Types of Yoga

To begin with, yoga is not just a form of fitness, allowing you to keep yourself in shape. This whole complex of physical, mental and spiritual practices, which allow to achieve harmony of physical and spiritual principles. At the same time, different types of yoga emphasize different aspects.

Yoga, which is offered to its clients by fitness clubs, in the overwhelming majority of cases is hatha yoga. Hatha Yoga focuses on achievingphysical harmony. To achieve this harmony helps the physical (diet, special poses - asanas, ritual gestures - wise) and mental (concentration of attention, meditation, breathing techniques - pranayama) means. Hatha yoga is practiced for recreational purposes: it allows you to use the hidden reserves of the body for healing.

Other types of yoga are more oriented toward the spiritualharmony, rather than physical. This does not mean that hatha yoga ignores spiritual aspects, or that the other types of yoga ignore the physical. Just in each case, the accents are shifted slightly. So, raja yoga can be considered the next step after hatha yoga: having prepared your physical body, you can start more complex meditations.

Raja Yoga (Ashtanga Yoga) is also known as classical yoga, and, speaking of yoga in general, often meanit is her. "Raja Yoga" is translated as "royal yoga" because it is aimed at working on the mind. That is why you have to pass to raja yoga after hatha yoga: first learn to control the body, then - the mind.

Raja Yoga is divided into eight levels, from self-restraint to a state of awareness of one's owntrue nature. The four lower levels (the norms of behavior - the pit, the following of the religious prescriptions - the niyama, the physical poses - the asana, the breath control - pranayama) are often associated with hatha yoga, so it is not easy to separate these types of yoga: hatha yoga flows into raja yoga .

Karma Yoga you will not be offered in the fitness club: here the priority is given not to the physical aspect, but to the spiritual aspect. Karma yoga is rather a way of life in which a person does acts not under the influence of personal selfish motives, but in accordance with the duty (dharma). By fulfilling the prescribed duties and controlling the desires of the mind, one can find moksha - salvation.

In addition to performing the prescribed activities,Karma Yoga includes a practice of meditation that allows a person to strengthen his mind and learn how to control it. It is with karma yoga that such "replicated" concepts are associated, such as karma, reincarnation and the wheel of samsara.

Jnana Yoga (jnana-yoga, jnana-yoga) to a greater extentis aimed at self-knowledge. The main task of the practitioner of jnana-yoga is to realize his true "I", having learned to separate the illusion from reality, the spiritual from the material. When a person is fully aware of his true spiritual nature, he will reach the stage of liberation (moksha).

Bhakti Yoga aims at establishing and developingthe relationship between man and God (one of its forms or hypostases). Emotional attachment and love of a person (bhakta, devotee) to the personal form of God is denoted by the term "bhakti." Bhakti is divided into five types, from neutral to attitudes toward God as in the beloved. By practicing bhakti-yoga, the bhagta cultivates that kind of bhakti that is closest to him. Achieving pure love of God can be one of the nine ways (nine forms of bhakti-yoga).

The described types of yoga are the main types adoptedin the philosophy of Hinduism. As you can see, what we used to think of as yoga is hatha yoga and, to some extent, raja yoga, the rest of yoga places a greater emphasis on spiritual practices than on physical practices.

There are other types of yoga, invented already in our time. Most of them are offshoots and modifications of hatha yoga. These include:

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  ayengar yoga (focuses on achieving the correct position of the body);
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  ashtanga-vinyasa-yoga (dynamic practice of yoga);
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  jivamukti yoga (emphasis is placed on the study of sacred texts, meditation, singing of mantras);
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  integral yoga (a comprehensive approach to improving the body and spirit);
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  Yoga sport (a combination of aerobics, rhythmic gymnastics and asanas);
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  kriya yoga (based on the techniques of pranayama and the opening of chakras);
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  and many others.

There is even a naked yoga in which asanas and breathing exercises are performed in the nude.

Those types of yoga that are available to the "broad consumer", that is, us with you, are mainly aimed at physical improvement, release of hidden reserves of the body. They include asanas, complexes of special movements, breathing practices, concentration of attention.

At the same time, absolutely all kinds of yoga contribute to spiritual perfection (we know that in a healthy body - a healthy mind). The main thing is to choose the kind of yoga that is right for you and help achieve harmony with yourself.