Styles of yoga
What each style actually asks of you, including the parts that are hard.
19 pages here so far, with more added as they are taught and photographed.
Hatha yoga
What hatha yoga actually is, what a class contains in order, how it differs from vinyasa and yin, who it suits and how to recognise it on a timetable.
Ashtanga yoga
Ashtanga yoga explained: the fixed primary series, mysore style, how hard it really is, how it compares with vinyasa and yin, and who should not start with it.
Iyengar yoga
Iyengar yoga explained: what the props are for, how a class runs, the evidence for back and neck pain, how it compares with hatha and yin, and who it suits.
Vinyasa yoga
Vinyasa yoga explained: what linking breath to movement actually means, how hard a flow class is, where it hides mistakes, and who should start somewhere else.
Yin yoga
Yin yoga explained: why the holds are three to five minutes, what should and should not hurt, where the fascia claims overreach, and who it genuinely suits.
Restorative yoga
Restorative yoga explained: five to twenty minute supported holds, why you should feel nothing at all, what the trials found, and who it genuinely suits.
Power yoga
Power yoga explained: where it came from, how it differs from vinyasa and ashtanga, what it does for fitness and weight, and the injuries it is known for.
Kundalini yoga
Kundalini yoga explained: kriyas, breath of fire, chanting and the long meditations, what the anxiety trial actually found, and who should approach it warily.
Sivananda yoga
Sivananda yoga explained: the five points, the twelve basic asanas in their fixed order, why a class starts with a headstand, and who it genuinely suits.
Bikram and hot yoga
Bikram and hot yoga explained: the fixed 26 posture series, what the heated versus unheated trials actually found, the real risks, and who should avoid it.
Chair yoga
Chair yoga explained: what a seated practice can and cannot do, what the trials found, and why it is for any age rather than only for older people.
Prenatal yoga
Prenatal yoga with the cautions first: what to avoid, when to stop, what the trials found on mood and anxiety, and the questions to ask a teacher before booking.
Kriya yoga
Kriya yoga explained: the Lahiri Mahasaya and Yogananda lineage, the three techniques taught openly, and the part that is only given at initiation.
Raja yoga
Raja yoga explained: Patanjali's eight limbs as a path, why Vivekananda gave it that name, and how it differs from Brahma Kumaris Raja Yoga meditation.
Jnana yoga
Jnana yoga explained: the path of knowledge in the Upanishads and Advaita, its four qualifications, its three stages, and who it actually suits.
Bhakti yoga
Bhakti yoga explained: the nine forms of devotion, chapter 12 of the Gita, the bhakti movement and its poet saints, and what the practice asks of you.
Karma yoga
Karma yoga explained: what the Bhagavad Gita means by acting without attachment to results, the verses it rests on, and what the practice asks of you.
Aerial and acro yoga
Aerial yoga in a hammock and acro yoga with a partner: what each one is, what the evidence shows, the injury risk, and who should choose the floor instead.
Viniyoga
Viniyoga explained: Desikachar and Krishnamacharya's adaptive approach, function over form, breath led movement, repetition and stay, and who it suits.
How these pages are written
Most explanations of yoga styles read like a menu written by somebody who likes every dish. These pages try to do the more useful thing: say what a class in each style actually contains, minute by minute, who walks out of it happy, and who quietly stops coming after three weeks and why.
The comparison is set out as a table on every page, because the question underneath is nearly always a comparison even when it is not phrased as one. Pace, how long you hold, what the breath is doing, how much you sweat, how likely you are to hurt yourself: put side by side, those five rows answer more than a page of adjectives does.
Five pages. Hatha yoga is the word under which most of this is taught in India and is the one to read first. Hatha vs vinyasa is the comparison people actually mean when they ask which class to book, and yin vs restorative is the one nobody explains properly, since both look like lying on the floor and only one of them puts a load into anything. Ashtanga and Iyengar are the two named methods you are most likely to meet on a timetable, and the second is the one with the strongest research behind it.
These pages are not a menu of what is on offer here. The classes here are not labelled by style at all: they cover asana, pranayama and relaxation, taught slowly, and that is the whole description. The style pages exist so that you can understand the landscape and work out what you are looking at on somebody else’s timetable, including the timetables where a slow held class would be the wrong answer for you. Sending somebody who wants a hard forty minutes into a slow class helps nobody, least of all the teacher standing in front of them.
Start here
If you are not sure where to begin, these three are the ones the teacher sends new students to first, in this order.
Hatha yoga: what it is and who it suits
What the word actually means, what a class contains, and how it compares to vinyasa and yin.
Surya Namaskar, all twelve steps
The sequence that sits at the centre of a hatha class, with the breath marked at each position.
The two ways to attend, compared honestly, including where each one loses.
Questions people ask
Which style should a complete beginner choose?
A slow one, whatever it is called on the timetable. What a beginner needs is time in each pose and somebody watching, and that is a property of the class rather than the label. Hatha and beginner level Iyengar usually give you both. A fast flow gives you neither.
Is one style better than another?
No, and anybody who tells you otherwise is describing their own preference. They train different things: pace, holding, breath, strength, stillness. The style that suits you is mostly the one you will still be doing in six months, which is a question about your temperament and your timetable.
What happens in the classes here?
The classes here are not labelled by style. They cover asana, pranayama and relaxation, taught slowly: poses held long enough to be corrected, breath work once the body is steady, and a full relaxation at the end of every class. It is not a workout class and does not pretend to be one, which suits some people immediately and frustrates others in week two.
Can I mix styles?
Yes, once you have a steady base in one of them. Mixing from the first month usually means learning four sets of cues at once and being corrected by nobody, because each teacher assumes another one taught you the basics. Get one style solid, then borrow freely.
Do I need to know the names to book a class?
Not at all. Tell whoever is teaching how much yoga you have done, what hurts and what you are hoping for, and let them pick. The names on these pages are useful for reading timetables and for knowing what you are walking into, not for gatekeeping.
Why are there so few style pages here?
Because they are the pages with the highest chance of being answered by a search engine without anybody visiting, so they are the lowest priority to write. They get added when the teacher has something to say about a style that is not already on ten other sites.
Come to one class before you decide anything
Your first class is free, in any batch, on any day. No card, nothing to cancel. Come once and see whether the teaching suits you before you pay for anything. You will be asked your age and whether anything hurts, and the sequence will be adapted for you on the spot.
You message on WhatsApp, we send the link. No card, and nothing to cancel afterwards.