Should you try Bikram or Vinyasa? There are many different kinds of yoga, and each delivers different challenges and benefits. We’ll help you device which system of yoga is best for your body.

The world of yoga is at your fingertips, and while you’re excited to explore the various positions and stretch, align, and open your joints, muscles and heart, one major question remains: what system of yoga is best for you?

Chances are your gym or local yoga studio boasts a list of courses. You might see terms like bikram, hatha, and anusara, and wonder what they mean. The key to getting the most from yoga is by picking the practice that fits your body and its needs. The following 7 types of yoga give you a guide to the most popular courses available to you.

1. Bikram

Bikram yoga has been gaining some steam, literally, in recent years. Also known as “hot yoga,” Bikram involves 26 poses, which are performed in 105 degrees of heat and 40 percent humidity. It was developed in the 1970s by Bikram Coudhury in Los Angeles, and has risen to country-wide popularity. The poses focus on proper alignment while the heat helps to relax muscles and encourage blood flow. Because you are sweating and your heart rate is rising, you are also burning belly fat the entire time!

2. Hatha

Hatha yoga is a form of Tantra yoga that focuses on postures and breath control in order to reach subtle channels. It is a practice that helps to remove obstacles that interfere with your ability to concentrate, meditate, and balance yourself. It is a peaceful form of yoga created in the 15th century in India by Yogi Swatmarama. The word “Hatha” comes from the Sanskrit terms for “ha”, which means “sun” and “tha”, which means “moon.” In this sense, Hatha yoga aims to unite opposite forces into one. It is a relaxed, deep yoga that allows you to explore your inner mind.

3. Vinyasa

Founded in the early 20th century by K. Pattabhi Jois, Vinyasa yoga, also known as Ashtanga yoga, is a style that incorporates movement and constantly changing, flowing poses. It is less relaxed than other forms of yoga and is often referred to as “power yoga.” Prepare to reach a sweat while practicing this one!

4. Kundalini

Kundalini yoga was popularized in the 1960s by Yogi Bhajan. It is named after a term for the life force centered around the spine. It aims to strengthen and open the spine, from its base up to the brain, ultimately elevating you to higher awareness. Kundalini helps one gain mental power and control, with a focus on the core and unleashing the potential that lies within your energy center. 

5. Iyengar

For proper alignment, Iyengar is the best choice. This is a type of Hatha yoga that uses a variety of props, such as wooden blocks, harnesses, cushions, and straps. Better suited to people with specific physical problems, Iyengar can facilitate better rehabilitation.

6. Anusara

Developed in 1997 by yoga teacher John Friend, Anusara yoga emphasizes principles of alignment and opening of the heart. The term “Anusara” is said to mean “flowing with grace,” “flowing with nature,” and “following your heart.” It is divided into three parts that are meant to acknowledge the power of the heart, connect us to others, and provide us with joy and freedom. These three parts fall under the three A’s of attitude, alignment, and action. Anusara is a particularly spiritual practice.  

7. Jivamukti

Founded in NYC in 1984 by David Life and Sharon Gannon, Jivamukti  means “liberation while living.” It is a form of Vinyasa yoga and is thus an active form of yoga requiring movement. The practice is incredibly diverse in content and can involve chants, music, scriptures, and readings.

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Image Credit: RelaxingMusic

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Strike a pose? Sure. Unleash enough sweat to fill a small Dough Boy? Hey, if it reduces that fleshy upper thigh mass, I’m in. Tolerate a melange of putrid stench for 90-minutes? Hmm. That’s where this ever blossoming lotus needs to draw the line.

I recently returned to heated yoga after a three-year hiatus and was quickly reminded of why I’m so Bikram challenged. I have an acute sense of smell, not just strong mind you, but someone known by authorities as a woman who can detect a fire two counties away. Five minutes into the grueling repetition of nearly impossible contortions, I inhaled the unpleasant aroma of a moldy bathroom towel. Unfair! It was all downward dog from there.

Next came the rank cologne of stinky male body odor (I’m not sexist but my keen animal sensor knows Martians emit far fouler scents than Venetians).

But the coup de grace: Freshly applied Wella Balsam conditioner. The signature chemical properties of the popular hair product truly put me over the edge, conjuring memories of my days as a cubby reporter interviewing a 6-foot bulimic in the Chicago North Shore whose hair was shellacked with Wella.  I have the inexplicable urge to gag the moment I whiff that stuff, and it is seriously inappropriate to vomit in Bikram because it introduces a smell which could take years to eradicate from the hallowed hot haven of enlightenment.

Yes, I shed three pounds the week I was Bikram-bound, despite my friend Denise’s argument that “you don’t lose weight doing it.” And it can be said, I was a proud human pretzel during the class, too, glad I could still resemble a bendable Barbie, crouching lower than Shawty (and slowly standing back up while my knees creaked) and wrapping one profusely sweating leg around the other leg, evoking the image of the buff master in white trunks on the poster in the front room.

Still, I can’t get past the smells. As I lumbered to my car in the cold of night, feet slippery in flip-flops with soaked hair greased back like a scary landlady clad in a floral moo moo, I too was a smell for sore nostrils, like a Barbie abandoned in the bathtub for a few days, plastic absorbing that bathroom bacteria, reminiscent of that moldy towel I had to tolerate during class. I was never so happy to take a shower.

The next day I returned to a tap dancing class after a two-year hiatus and was instantly reminded of the reason I had left. That awful, clattering noise!

Image: Ron Sombilon Gallery

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