Yoga Styles

Ananda

Ananda yoga is designed to integrate and harmonize all levels of your being: physical, mental and spiritual. The practice seeks to raise your level of consciousness by reinforcing the natural effects of certain asanas. The style includes asana, pranayama, meditation and yoga philosophy. Ananda comes from the Raja yoga/Kriya yoga tradition of Paramhansa Yogananda. This practice is inwardly directed, never aggressive or aerobic. It focuses on safety, correct alignment and maintaining constant relaxation.

Anusara

Translated literally, anusara means, "flowing with grace" or "following your heart". John Friend founded Anusara in 1997 as a powerful hatha yoga system that combines a Tantric philosophy of intrinsic goodness with universal principles of alignment. Those that practice are aligned with the truth that grace plays the key role in the successful flow of their practice, classes and the community itself. Without a rigid dogma, the system is open to continual change and restructuring.

Ashtanga

Ashtanga is the system of yoga taught by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois at the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India. This method of yoga involves synchronizing the breath with a progressive series of postures. This process produces intense internal heat and a profuse purifying sweat that detoxifies muscles and organs. The result is often seen as improved circulation, a light and strong body, and a calm mind.

Bhakti

Bhakti yoga is pure spiritual devotion of love for God. The deity is the beloved and the devotee is the lover. In Bhakti yoga, everything is but a manifestation of the divine and all else is meaningless, including the ego. This style of yoga is based on the doctrine "love is God and God is love."

Bikram

Bikram yoga, also known as hot yoga, is a style of yoga developed by Bikram Choudhury in Los Angeles, California. Bikram yoga is ideally practiced in a room heated to 105°F (40.5°C) with 40 percent humidity. Classes are guided by specific dialogue including 26 postures and two breathing exercises, and lasts approximately 90 minutes.

Forrest

The pillars of Forrest yoga are breath, strength, integrity and spirit. The mission is to create in each of us a sense of freedom, a connection to spirit and the courage to walk as our spirit dictates. Forrest-style yoga helps you connect to your core - getting strong and centered. It uses heat, deep breathing and vigorous sequences to sweat out toxins. The long holds in the pose progressions help you flush, oxygenate and rejuvenate every cell.

Hatha

Hatha yoga is the most widely practiced form of yoga in America. It is the branch of yoga that concentrates on physical health and mental wellbeing. Hatha yoga uses bodily postures (asanas), breathing techniques (pranayama), and meditation (dyana) with the goal of bringing about a sound, healthy body and a clear, peaceful mind. There are nearly 200 hatha yoga postures, with hundreds of variations, which work to make the spine supple and to promote circulation in all the organs, glands, and tissues. Hatha yoga postures also stretch and align the body, promoting balance and flexibility.

Integral

In the teachings of the twentieth century Bengali philosopher-sage Sri Aurobindo, Integral yoga (or purna yoga, Sanskrit for full or complete yoga, sometimes also called supramental yoga) refers to the process of the union of all the parts of one's being with the divine, and the transmutation of all of their jarring elements into a harmonious state of higher divine consciousness and existence. Swami Satchidananda is noted as the founder.

ISHTA

The word ishta has a two-fold definition. In Sanskrit, it means developing a personal yoga practice that meets your individual needs. ISHTA also stands for the Integrated Science of Hatha, Tantra and Ayurveda. Developed by Alan Finger and his father, Kavi Yogiraj Mani Finger, it is a tradition with roots in teachings by Paramahansa Yogananda. It incorporates the gentle, flowing poses of Viniyoga, the more vigorous flowing poses of Ashtanga yoga, the careful alignment and use of props of Iyengar yoga, as well as including various forms of meditation and relaxation.

Iyengar

Iyengar yoga, a form of hatha yoga, focuses on the structural alignment of the physical body through the development of asanas. Through the practice of a system of asanas, it aims to unite the body, mind and spirit for health and wellbeing. Iyengar yoga is considered a powerful tool to relieve the stresses of modern-day life that in turn can help promote total physical and spiritual wellbeing.

Jivamukti

Jivamukti is a Vinyasa-style (breathing intensive) practice and classes can be quite physically intense and intelligently stimulating. The practice combines Ashtanga yoga and spiritual teachings with emphasis on applying yoga philosophy to daily life. Each class has a theme that is explored through yoga scripture, chanting, meditation, asana, pranayama, and music. The expected end result is spiritual enlightenment and awareness.

Jnana

Jnana means wisdom or knowledge in Sanskrit. Jnana yoga is a technique for seeking liberation in which identification with the real self (rather than with the body or ego) is developed by a steady effort to discern or discriminate between pure awareness and the objects of awareness.

Karma

Karma yoga seeks to influence destiny positively. This path's most important principle is to act unselfishly, without attachment, and with integrity. Karma yoga practitioners believe that all actions - whether bodily, vocal, or mental - have far-reaching consequences that we must assume full responsibility for.

Kripalu

Kripalu yoga puts a great emphasis on the mechanics of asana - proper breath and alignment - as well as in the inner, spiritual dimensions of yogic practice. Students are encouraged to honor "the wisdom of the body" and to work according to the limits of their individual flexibility and strength. Practicing Kripalu can initiate a gradual process of physical healing, psychological growth, and spiritual awakening.

