Different types of Yoga and Their Benefits
1. KARMA YOGA:
The best way to fight off stress, depression, and anxiety is to not buy into these emotions in the first place. The art of selfless service or Karma-yoga can teach us how it’s done. By helping others without any expectation of return, you find yourself feeling good about yourself because your acts are driven by the joy of giving.
2. TANTRA YOGA:
Cultivating your body’s energy centers to manifest deeper states of consciousness is the essence of Tantra Yoga. The practice uses exercises that help redirect sexual energy toward nourishing your entire being, so you can feel more confident and alive in everyday life.
3. BHAKTI YOGA:
Bhakti Yoga is the path toward attracting love and abundance into your life through devotion, joy, and selfless service to a higher power. A practice that brings you closer to God or the universe can be one of the best ways for fostering happiness and inner peace.
4. JNANA YOGA:
The path of knowledge or self-study is known as Jnana Yoga. It’s a practice that helps you recognize and understand the true nature of who you really are – your consciousness – and to see how it relates to everything around you.
5. ASHTANGA YOGA:
Ashtanga Yoga is the path of union with God through controlling your body, mind, and consciousness. A practice that encourages you to find inner stillness, focus on breath flow, and then use bandhas or locks to move energy upward into higher chakras can help raise your awareness above distractions.
6. IYENGAR YOGA:
Iyengar Yoga is known for its emphasis on using props like ropes and blocks to help safely perform poses at a slow pace. The goal is to make each movement deliberate so you are able to breathe fully, center yourself in the present moment, and improve your circulation without feeling rushed or exhausted. This type of yoga also helps beginners learn proper alignment before advancing into more difficult postures.
7. ASHTANGA VINYASA YOGA:
This type of flow yoga is the core of the Ashtanga Yoga method, in which poses are linked together in a continuous movement that transitions smoothly from one form to another without interruption. The practice encourages you to focus your mind on breath and energy flow while coordinating body movements like jumping through or hopping out of each posture.
8. POWER YOGA:
Power Yoga uses high-intensity interval training (HIIT) techniques during postures to help you build muscle strength, stamina, and concentration while burning more calories than traditional yoga classes over the same period of time. Special “power” breaths like kapalabhati can be used throughout practices to help detoxify your body and mind.
9. YIN YOGA:
Instead of poses that stretch and lengthen muscles in a vigorous way, Yin Yoga focuses on gentle backbends and passive forward bends that force you to relax into stillness for long periods of time.
You can do these practices lying down on the floor with eyes closed, seated in a chair, or opened up against a wall with your arms overhead. The practice is meant to calm your nervous system while calming the flow of qi or life energy through your meridians, which reduces stress and anxiety.
10. HOT YOGA:
This style uses postures done in a heated room with temperatures ranging from 85 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) to 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius). In addition to the increased blood flow and heart rate from being in a warmer environment, special “vigorous” breathing techniques are used throughout practices.
These methods help you sweat out toxins from your skin while increasing heat in your muscles and internal organs. The heat can also help you relax into poses more deeply so they become easier to hold for longer periods of time.
11. YOGA BODY:
This type of yoga encourages you to let go of stress in the mind by relaxing into sensations that emerge when holding postures for prolonged periods of time, which is known as stillness practice. You focus on deepening your breath and finding ways to be comfortable with each pose instead of trying to push yourself into more difficult positions.
12. IGI KRIYA YOGA:
Developed by Yogi Bhajan, this practice of yoga combines traditional kriyas or cleansing techniques from Kundalini Yoga with meditation and breathwork to help you release stress, toxins, and negative energy from your physical body.
The goal is to use postures as a way to strengthen your spine, open your hips, massage internal organs, and create a flow of energy throughout the chakras – starting with Mooladhara at the base of the spine all the way up through Sahasrara at the top of your head – which helps you cleanse each chakra as you go along.
13. BIKRAM YOGA:
Developed in the 1970s by Bikram Choudhury, this type of yoga has become popular in studios in North America and Europe over the past decade for its series of 26 poses done in a heated room. The goal is to make you sweat while holding postures to help detoxify your body and increase blood flow throughout your muscles.
14. MATSYASANA (FISH POSE):
This pose is helpful for people who struggle with their shoulder blades sticking out, especially if they spend much of their time sitting at a desk or computer. It helps open up tight chest walls and strengthens the muscles responsible for proper breathing so breath flows freely between your shoulders and collarbones.
It is also known as the “Fish Pose” and it helps open up your shoulders, arms, chest, and lungs. You can practice this pose anywhere you find yourself sitting for most of the day such as at a desk, in front of a computer, or watching TV.
