Nine Internationally Recognized Styles of Hatha Yoga

The endless array of yoga styles available are enough to make your head spin. But the main point to remember is that most of these styles branch off from Hatha yoga. Hatha yoga is a wider branch of yoga that focuses on a combination of the mind, body and spirit, with a large emphasis on yoga poses. Over the years, various yogis have created their own specialized methods of Hatha yoga.

  1. Keep it Simple

    • If you see a class simply called “yoga” without a distinction, you will most likely practice the general Hatha yoga style. A Hatha yoga class will combine yoga poses, breathing exercises and meditation. This type is generally designed to open you to a higher level of consciousness, sometimes referred to as the divine. You might practice a combination of specialized styles within one of these classes, but it varies by the teacher. While you stay still and hold a pose in a general Hatha yoga class, you gently flow from one pose to the next in a Hatha Flow class. This style tends to use sequences with similar poses that can connect.

    Add Some Heat

    • With the hot yoga style, you practice in heat of at least 90 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity levels. A hot yoga class generally has an emphasis on exercise without much meditation. Bikram yoga, created by yogi Bikram Choudhury, is a distinctive and popular type of hot yoga. It features extremely high heats of at least 105 F up to as high as 115 F. It also includes a specific series of poses that Choudhury designed.

    Focus on Form

    • Yogi B.K.S. Iyengar created his own style of yoga known as Iyengar yoga. Each Iyengar yoga class focuses on the form of each pose. This style incorporates modifications to poses and props such as blocks and straps to help students achieve the correct form in each pose. The students hold each pose for an extended period of time.

    Exercise With Yoga

    • Power yoga turns yoga into a physical workout that generally includes little to none of the breathing exercises, meditation and philosophy you’ll find in many other yoga classes. It focuses on flowing from one pose to the next to provide an aerobic workout and on using vigorous poses to create muscle strength. Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga was the inspiration for Power yoga with its physical focus and fast-paced series of vigorous poses. But this type differs from Power yoga because it includes traditional yoga philosophy.

    Transition Through Life

    • Yogi T.K.V. Desikachar developed Viniyoga. This type of yoga features gentle sequences of poses with breathing exercises that coincide with each pose. With this type, your practice changes based on your life stage and life transitions. For instance, you would practice differently as an adult than as a senior.

    Follow Five Principles

    • Yogi Swami Sivananda created a type of yoga that his disciple, Swami Vishnu-devananda, spread. Known as Sivananda yoga, it focuses on five principles, which include poses, breathing exercises, relaxation, meditation and positive thinking, and a vegetarian diet. It includes 12 specific yoga poses within each class.