Kriya

Kriya yoga is a concentrated approach to self-discovery and spiritual enlightenment: complete awakening to full knowledge of the infinite and of cosmic processes. The purpose of Kriya yoga practice is to restore the practitioner's awareness to wholeness. This is accomplished by acquiring knowledge of one's true nature as a spiritual being; cultivating rational thinking, emotional balance, and physical health; purposeful living; and meditation.

Kundalini

Kundalini yoga uses movement, sound current, breath and meditation to relax and heal your mind and body, allowing the spirit to flow freely. Kundalini brings a greater feeling of wellbeing and happiness and is a great way to recharge and heal your body quickly by stimulating the nervous and immune systems, while improving strength and flexibility as it centers the mind and opens the spirit. Practicing this type of yoga can relieve back pain, stress, addiction, depression and insomnia, as well as weight control.

Laya

Laya yoga focuses the mind in specific ways on the chakras, inducing Kundalini energy to arise. Laya means "dissolution" and refers to the melting of all the impressions which have accumulated throughout one's lifetime, thereby liberating one's mind from all obstacles and limitations and freeing one from the holds of karma. This also causes the seeds of habitual inclinations to be dissolved and turned into primal energy. Laya yoga is usually called the "yoga of absorption," or "absorbing the lower nature by the higher spiritual forces."

Mantra

Mantra yoga means "union by voice or sound." This form includes the rhythmic repetitions of specific sounds, chants, or mantras. The practitioner repeats the syllable, word or phrase continually, sometimes for weeks, months or years on end. Certain syllables are believed to posses healing potential for specific purposes.

OM

OM yoga is a juicy blend of flowing yoga asanas informed by precise attention to alignment and supported by the relaxed wakefulness of Buddhist mindfulness meditation. The practice of OM yoga is a lively dance of awakening that leads to a deeper understanding of yourself and a more personal connection with your world.

Power Yoga

Power yoga, or Ashtanga, which means "eight limbs" in Sanskrit, is a fast-paced, intense style of yoga. A set series of poses is performed, always in the same order. Power yoga emphasizes flow, as it is very physically demanding because of the constant movement from one pose to the next. If a class is described as power yoga, it will be based on the flowing style of Ashtanga, but not necessarily keep strictly to the set Ashtanga series of poses.

Purna Yoga

Purna yoga is a specific brand of yoga in which classes feature Iyengar precision and alignment while bringing gentle physical, mental, emotional and spiritual awareness to the student facilitating personal growth. This approach to yoga takes the wisdom of the past and updates it for the future, giving students real tools for healthy living.

Raja

Raja means "royal" or "kingly." Raja yoga is generally based on directing one's life force to bring the mind and emotions so into balance that the attention may be easily focused on the object of meditation, or the Lord directly. Raja yoga, particularly, requires a teacher because it is easy to strain yourself, and it's also easy to delude one's self into high-level hallucinations rather than actual experiences of your higher consciousness.

Sivananda

Sivananda yoga is a form of hatha yoga and aims to retain the vitality of the body, retard the decaying process, and decrease the chance of disease by simply and naturally cultivating the body. The style includes a series of 12 postures, the sun salutation sequence, breathing exercises, relaxation and mantra chanting. It concentrates on five principles: proper breathing, exercise, relaxation, diet, and positive thinking.

Svaroopa

Svaroopa, one of the primary styles of yoga in America, is known for its compassionate approach to profoundly transformative work with the body, mind and emotions. It is widely recognized as a powerful tool for promoting healing and personal transformation, as well as opening inner levels of transcendent experience.

Tantra

Tantra yoga is the most complex and most widely misunderstood branch of yoga. It is often confused with "spiritualized" sex. More accurately, though, Tantra yoga is a strict spiritual discipline involving fairly complex rituals and detailed visualization of deities that are invoked to aid the yogic process of contemplation.

Viniyoga

Viniyoga works with what is called "sequential process." It concentrates on practicing a posture according to one's individual needs and capacity, rather than what is the external ideal. Regulated breathing is an important aspect of Viniyoga, and the breath is carefully coordinated with the postural movements.

Vinyasa

Vinyasa means, "breathing system." This system works through the synchronization of deep, rhythmic breathing and movement. Linking the postures with the pulse of the breath creates a continuous flow of energy that heats up the body, bringing oxygen to the blood, nourishing the glands and internal organs and cleansing and purifying the nervous system.

Yoga therapy

While any type of yoga can bring health benefits, yoga therapy involves employing a variety of yoga practices to try to improve a health condition or to ease a natural process, such as pregnancy or menopause. Among the yogic tools used therapeutically are asana (the physical postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation, and guided imagery. Although many people don't realize it, yogis also consider diet an integral part of yoga and therefore of yoga therapy.

Yin

Yin yoga is a deeply relaxing class designed to release tension and calm the nervous system. With the gentle support of props, students passively stretch and energize the deep connective tissues of the body, open the joints and restore alignment. Restorative yoga compliments a more active practice because it improves flexibility, ease and balance. It is also beneficial for those recovering from injury or trauma.

Zen

Zen yoga is part of an Oriental system that combines the practice of asanas with Traditional Chinese and Japanese Medicine. Postures are categorized according to the primary meridian they affect. A meridian can be understood as similar to a blood vessel, in that it has an energetic structure that corresponds with the human body, but which is instead a channel for energy to circulate (instead of blood).