Yoga is one of the most popular and commonly participated in exercises out there, but not many people are actually aware of just how many different types of yoga there are to choose from. Each has its own features, qualities and advantages, and so in order to be able to determine which is going to work best for you, you need to learn the basics about each of the separate most major types of yoga.

Hatha Yoga

This is one of the more popular types of yoga, and it is a particular system of yoga which was introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, who was a sage of 15th century India, as well as the compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradpika. In many aspects the Hatha yoga follows the same principles as the Raja yoga of Patanjali, including moral restraint yama and spiritual observances niyama.

It is a holistic yogic path, and it is actually one of two branches of yoga that focus on the physical culture, the other being the Raja yoga. The main difference between the two being that Raja yoga uses asanas mainly to get the body ready and prepared for prolonged meditation, focusing on the more meditative poses.

Iyengar Yoga

Iyengar yoga concentrates more on the correct alignment and form of the body, and there is a real emphasis on holding each pose for a long period of time, rather than moving constantly from one pose to the next, as you do with Ashtanga yoga. Iyengar yoga also uses various props such as blocks and straps in its practice, in order to help align the body into the different poses.

Bikram Yoga

This is another of the more popular types of yoga, and it is also known as ‘Hot yoga’, because it is practiced in a room that is heated to 105 degrees, with a humidity of around 40%. It was developed by Bikram Choudhury and a Los Angeles, California based company, and is now practiced all over the world.

There are many other types of yoga as well however those previously discussed are the most major and so if you are just getting into yoga you will want to make sure that you get yourself started with one of these genres of yoga, and then you can always try out the others once you have got the general idea of how it all works. Of all the types of yoga, Ashtanga yoga is the best to start off with, because it allows you to learn all of the different aspects to yoga in general.