Which yoga style to choose?

There is a great misconception about different styles of Yoga. Ashtanga, Sivananda, Bikram, Hatha - with all this terminology being bandied around it can be difficult to tell what's what.

The main misunderstanding comes about with regard to Hatha. What most people don't realise is that all physical Yoga styles are 'hatha'. The word 'Yoga' encompasses a whole range of ideas from stretching to higher forms of conciousness: 'Hatha' is just the first bit but it contains within it all physical practices.

There are thousands of possibilities. What different styles like Iyengar, Ashtanga, Sivananda etc offer are set routines picked from this constellation of possible positions.

None of these are set in stone. Indeed, almost all of today's styles are less than a couple of generations old. Some like it hot and hard (Bikram Yoga espouses a vigourous form in sauna – like temperatures), others slow and methodical (Iyengar emphasises precision and stability). What they are all doing is working on a basic template of hatha positions (forward bends, backbends, twists etc) with varying emphasises.

It doesn't necessarily matter which one you chose, although to some extent it depends on your temperament (Ashtanga and Bikram can be pretty physically demanding). These formulas are not an end in themselves – and none of the styles claim to be. As the ancient Yoga texts say, hatha is simply a preparatory step towards meditation an higher forms of conciousness.