Tag: ashtanga yoga

Aight Sky

 Finding Your Flow: A Guide to Different Yoga Styles

Tanisha Cardozo

Written by Anupama Verma

 Yoga is a rich and varied practice that offers multiple paths to physical health, mental clarity, and spiritual balance. Choosing the right style can transform your experience and deepen your benefits.

Hatha Yoga, often regarded as the foundation of all yoga styles, focuses on holding basic poses with steady breath control. This slower, more meditative approach emphasizes alignment and body awareness, making it ideal for beginners or those seeking gentle practice.

Vinyasa Yoga, known as “flow yoga,” links breath and movement to create dynamic sequences often accompanied by music. Its creative and vigorous nature builds strength, flexibility, and cardiovascular health, appealing to those who enjoy a more energetic practice.

Ashtanga Yoga offers a highly disciplined routine with a fixed sequence of poses performed with specific breath techniques and gaze points. It builds stamina, strength, and mental focus, ideal for practitioners looking for challenge and consistency.

Other styles like Restorative Yoga and Yin Yoga focus on deep relaxation and connective tissue flexibility through passive, long-held stretches, often using props for support.

Finding your flow in yoga involves exploring these styles and listening to your body’s needs. Whether you seek calm, strength, flexibility, or mindfulness, the diverse world of yoga has a practice waiting for you to embark on a fulfilling journey toward well-being.

Aight Sky

Tracing the Path of Yoga: From Ancient India to Modern Practice

Tanisha Cardozo

Written by Anupama Verma

Yoga is often associated with graceful poses and flexibility, but its origins and intentions are much deeper. This practice spans over 5,000 years, rooted in the spiritual soil of ancient India. More than a workout, yoga is a comprehensive lifestyle and philosophy designed to bring harmony to body, mind, and spirit.


From the Indus Valley to the Vedas

Archaeological evidence from the Indus Valley Civilization (circa 2700 BCE) reveals figures in meditative postures, hinting at early yogic practices. The Vedas, some of the oldest sacred texts, introduced the foundations of spiritual discipline, ritual, and devotion.

The Upanishads and Philosophical Depth

The Upanishads further explored the nature of existence, self, and the universal soul (Brahman). Concepts like breath control and inner stillness began to take shape, laying the groundwork for meditative practices that would later define yoga.

Classical Yoga and the Eight Limbs

Around 200 BCE to 200 CE, the sage Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutras, outlining the Ashtanga or Eight Limbs of Yoga. This systematic approach to self-realization emphasizes:

  • Yama – Ethical disciplines
  • Niyama – Personal observances
  • Asana – Physical postures
  • Pranayama – Breath control
  • Pratyahara – Withdrawal of the senses
  • Dharana – Concentration
  • Dhyana – Meditation
  • Samadhi – Enlightenment

Unlike modern yoga’s focus on physicality, Patanjali’s framework is a roadmap to inner transformation.

Hatha Yoga and the Post-Classical Evolution

Between the 9th and 17th centuries, Hatha Yoga emerged as a vital system emphasizing asana, pranayama, and shatkarmas (cleansing techniques) to purify the body for spiritual awakening. Influential texts like the Hatha Yoga Pradipika shaped the practices many recognize today.

The Modern Revival and Global Spread

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda brought yoga philosophy to the West at the Parliament of the World’s Religions. Later, T. Krishnamacharya and his students (e.g., B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois) modernized yoga with a focus on dynamic physical postures. Their teachings sparked the contemporary yoga movement, now a worldwide phenomenon.

Yoga Today: A Global Practice with Ancient Roots

In modern wellness culture, yoga is often viewed through the lens of fitness. Yet at its heart, it remains a discipline of union—a practice integrating ethics, breath, mindfulness, and spirituality. While studios may emphasize asana, the full potential of yoga lies in embracing its eightfold path.

Yoga’s legacy is more than ancient history—it’s a living tradition that continues to evolve. Whether practiced for fitness or for spiritual growth, understanding its origins helps us honor the wisdom behind the movement.

🧘‍♀️ Embrace yoga not just as a practice, but as a way of life.