15. PARVATASANA (MOUNTAIN POSE):
It strengthens arms, back muscles, and legs while stretching shoulders, armpits, hamstrings, and groin areas. This posture increases energy levels by increasing oxygen supply to the brain while helping reduce mental fatigue.
16. TRIKONASANA (TRIANGLE POSE):
It helps stretch your hips, thighs, and ankles while strengthening your feet muscles along with enhancing your concentration. It also strengthens your spine, calves, thighs, and arms while stabilizing the nervous system.
17. PADMASANA (THE LOTUS POSE):
This pose helps you heal anxiety, depression, menstrual cramps, and infertility issues by relaxing through the stress that has taken over your mind along with calming the flow of erratic thoughts that have affected your emotional well-being.
18. VIRABHADRASANA 1 & 2:
This posture helps stretch not only your groin but also your shoulders, inner thighs, hamstrings, and arches of your feet thus helping relieve stress from these areas. It is good for people who are naturally thin as it stimulates appetite which can help reduce weight gain or loss due to hormonal changes.
19. MALASANA (THE GARLAND POSE):
This pose helps stretch your hips, groin, lower back, hamstrings, and ankles while strengthening feet muscles along with enhancing concentration. It also reduces problems associated with pregnancy.
20. PAVANA MUKTASANA (BREATHE FREE POSE):
This pose is helpful for people who suffer from respiratory problems or high blood pressure as it helps to relax the body and reduce stress thus calming the mind which in turn helps heal these issues over time when done regularly.
21. PARVA BAKASANA (Side Crane Pose):
This posture helps stretch shoulders, buttocks, calves, neck muscles, and ankles while strengthening arms, thighs, and calves. It also helps stretch your groin, hamstrings, and spine as well as enhancing balance.
22. NATARAJASANA (KING DANCER POSE):
It opens the chest and front of your hips while strengthening your upper back, shoulders, and arms along with improving posture. The King dancer pose is a unique asana that makes you feel taller by stretching the spine upwards thus reducing any feelings of inferiority associated with the inferiority complex.
23. PARVATASANA (MOUNTAIN POSE):
This pose supports not only digestion but also strengthens the pelvic floor muscles related to bladder control which can cause stress continence among other digestive disorders.
24. BHARADVAJASANA (THE STAFF POSE):
This pose helps strengthen shoulders, arms, and back along with gently stretching hips, ankles, and abdomen thus relieving lower back pain caused by improper sitting postures or tension in muscles associated with digestive problems such as diarrhea or constipation.
25. TOLANGULASANA (FLYING LIZARD POSE):
It stretches your groin and hamstrings while strengthening your feet muscles along with enhancing concentration thus helping relax the nervous system within a short time frame due to the fact that it stimulates key points on your soles which in turn enhances mental clarity followed by calming any feelings of restlessness you might have been experiencing thus enabling you to focus on your tasks at hand at work or home with the peace of mind.
26. BADDHA KONASANA (HUGGED KNEE POSE):
It helps stretch the hips, lower back, ankles, and abdomen while relieving tiredness in the legs along with reducing symptoms associated with premenstrual syndrome by increasing blood flow to the pelvic region thus relaxing muscles that have tightened due to tension or stress.
27. ILIOPSOAS STRENGTHENING ASANA (THE SIDE PLANK):
This posture strengthens your body and builds your core strength as it stretches and tones your gluteal muscles, thighs, arms, chest, and shoulders enabling you to stay focused throughout the day without feeling fatigued, stressed or burned out from your day-to-day activities to help you live a happier and healthier life.
28. JATHARA PARIVARTANASANA (THE REVOLVING BOW POSE):
This posture helps stretch your hips, lower back, thighs, groin, and hamstrings while strengthening both upper and lower body muscles along with enhancing concentration thus preventing any feelings of fatigue or listlessness associated with working in front of a computer for too long.
29. GOMUKHASANA (COW FACE POSE):
This pose helps stretch your shoulders, groin, and thighs while toning arms, buttocks, and abdominal muscles thus improving digestive motility by aiding the movement of food through your digestive system due to the increased circulation.
30. ARDHA MATSYENDRASANA (HALF FISH POSE):
This pose is helpful for menstrual disorders by helping balance your hormones thus reducing PMS symptoms such as mood swings, anxiety, breast tenderness, bloating, and abdominal cramps that are causing discomfort within a short time frame since it stimulates the ovaries along with being an excellent stress reliever which in turn helps relax both mind and body followed by balancing your emotions which will lead to enhanced reproductive health on a long term basis.