Types of Yoga

Bikram Yoga, also referred to as Hot Yoga (or hot room yoga), takes place in - you guessed it - much higher than normal temperatures. Exercise rooms are often above 90 degrees, in order to loosen up your body and spine for all of the strenous flexing you are about to do.

Sweat also helps to move toxins out of the body, so while you are working on your asanas, your body is working on purifying your life's temple. Bikram Choudhury, the originator of Bikram Yoga, has incorporated 26 traditional hatha poses in his practice.

This type of yoga was founded in 1993 by Joseph Le Page. This type of yoga practice is geared towards medical use in holistic and mainstream medicine. It is especially popular in rehabiliation centers.

Integrative Yoga Therapy focuses on very gentle poses, as well as guided imagery and breathing techniques. There are techniques geared to many specific types of disorders and illnesses, and the healing process can indeed be aided by this mind body spirit approach at therapy.

Vinyasa Yoga is one of the most intense types of Yoga practice, combining flowing postures with rhytmic breathing. It might not sound tough just from that, but you'll certainly work your mind and body to the limit with this yoga type.

Ashtanga is a type of Vinyasa Yoga that is gaining more and more ground in mainstream yoga practice, making it one of the most popular forms of Yoga practice. This type of yoga was established by yoga master K. Pattabhi Jois of India. It is based on six series of asanas that ramp up in difficulty as you continue your Ashtanga yoga practice.

The focus is on moving and flowing, a constant nonstop movement through the asanas. You won't spend any time adjusting your postures - you work at your own pace, but once you start you should flow through and breath.

Power Yoga is a Western take on Ashtanga yoga, coming from the 1995 book by Bender Birch. This is a more generalized type of Ashtanga Yoga, combining mainstream practice with as heavy a workout you can get with yoga.

This type of yoga is truly what its name implies - it is integral to your life. This yoga practice is based on working yoga into your everyday life, founded by Reverend Sri Swami Satchidananda. It was his wish to promote greater and inner peace worldwide.

Classic hatha postures are used here with an emphasis on the meditative side of things. At times, guided meditation, breathing, and mantras are used.

This type of yoga combines deep meditation with a strong physical workout. The cofounders of this type of yoga, David Life and Sharon Gannon, combined Ashtanga with a variety of spiritual teachings. While there is still the same amount of flowing, strengtening, and strenous asanas as Vinyasa yoga, but with chants, meditations, and other spiritual aspects of yoga added in.

This type of yoga could be compared to a dance - full of flowing, smooth movements. The inspiration for this type of yoga came to Kali Ray during a guided meditation - with seven distinct levels of movement eventually being developed.

This is a slower type of yoga, with asana, pranayama, and mudra being emphasized.

This is the brainchild of Ganga White and Tracey Rich. They might have come from wildly different backgrounds, but the school of yoga they have made together is pure brilliance. This is built more for helping personal development for a healthy and well balanced personal practice.

It focuses on the flow of things, with a bit of a vinyasa touch. You choose your comfort zone as far as the difficulty of this part of it, and pranayama also playing a big factor.

This is probably a school of yoga you have heard about, created by master yogi B.K.S. Iyengar. He's 80 years old but still going strong - teaching countless students worldwide to embrace yoga.

His focus is on the experience - going deeper and deeper into asanas. It is an intense focus on posture and pose, with asanas held extremely long as compared to other types of yoga.

This is the most popular form of yoga in the United States. Props such as belts, chairs, blocks, and blankets are used to help aid in experiencing each pose to its fullest.