There are so many different styles of yoga, that it can be very hard to choose the right one. Yoga is a beautiful addition to an everyday routine. It is important to pick the right form of yoga to achieve specific goals and desires. Here are the top ten yoga styles and a description of the benefits that each practice achieves.
- Ashtanga is a sequence style yoga that links each movement to a breath. It includes six established pose sequences that are practiced sequentially. This style of yoga moves rapidly and is nonstop. This practice is designed to center the mind and control breath flow while enhancing flexibility and strength throughout the body.
- Bikram/Hot yoga is practiced in a 95 to 100 degree heated room. It is a very sweaty and challenging form of yoga. Bikram includes a series of 26 basic yoga poses that are each performed twice. The heat aids in flexibility and detoxes the body during practice.
- Hatha is defined as a physical yoga practice. Any type of yoga that incorporates poses can be classified as hatha. It is a basic and classic approach to breathing exercises and poses.
- Iyengar/Anusara is a restriction free form of yoga. Its goal is to be accepting. Students are pushed to express themselves through the poses in their own ways instead of fitting into the standard positions. No two people are the same so no two poses should be done the same.
- Kundalini is a spiritual and philosophical approach to yoga. It focuses on bringing energy to the body while using breathing techniques to keep the body grounded.
- Kripalu is a gentle form of yoga that incorporates three parts. These three parts are know, accept, and learn. This form of yoga concentrates on how the body works in different poses and lets the body be the teacher. Its focus is to get in touch with the body.
- Power yoga incorporates every muscle in the body and promotes a faster metabolism. Its goal is to create the highest caloric burn. It is a very athletic style of yoga.
- Prenatal yoga is geared towards pregnant women. It helps to improve posture, core strength, and breathing technique while also trying to relieve pregnancy related discomforts. It is a very safe way for pregnant women to stay in shape during pregnancy.
- Restorative yoga is a soothing and relaxing form of yoga. It focuses of rejuvenating the body. There are as few as 5 poses completed during a class because it focuses on relaxing into the poses rather than rushing through them.
- Vinyasa centralizes poses around the sun salutation and maintains breathing to synchronize to 12 different poses. This is the friendliest form of yoga for beginners. It focuses on strengthening the core and creating a connection between movement and breathing. The class usually ends in the resting pose of savasana.
With so many different kinds of yoga it can be easy to get overwhelmed and give up. There is a yoga style for everyone. It can be anywhere from slow and relaxing like restorative yoga to fast paced and upbeat like power yoga. Yoga is for everyone!