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There are many types of yoga. Styles of yoga and schools of yoga are abundant. So what style of yoga is the one for me, you may well ask.
The one that you feel most comfortable with is the only really appropriate answer. But then that does not spell out for the beginner the types of yoga that are around.
At Yogaez our expert and professional experience as yoga teachers, body mind therapists and practitioners in the healing arts - help guide you towards the perfect way to find yoga retreat holidays, types of yoga, personal growth workshops, retreats and courses, yoga ayurveda tours, meditation retreats, be they in California, India, Europe, Canada, Asia or just about anywhere.
In the spirit of helping those new to yoga find where they can compfrtably start here is a not comprehensive list but it will certainly begin the search.
Hatha Yoga.
Hatha is a very general term that can encompass many of the physical types of yoga. If a class is described as Hatha style, it is probably going to be slow-paced and gentle and provide a good introduction to the basic yoga poses.
Types of yoga
Vinyasa Yoga.
Like Hatha, Vinyasa is a general term that is used to describe many different types of classes. Vinyasa, which means breath-synchronized movement, tends to be a more vigorous style based on the performance of a series of poses called Sun Salutations, in which movement is matched to the breath. A Vinyasa class will typically start with a number of Sun Salutations to warm up the body for more intense stretching that's done at the end of class.
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Types of yoga
Power Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga.
Used by sports people, athletes, and those wanting a powerful workout, Ashtanga yoga is light on meditation but heavy on developing strength and stamina. The poses place emphasis on strict positional performance (and performance can be a good word associated with some who teach this).
Gymnastic movements and flow from one pose to the other create a powerful build up of muscular strength.
This style is suitable for anyone in reasonable physical condition but should be avoided by those who are new to exercise. Even the "beginners" routines are a physically demanding workout. Ashtanga yoga takes students through a warming up of the body to "activate" the muscles.
Students move from one pose to another in a continual flow using the breath to maintain a rhythm. It is a yoga developed to build strength, flexibility, and stamina.
Types of yoga
Ashtanga Yoga is more and more popular in the West since its introduction here through students of Pattabhi Jois. Famed teachers such as David Swenson, Richard Freeman, Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams were some of the first to make this type of yoga popular.
Types of yoga
Power Yoga is an offshoot of Ashtanga and such great teachers as Baron Baptiste and Anne Marie Newland have made this their own.
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Yoga has become an essential part of life for many people today.
Types of yoga
Kundalini Yoga
For many centuries Kundalini Yoga was a well kept secret known only to initiates and masters within the spiritual confines of one to one teaching and closed orders in India and Tibet. The power of raising the Kundalini energy that resides within was considered too powerful, and if misused, too dangerous to be given free access.
It is true that this energy is powerful - just observing the created universe is witness to its awesome potential - so not allowing it become generally accessible without careful instruction was a wise precaution.
However Yoga Bhajan, the master of Kundalini Yoga and White Tantric yoga took the bold step to bring it to the West and out of hiding in the late '60's.
This Yoga of Awareness as he calls it caught the desire and need of many who were searching for spiritual meaning by experimenting through drugs and altered state experiences. The taboo of secrecy broken, there are now many responsible teachers who are able to bring Kundalini Yoga to the many.
Kundalini yoga is one of the yoga styles that allows a non-stressful way of working to help promote flexibility, energy, serenity and a sense of greater personal empowerment.
Through the use of chanting and pranayama exercises along with yoga postures, the channelling and release of the inherent Kundalini energy can be achieved. This allows the practitioner to move into a state of altered consciousness, connecting to a mystical and profound level of spiritual awareness.
Within this yoga there are many different breathing techniques that help release anything from daily stress to harnessing the full creative power within.
This style of yoga is one of the few yoga styles that allows sex as part of the practice. That is not to say that other paths disallow it but it is classically accepted that on many yoga paths the renunciation of sex is encouraged at a certain level and age so that the practitioner may be able to use the vital energy reserved to help reach a heightened level of consciousness.
Types of yoga
Bikram Yoga
Bikram Yoga is a unique series of 26 traditional Hatha Yoga postures and 2 breathing exercises, all performed in a heated room. The entire workout takes approximately 90 minutes, and will leave you with a feeling of vibrant good health and well being.
The fact that the founder of Bikram Yoga can claim it as his own has led to a load of controversy - see here.
It suffers beginners uneasily. Be prepared to really enjoy it or be carted off to hospital super fast....
