What types of Yoga exist out there? - Part 4

By now you know that Yoga is not religion, but more like an approach to life in general. It can be treated as science as well, because its positive effects on your body and mind are scientifically proven.

To continue with my Yoga e-lesson part 4: I am going to introduce you to different types of Yoga that exist out there. But before I go and do that, perhaps it is appropriate to tell how variety within Yoga contributed to its promotion and spread in to the Western world.

Lets assume for a second that Yoga would consist out of one idea or language with very strict and unchanging rules. How would that help Yoga to become as popular as it is in today's world?

Well, not much I would say because it is much harder for only one idea or language with strict rules to spread outside of those who practise and follow it. Simply said: in such case the idea would be limited to only few lucky people who would actually find it on their own.

On the other hand, when a particular thing or activity has multiple ideas and ways of doing it, it spreads itself much quicker. This is simply because more people will get in touch with it, more people will talk about it and more people will accept it in their lifes.

Therefore the variety or different types of Yoga have in the last 110 helped a lot with spreading it into the western civilisation and into the world in general. Without this variety, Yoga would maybe still be limited and practised only to those areas where it originated.

This implies is that Yoga is very agile and flexible. As such it was certainly able to overcome cultural, religous and country boundaries with no problems at all.

Nowadays it is spreading faster than ever before. Just think about how many times you see or hear about Yoga on television, newspaper or even from friends or colleagues who are passionately talking about it.

At the same time, this diversity or variety of Yogic activites can also make someone to quit doing it after only one session. For instance, someone starts learning and practising the type of Yoga that is very difficult and unsuitable for beginners.

This can ofcourse make you feel uncomfortable as the activities are just too hard to handle for someone who is just starting out. Perhaps this has already happened to you as well.

But do not worry though. The advice I am giving to you on this Yoga for beginners blog will help you get over that. I will make your transition into Yogic activities as smooth as possible. Just stay with me.

Six major types of Yoga

With that said, here are the six (6) major types of Yoga:

• Tantra Yoga,


• Hatha Yoga,


• Raja Yoga,


• Jnana Yoga,


• Karma Yoga and


• Bhakti Yoga.

I will conclude my Yoga e-course in my next blog post with final lesson, where I tell you about the advice that every beginner to Yoga should know about!