Yoga is a holistic practice for all ages, with so many different variations and styles. Some of you are new to yoga, and some of you have been practicing for years, yet now there are more styles in yoga than you recall when you first started. For all the newcomers who are not familiar with the wide variety of yoga, selecting a type of yoga which best suits your personality can be an unsettling process. Yoga may intend to as a way to relax your mind and release stress, but it is also a great way to stretch and strengthen the muscles.
If you find yourself hanging between different styles of yoga, read on to uncover the most popular styles that are best for you.
8 Most Popular Yoga Styles
- Hatha Yoga – This Yoga style is best for beginners since this yoga type has a slower pace than other yoga styles and has become one of the most popular types of yoga. The Sanskrit word “Hatha” describes all the physical yoga practices. Even though the movements are slow, but they are a great way to work out and relieve stress. This yoga includes meditation, breathing, and basic postures and also increases external awareness by developing an understanding of harmony and peace. It is a physical practice, which helps the beginners to learn asanas the correct way.
- Ashtanga Yoga – Ashtanga Yoga is a dynamic style of yoga made of six different sequences which require intense dedication to progress through the pages. The translation in Sanskrit is described as “eight limbed path” that focuses on different parts of the body. The mixture of breathing techniques and poses is designed to center the mind while intensifying strength and flexibility. This type of yoga requires a daily practice, which can be meticulous and physically demanding. If you are seeking for perfection in your practice, this may be the ideal style of yoga for you.
- Kundalini Yoga – Kundalini is a very old form of yoga which deepens your mind, body, and soul spirituality. This style is all about releasing the kundalini energy of the lower body to move it upward by directing energy flow. This yoga helps you to relax your mind by practicing meditation, breathing techniques, and chanting. Kundalini yoga focuses on the mental and spiritual activity as well on the physical one.
- Iyengar Yoga – Iyengar Yoga puts great emphasis on the alignments and adjustments of the postures. As to enhance the practice, the use of props is encouraged to modify the poses by making them accessible to everyone. It is perfect for beginners as it helps them understand a pose with proper alignment techniques while controlling the breath. This style helps in improving the strength, flexibility, stability in the body while increasing the awareness of the mind. This slow and steady style of yoga is popular for those who want to know the proper alignments and adjustments to a pose, and it is also perfect for people with injuries. This yoga can bring balance and depth to your overall well being.
- Vinyasa Yoga – Vinyasa is the most athletic yoga style that focuses on exhalation and inhalation with movement. While practicing this yoga, every breathing movement links with the specific body movements to create a flow in meditation. This yoga is suitable for both beginners and advanced level yogis as it is fast-paced and challenging and has no particular sequence to follow. It helps in relaxing your mind and body muscles while improving your concentration.
- Yin Yoga – This yoga is a slow-paced exercise that connects the tissues around the joints that allows for therapeutic practice. It a series of a long-held poses which mainly focuses on the lower body parts such as inner thighs, lower spine, hips, pelvis by releasing the fascia that gets contracted due to excess stress. The yoga targets the connective tissues rather than the muscles and bones. It is a great popular yoga style which is also practiced as a meditative yoga, to help find your inner peace.
- Bikram Yoga – Bikram yoga is a popular form of style among beginners. It is usually practiced in rooms with a temperature of 105 degrees Fahrenheit and 40 percent humidity. The sequence is challenging, beginning with the more difficult standing postures and ending with a floor series. The poses help in building strength while improving balancing and also increases flexibility. This yoga is for those who are free from injury and physical limitations.
- Restorative Yoga – This Yoga involves six poses, each held for 4-5 minutes. It is a relaxing yoga, which uses props to support the body to hold the pose for a longer time so you can focus on your breath while relieving the stress. Its soothing movements and slower pace are likely to refresh your mind and body. The poses involve twisting, forward bends, and other gentle stretches that you may find very rejuvenating. It also helps to cleanse and purify your skull.
These above yoga styles are worth exploring to find out what type of yoga best suits your needs and personality. So, let’s get started with these popular yoga styles.
