Vinyasa, Iyengar, Ashtanga or hot yoga? Yin and restorative, Hatha, Nidra or Jivamukti the many types of “yoga” are rather confusing to the beginner. When I briefly taught in London, I came up with my own Smiley Yoga brand. I keep a very open mind when it comes to Yoga, with a capital letter, and my personal definition of it is very inclusive and proudly modern or even “new age”: Yoga is an open source, customisable and innovatable creative practice with many forms, shapes and colours.
In Yoga, we are all different and equally wonderful. Are you a musical person who loves singing? Maybe you are full of energy and always at hand when needed. Do you like to understand the why and how before starting anything in life and prefer to rationally follow a structure, a series of steps that make sense logically? If you crave constant learning, often get lost in literature and philosophy, like to ponder on the mysteries of existence, you are a bit like me.
The Yoga system is truly amazing and possibly the biggest influence in my adult years. Practicing Yoga, in one of its many forms, is so embedded in my life that hardly any day passes by without its balancing, healing touch. Like taking a hot, long shower in the morning or sitting for dinner, doing Yoga for me is pleasure, a relief, a moment to feel my inner wholeness, the Soul inside me. I do asanas, physical yoga postures, 4-5 days a week, Pranayama breath work at least once a week and 20 minutes meditation twice a day, pretty much everyday.
If I travel anywhere, the Yoga mat is in my luggage, alongside soap and toothbrush, an essential element of my lifestyle. If for some reason I don’t have a mat with me, I can do standing asanas and I have meditated on airplanes, busy stations and even a bus.
Why do I love it so much? This is not something I chose to do, it is something I found when I was desperately seeking a way out of a burnout that shook me to the core. And something that naturally stuck and developed organically over the years.
I attended many varied retreats and workshops from diverse traditions and I teach my own gentle form of Yoga at the Smiley Retreat. The 3 biggest schools or traditions that influenced my way of experiencing and teaching Yoga are Sivananda where I did my TTC, one school in Koh Phangan and one in London from the MISA lineage, where I learnt the fundamentals of the Tantric heritage and, more recently, the rather amazing Transcendental Meditation.
There are many books, essays and theoretical explanations of the Yoga system, some very authoritative, some very long and detailed. Here I introduce 5 main traditional types of Yoga: Bhakti, Karma, Raja, Hatha and Jnana, all originated from the Vedanta philosophy and you can read some concepts of Tantra, a related but separate philosophy, here and here.
The 2 heart centred, ancient systems of Bhakti and Karma are suited to people who have a predisposition for, respectively, devotional practice and service to others.
If you want to experience Bhakti Yoga you could travel to Manipur, a town near Calcutta, India where the world famous Hare Krishna have their colourful and joyful ISKCON community. Many temples, devotional music, rituals and prayers, singing, singing and more singing will open your heart to connect with your higher self. I spent a few days there, some 10 years ago, and I vividly remember the kirtans and bhajans starting at sunrise, the symbolic food offerings to the Gods and the daily bathing of a Krishna statue in the holy Ganga. Bhakti Yoga is suited to people with an emotional mind, who find it natural to connect with the love energy of the heart.
Karma Yoga is performing action without attachment to the outcome. A similarly humble practice, serving the poor, the meek and the needy will create a feeling of warmth in the chest area, the seat of Anahata chakra. Continuous effort to alleviate suffering, volunteering for the greater wellbeing of society, the Karma yogi has boundless energy and sees God in everyone. Although not a yogi herself, the most famous person that embraced the concept of Karma Yoga in India was the Catholic nun Mother Teresa.
Raja Yoga, sometimes also known as Ashtanga Yoga, is a path suited to someone with a predisposition for rational thinking. It is devised in 8 progressive steps or limbs:
1 & 2 Moral and ethical living
3 Asana, or physical postures, what we can also call Hatha Yoga and what most people would recognise as “yoga” in the West
4 Pranayama the regulation of prana (vital force) which takes the form of breath work
5 Pratyahara the practice of detachment from the distractions of the outer world
6 Dharana, concentration on one sound, object or just the breath
7 Dhyana or meditation, when actual transcendence starts to happen and we experience the awesomeness of the Soul
8 Samadhi, a superconscious state leading to bliss or enlightenment
Jnana or Gyana Yoga also begins as an intellectual path that leads to experiencing transcendence and states of bliss and enlightenment through the studying of philosophy. A fundamental concept in Jnana Yoga is that the universe and our perception of it have only a conditional, relative nature, not an absolute or ultimate one. To experience the truth we need to transcend the illusion of Maya, the human experience of the world, and connect with the highest form of consciousness.
Some more esoteric yogic techniques are focused on harnessing and purifying life energy or prana. Kundalini and Kriya Yoga, similarly to Tantra, are paths where the energetic element is core. If this sounds rather confusing, a world famous and easy to understand modern teacher, explains it rather well, in just over 3 minutes, here below.
What type of yogi are you? It doesn’t matter where you start, this could be in a gym or community centre practicing a strictly physical and even commercial form of Hatha. If Yoga resonates with you, sooner or later a yearning for more depth might bring you to a traditional class or retreat. India might soon become your next holiday destination.
If you are seeking personal development and truth, Yoga, in any of its forms, is an amazing life long discipline for greater well-being and the most wholesome, health promoting and transformative gift.