International Day of Yoga 2023: Discover Five Unique Yoga Styles That Are Popular Worldwide

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Yoga is a series of movements that are done in total mindfulness and includes stretching movements, body strengthening asanas, meditation and pranayama.

Yoga uses all its tools to bring the practitioner close to the the universal God and achieve stillness of mind. There are various styles of yoga which have been popularized in the west as well as in India. Here are a few of them.

Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga is slower, and controlled with a lot of stretching movements. Generally, people refer to any basic yoga form as Hatha yoga and actually that is what it is.

Nearly yoga styles are together referred to as hatha yoga in western countries. Hatha yoga is any yoga that teaches postures or asanas.

There is not much action in this type of Hatha that makes you sweat profusely, but certainly you can be assured about its positive after effects as it loosens your body, and relaxes it.

Vinyasa yoga, is faster and allows you to be in a constant flow of movements.

Ashtanga Yoga

Ashtanga is steeped in the ancient yoga tenets, but it was taken to the west where it was introduced and taught to interested practitioners by K Pattabhi Jois way back in 70s.

It is rigorous, and you can clearly see a sequence in the postures. Each style is linked with a breath. It is unlike Ashtanga yoga which performs the same poses in the same order everytime.

It is so rigorous that you will literally drench in sweat, and hence bring a good towel. Ashtanga means eight limbs of which Asana is the third limb.

The limbs are Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Ashtanga is dynamic in nature and is bifurcated into six levels each with a fixed order of asanas. It is somewhat similar to Vinyasa yoga, where focus is on breath.

Although it is about bending and stretching, there is some mental clarity and peace that it brings with it.

Bikram Yoga

This yoga form is the brain child of Bikram chaudhury who invented it about 30 years ago. The Bikram yoga classes are held in insulated rooms where there is artificial heat.

There are totally 26 asanas which will make you sweat too much.. Bikram sequences are different but they too follow their sequence.

It is a very popular form of yoga wherein the teachers keep talking to you throughout the sequences of asanas, so that you stop thinking and be fully mindful.

These 26 asanas and pranayama must be completed with in 90 minutes in a heated room so that it helps you detoxify, combat stress, tone and heal chronic pains.

Iyengar Yoga

Popularized by B.K.S. Iyengar, the Iyengar yoga is very meticulous with attention to precise details. To help you align your body, it allows you to use yoga props.

Although there is not much movement that raises your pulse rate, it really provides you a challenging session that works every part of your body.

You need to be especially careful about doing these asanas if you have any condition that prevents you from doing exercises.

Iyengar yoga focuses on maintaining the same pose for a longer duration, sequencing and timing. Iyengar yoga makes use of props just to help practitioners avoid getting injured.

Iyengar Yoga is a form of yoga that differs from other styles of yoga with respect to precision, sequence and use of props.

Vinyasa Yoga

Vinyasa roughly translates as "to place in a special way," and refers to a sequence of poses. Vinyasa yoga is about practice of fluid movements.

You will easily flow from pose to pose, linking your every breath to each movement. Music is also a part of the background noises that are provided to keep the class enjoyable.

Vinyasa is not about routine poses but it tests your ability to move to the limits. Postures are woven together to help you move from one move to the other along with your breath.

It is not to be confused with power yoga as it is basically about flows. It dates back to Vedic age and began in recent times again with T Krishnamacharya who practiced it and taught to his disciples.

In Vinyasa yoga, we are conscious of how we move our body in each moment.