different styles of yoga

People can to speak about and think of yoga as though it were something unique in and of itself. But the more you learn about yoga, the more you find out that there are literally dozens of different styles and types of yoga.

Yoga, in a sense, is a bit like mentioning racquet sports in the fact that with in the larger category there are several different sub types. Tennis, racquetball and badminton are all racquet sports that use some type of projectile struck with a racquet on a court of one size or another. And while they all have have certain similarities, they all also have some major differences.  It is much the same way with yoga. All styles of yoga have certain major elements that define them as yoga, but within each of the major elements can be found some differences from one type of yoga to the next.

What most people in Western cultures typically overlook is the spiritual aspect of yoga. To a certain degree all yoga stems from a religious system. In traditional yoga practitioners seek to reach a state of enlightenment through meditation and physical practice of the forms. It since this type of spirituality is often incongruent with other forms of religion, it is often overlooked or shunned by those following other religious systems. The various different types of yoga are often defined by their approach to the emphasis or downplay of the religious component of the style.

Another factor that can define a yoga type is the actual practice of the forms themselves. Certain styles of yoga will rely more heavily on breathing and slow movement between the asanas, while others, such as ashtanga move much more quickly. From calm methods like Hatha to the most rigorous types in Bikram and Iyengar, there are broad varieties of physical emphasis on everything from more flexibility to perfecting posture and precision of alignment in the asanas.

You can define more than 20 major styles of yoga in the United States alone, and far more as you study countries where yoga has been practiced for hundreds or thousands of years.  Hatha is the most popular form and is typically referred to as the root type of most other styles.  We have also mentioned the challenging Ashtanga as well as Bikram and Iyengar forms, but there are at least fifteen more styles practiced in many countries that you can read about as well.  A good overview can be found at: http://www.matsmatsmats.com/yoga/yoga-disciplines.html if you want to know more.