Here is a look at some of the various styles of yoga.

Laughing yoga:
This is a new form of yoga that was started by Yogi Dr. Madan Kataria, who believed in the medical benefits of laughter and yogic breathing exercises. What he thought was that 20 minutes of laughter a day could improve your health, which is why he created Laughing Yoga. This style of yoga combines laughter exercises and yoga breathing. This style of yoga can be practiced at home, at work or at laughter clubs or studios, even though it may sound weird going to a studio to laugh it can be fun especially if you have a large group practicing at the same time, you know they do say that laughter is contagious.

Bikram yoga:
This style of yoga is a form of hatha yoga and was developed by Bikram Choudhury and a Los Angeles based company. This style of yoga is meant to be performed in a very hot room, heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit, with a humidity of 50%. The classes are ninety minutes long and students are lead through 26 special postures and 2 breathing exercises, but most of the postures come from traditional yoga practices.

Hatha yoga:
This style of yoga is the one most commonly practiced, in fact when people in the west talk about yoga they are usually referring to this style of yoga. This style of yoga is popular among people who take care of their health because it builds strength and flexibility. One thing about this style of yoga is that there are several types of Hatha yoga, which includes Ashtanga yoga, power yoga, Bikram yoga, Gentle yoga, and Iyenar yoga. This style of yoga is a broad style of yoga and includes not only strength building physical exercises and breath control, but also spiritual connections, moral disciplines and meditation.

Kriya yoga:
This style of yoga allows its students to attain self-realization. This style of yoga also incorporates components from several other styles of yoga, which include Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, and Bhakti yoga. The main features of this style of yoga are: a focus on work as a form of worship, focus on the relationship between mind and breath, and a focus on deep meditation. The main goal of this style of yoga is liberation, which in turn means self-realization or enlightenment.

Tantric yoga:
This is actually another popular style of yoga that is practiced in the West mainly due to the way that it connects sex and spiritual practices. One of the basic teachings of this style of yoga is that sexual intercourse is the greatest source of energy in the Universe and that an orgasm is a cosmic and divine experience. The Kama Sutra, which is a popular Hindu sex manual, is used in this style of yoga. One of the more popular techniques that is practiced came from this book and it teaches a man how to prolong intercourse by having an orgasm without ejaculating.

Ashtanga yoga:
This style of yoga means "eight limbed yoga" and follows Patanjali's Eightfold Path of Yoga that is outlined in the Yoga Sutras. This style of yoga seeks to reveal the Universal Self through eight spiritual practices. The eight spiritual practices are: moral codes, self-purification and study, physical exercises or postures, breath control, sensory withdrawal in preparation for meditation, concentration, meditation, and contemplation or ecstasy. The first four steps are an external cleansing process, the next three steps are an internal cleansing process, and these seven steps are used to prepare you for the eighth limb.