Beyond Asana Practice: Which Type of Yoga Methodology Suits You?

Unlike how yoga is usually portrayed today in the West, traditional yoga dating back thousands of years consists of a vast array of methodologies. Yoga is not just about holding the body in contorted postures. For those who say that they cannot do yoga because their bodies are not “flexible”, think again. If you can breathe, then you can do yoga. Not only can yoga adapt itself to the physical needs of the practitioner, but yoga is so much more than holding postures. Yoga is for the purpose of expanded self-awareness not about putting your body in 108 body postures. Although the movement of the body through postures can be one way toward greater self-awareness, it can also be a trap to narrow the field of awareness if the ego tends to brag and grasp to a certain image.

Yoga is designed as a personal existential exploration. Through the diligent and mindful application of any of the different modalities offered by yoga, the understanding of true reality is revealed. The true understanding of reality can be called awakening, salvation, or enlightenment where the experience of suffering can be relieved. Yoga’s aim is to shift perspective away from limited thinking and conditioning to a more inclusive Universal consciousness.

On a more practical level yoga teaches how to be more conscious of our day-to-day habits and interactions with others. What are our behaviors and attitudes? Do we lie, cheat, steal? Stealing could be in the form of dominating other people’s time. Do we get angry easily? What do we do with the anger when it arises in us? Are there patterns to when the anger shows up? What is our attitude in the world? Are we mistrustful? Do we do to others before they do it to us? Can we view others who are angry or suffering with compassion? Are we blaming? Yoga is an examination of our internal and external state.

Yoga gives us practices of body movements or postures (including hand mudras), breath awareness, meditations, chanting, mantra. There are many, many different schools and traditions of yoga emphasizing their own blend of these techniques. (See handout.)

What technique seems most accessible to you? How do you wish to approach the process of becoming more familiar and expressing the truest part of you? What techniques can bring more accessibility to the joy of your being?

The type of yoga that you engage depends on your inclination of interaction in the world. Do you take an active more participatory role and like to live life with gusto then a hatha yoga approach or even tantric approach may be for you. (In our action oriented society there is heavy leaning toward hatha yoga.)

Do you like to sit back and observe and have an approach of inquiry in which a jnana yoga approach may be more suitable? Maybe the idea of quiet contemplation on the patterns of the mind attracts you to the Classical or Raja yoga.

Do you like to serve humanity through your work or volunteering then Karma yoga may be for you. Making a commitment to selfless service such as volunteering at a soup kitchen to feed the homeless for the greater good rather than to feed one’s own ego for a momentary thrill.

On the other hand, a more emotionally laden expression for the divine may lead you into Bhakti yoga. Gospel singing is a good example of this. Yoga methodology is broad to satisfy any willing participant including the one with a body that is not flexible.

You may initially prefer one method then find that you shift or add other yoga methodology.  It’s up to you how you want to apply it. Yoga may be applied as outer practices or as esoteric practices which will be discussed in future blogs.

Still don’t know which type of yoga is best for you? Click Here to receive a handout of my more descriptive types of yoga.