaxation and conscious breathing.

Bikram Yoga
One of the most challenging style of Yoga, Bikram yoga takes place in rooms heated above 105 degrees Fahrenheit with roughly 40% humidity and a focus on 26 postures and 2 breathing techniques. Bikram does not use props or demonstrations. Students learn the poses by watching and listening to the instructor and while it can be intense even from beginner classes, Bikram students swear by the results of this challenging yoga style.

Ashtanga Yoga
A very vigorous type of yoga, Ashtanga is designed around a continuous form of movement. Ashtanga is one of the rare types of yoga that does not have pauses between movements and instead flows from one to another, creating heat in the body to purge it of toxins and building strength, flexibility and endurance.

Iyengar Yoga
This form of yoga emphasizes bodily placement and alignment with the use of various objects to accommodate students of different levels of flexibility and fitness. This type of practice is especially useful for people who have injures and weaknesses or are otherwise inflexible. Classes tend to be slow because of the concentration given to each pose but Iyengar yoga is an ideal way for new comers to get started with yoga.

Sivananda Yoga
Among the few yoga rooted in Hatha yoga, Sivananda yoga is the most evident. It focuses on a five-point philosophy in every class, focusing on principles such as relaxation, breathing, diet, positive thinking and exercise. Classes follow a sequence of breathing exercises, a routine of postures and deep relaxation and meditation, making it excellent for newcomers and those seeking a supportive atmosphere.

Conclusion
Whether your goals are to challenge yourself, gain better sense of balance and personal growth, or to rehabilitate your body, you now have a broad scope of what to expect from many of the most popular types of yoga practiced around the globe. Remember to look for certified yoga instructors for your chosen discipline as these people will have the most experience and have gone through rigorous certification and training to help you meet your spiritual and fitness goals.