The various types of Yoga, their significance and benefits.

Yoga stems from the Sanskrit root word “yuj”, meaning to join, connect or unite. Yoga is the union of the body and mind through breathing techniques, meditative practises, physical postures and exercises. All forms of Yoga aim for flexibility, body-mind coordination, peaceful mental space, improvement in sleeping patterns, elimination of stress, anxiety, tension and overall regulating a healthy, positive energy flow in the body. There are many types of Yoga, both traditional and customised to suit modern needs, the primary ones have been elaborated below.

Hatha Yoga

This is the most popular type of Yoga which serves as a blanket category for many other forms of Yoga which include physical postures. Hatha Yoga combines asanas – physical postures and pranayamas – breathing exercises. Through both these practices, Hatha Yoga enables one to bring balance in the body and strengthen the seven chakras or spiritual energy points. It focuses on forming the correct posture and pace of breathing and not so much on speed, making it perfect for amateurs to start with. One can expect to achieve stability while holding poses, improvement in strength and flexibility while practising this, as it is gentle, slow and relaxed.

Bikram Yoga

Bikram Yoga was founded by Bikram Choudhary, an Indian American Yoga instructor. This customised 26 set postures and two breathing techniques. This Yoga is to be practised in a room with a temperature of 105° Fahrenheit and 40% humidity. Bikram has aimed to recreate the Indian atmosphere with this, which is why the term Hot Yoga is also used for it. This specific atmosphere is maintained to make the body sweat under the heat and flush out toxins. Bikram Yoga is known for promoting agility and facilitating better blood circulation. It is crucial to replenish your fluids after this and one might experience some lightheadedness due to the heated environment.

Kundalini

Kundalini takes its roots from Sanskrit, meaning latent energy, or Shakti, coiled up at the base of the spine, where lies the Muladhara or Root Chakra, one of the 7 spiritual energy points. Through this Yoga established by Yogi Bhajan, the goal is to release the pent-up divine energy through postures, pranayamas, singing, breathing exercises, Meditation and mantra chanting. The focus should be on drawing the energy up from the spine, Root Chakra and energising all the other Chakras above. This demands repetition too and involves intense breath exercises to evoke the creative energy from within.

Ashtanga

Ashtanga translates to the Eight Limb Path, being a derivative of the word eight. It was introduced by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois with its eight pillars being:

• Yama – Moral discipline, moral vows and restraints
• Niyama – Positive duties or observances
• Asana – Posture
• Pranayama – Breathing techniques
• Pratyahara – Withdrawal of senses
• Dharna – Focused Concentration
• Dhyana – Meditative absorption
• Samadhi – Enlightenment

In an increasing level of difficulty, there are six series of Ashtanga Yoga which one can progress through with ample experience. This Yoga is comparatively physically more challenging than other types and can be rigorous and athletic, it also features the same set of postures which have to be performed over and over.

Iyengar 

This is named after Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, an Indian Yoga instructor. Iyengar Yoga focuses on attaining certain alignments in the poses down to the correct details. Although it stresses precision, multiple Yoga props such as yoga blocks, blankets, cushions, bands, belts, or even walls, chairs are used to form the right poses. It is also known to sharpen your concentration skills. People who have suffered from any physical injury, or have certain physical limitations or overall inflexibility will benefit immensely from Iyengar Yoga.

Restorative Yoga

As the name suggests, this is an extremely relaxed Yoga style which was put together by famous American Yoga instructor, Judith Hanson, a student of B.K.S Iyengar, making Restorative Yoga similar to Iyengar Yoga. The aim of this Yoga is to relax the entire body and mind by simply performing easier asanas, meditation and breathing techniques after a tough day of work or to just rewind and reset the energy flow of the body. Like Iyengar, Yoga props can be used for this too. Upto 20 minutes are spent on just one asana to slowly move into other exercises, let go of stress and give the body, mind and soul the time to rejuvenate.

Yin Yoga

Yin Yoga came to rise through Paulie Zink, an American Martial Arts expert. It is an amalgamation of slow-paced postures which concentrate on relaxing, low-effort stretching exercises. By holding onto a Yoga pose for long, you make your connective tissues more elastic by stretching it. This is the most comforting Yoga type as it purely revolves around helping you achieve a peaceful mind by getting rid of tension, both physically and mentally.

Vinyasa

Vinyasa literally means the “flow”, it is the flow-through which one moves into various asanas throughout the Yoga practice. Multiple other forms of Yoga too can be considered as Vinyasa Yoga, which has been originally stemmed from Ashtanga Yoga, making this too athletic. Along with asanas, it comprises controlled, coordinated breathing and advanced meditative exercises.

Some of the recent types involve Prenatal Yoga, practised by pregnant women throughout all phases of their pregnancy and even after losing weight. It immensely helps with labour pain and increase in blood flow, by focusing the exercises on hips and back. Power Yoga, an intense workout that also includes the strengthening of muscles. Ansura Yoga, a reformed version of Hatha Yoga, Sivananda Yoga, Vini Yoga, Jivamukti Yoga, Kripalu Yoga are also types of Yoga based on the aforementioned categories with their tweaks.