Types of yoga
Iyengar Yoga
The stable diet of yoga from a precision made teacher - BKS Iyengar - devotees of Iyengar swear by it.
Based on the teachings of the yogi B.K.S Iyengar, this style of practice is most concerned with bodily alignment. In yoga, the word alignment is used to describe the precise way in which your body should be positioned in each pose in order to obtain the maximum benefits and avoid injury.
The use of props to sustain the exact position and lengthy holds have been often appropriated by this style. In other types of yoga [props are used but Iyengar has the reputation for developing their popularity.
A great Iyengar Yoga Teacher - Ruth White
Types of yoga
Kripalu Yoga
There is a quote attributed to a Kripalu Yoga practitioner - "Kripalu Yoga is less about standing on your head and more about standing on your own two feet"
This very neatly sums up the essence of Kripalu Yoga. Although the essentials of the physical work and the correct adaptation of the yoga positions are emphasised and taught, the ultimate objective is to go beyond the compulsion for perfect body form and allow the insight and awareness of the Self to arise and fill one's being. The literal meaning of Kripalu is compassion. It is this compassion for the self that allows the individual to work, discover and open to the inner being, that becomes the focus of the practice.
One might say that this yoga style is a more meditative yoga, yet the awareness that can develop through any yoga practice allows for the 'greater picture' to become more apparent and part of one's daily life, even outside of the practice time. This approach, seemingly not as dynamic as other yoga forms, does however work as deeply and brings about change in both the physical and mental levels.
Kripalu Yoga flowered out of the teachings of Yogi Amrit Desai in the mid sixties in the USA. It was under the tutelage of Swami Kripalu, Desai's guru in India that he learnt and exported what has now become the foundations of Kripalu Yoga.
With its centre based in Massachusetts this style was one of the first to develop an ashram (retreat) based yoga practice in the West. Since its beginnings on the eastern seaboard, the spread of Kripalu Yoga now extends throughout and beyond the USA.
Types of yoga
Integral
is a gentle style of Yoga developed and introduced to the West by Swami Satchidananda in the late sixties. It was he who introduced, at Woodstock, the chanting of Om (a sacred mantra) to those gathered and spawned the popularity of mantra in the collective western consciousness. Since then a growing following has developed that now includes many centres of Integral Yoga both in the U.S. and worldwide.
The concept of Integral Yoga is the incorporation of the various aspects of yoga into a practice whereby the individual is able to reach the point of self realisation.
The different branches of yoga are:
• Raja Yoga - the path of concentration and meditation
• Japa Yoga- the attunement through repetition or chanting mantra (sacred sound vibrations) to the inner significance of the divine vibration.
• Hatha Yoga - the implementation of physical postures
(asanas) and breathing practices to purify and strengthen body and mind.
• Karma Yoga - The performance of work as selfless service without attachment to the resultant gain that helps bring the Karma Yogi to becoming a conscious instrument of Divine Will.
• Bhakti Yoga - the path of devotion to God, a spiritual teacher or incarnation of the Divine that uses this role model to transcend the personality and become a Divine instrument.
• Jnana Yoga - the use of the intellect and the practice of self analysis and enquiry, so that attachments to mundane existence are released into freedom, freedom, realised through the Higher Self
These paths are core components of the yoga system and are not exclusive to any one style. However bringing these components together as a group is how the Integral approach defines its uniqueness.
Types of yoga
Sivananda
This yoga style originates from the teachings of an Indian yoga master Swami Sivananda, who having trained as a western doctor dedicated his life to promoting the benefits of yoga. His disciple - Swami Vishnu-Devananda designed what now has become the Sivananda Hatha Yoga class and is aimed specifically to be suitable for the western body and mind.
Sivananda yoga promotes a five pointed plan to health and happiness - that of proper exercise, breathing, relaxation diet positive thinking and meditation.
The postures are based on the classical Hatha Yoga presentation and there is also a strong emphasis on mantra chanting. The devotional form of yoga (bhakti) is practised in this form.
There are many centres of Sivananda Yoga around the world and their teacher training courses in locations ranging from India to the Caribbean allow many yoga aspirants to teach.
The yoga is moderate in intensity but is at the same time challenging. The practice tends to focus on a classical series of twelve postures incorporating the Sun salutation sequence.
Its popularity is witnessed by the wide variety of centres and the number of teachers that are processed through their training centres. Although this can sometimes lead to what may be considered a 'fast track' teaching qualification it does inspire many to go on and further their practice for many years.
Types of yoga - back to top
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