How many styles of yoga are there?
There are many different styles, and this is a good thing because people have such differing temperaments. There are four basic paths of Yoga: 1) Jnana, which is the path of knowledge and wisdom; 2) Bhakti, the path of devotion; 3) Karma, the path of action; and 4) Raja, the path of self control. Within this path (Raja) is found Hatha Yoga, which is the most popular path in the West. In India, Bhakti is perhaps the most popular. Many paths such as Iyengar, Kripalu, Astanga, Integral and Jiva Mukti, to name a few, are Hatha Yoga styles. A common lineage dates back to Patanjali’s Yoga sutras, the text which outlines the basic philosophy and practices of classical Yoga.
