Types of Yoga
I've listed below a brief description of just a few of the different yoga disciplines that are taught today.
- Ashtanga
- dynamic form of yoga that is generally regarded as the most physically demanding yoga of them all, developed by Sri K.Pattabhi Jois. Students are taken through a series of asanas that synchronise with the breath and which become gradually more difficult until there is an intense internal heat created within the body which helps to detoxify.
- Bikram
- The brainchild of Bikram Chaudary; a set of 26 postures that are practised in a room heated to 40 degrees Celsius with the aim of completely cleansing the body of toxins
- Iyengar
- B.K.S Iyengar is often credited with bringing yoga to the West; he uses belts, wooden blocks and other objects as aids to achieve the correct postures and so works with alignment and precision in mind
- Scaravelli
- Vanda Scaravelli was an Italian aristocrat who began practising yoga much later in her adult life. The Scaravelli teaching style focuses on the idea of using gravity and breathe to release the spine. Students are encouraged to move naturally, within their body's own tendencies rather than against them.
- Viniyoga
- the yoga often attributed to TKV Desikachar and refers to the concept of adapting your practice to your individual needs and to develop in stages.
"True meditation (dhyana) is when the knower, the knowledge and the known become one."
∼ B.K.S Iyengar