therapy (IYT) was founded in 1993 by Joseph
Le Page in San Francisco, California. Le Page
designed a teacher-training program specifi-
cally for conventional and medical settings
aimed at rehabilitation.
- ISHTA yoga: ISHTA yoga is a blend of postures,
breathing, and meditation geared to access
human potential developed by Alan Finger,
founder of Yoga Zone Studios and second-gen-
eration yoga master who has been practicing
for more than 40 years. The Yoga Zone has four
studios in New York for more than 1,700 stu-
dents per week. Finger began his yoga studies
as a teenager in his native South Africa under
the instruction of his father, Kavi Yogiraj Mani
Finger, who studied yoga in India. Alan Finger
became a Western Yoga Master and in 1992
developed ISHTA yoga, which in Sanskrit refers
to developing a personal yoga practice that
meets individual needs. The acronym ISHTA
refers to the Integrated Science of Hatha Tantra
and Ayurveda, a physical and spiritual form of
yoga. ISHTA combines Ashtanga, Viniyoga,
Iyengar, and the practices of Paramahansa
Yogananda. Finger’s company has published a
book, more than 50 videos, and the nationally
televised Yoga Zonetelevision show that aired
on the Health Network.
- Iyengar yoga: Founded by B.K.S. Iyengar, who
adapted it from Patanjali’s traditional yoga
methods, Iyengar is one of the most commonly
practiced forms of yoga in the United States. It
involves the use of tools, such as belts, chairs,
blocks, and walls to help make postures more
attainable for beginners and individuals with
physical limitations.
- Jivamukti yoga: Created by David Life and
Sharon Gannon in 1984, Jivamukti combines
meditation and physical challenge with San-
skrit chanting, readings, references to scriptural
texts, a diverse selection of music, poetry, pos-
tures, and breathing techniques.
- Kali Ray TriYoga: Founded by Kali Ray (Kaliji)
in 1980, the TriYoga Center in Santa Cruz, Cal-
ifornia, was established to offer a system of
yoga based on a series of flowing, dancelike
movements accompanied by music in a medita-
tive environment.
11. Kripalu yoga: Kripalu yoga is the form of yoga
practiced at its homebase, the Kripalu Center
for Yoga and Health, a nearly 30-year-old non-
profit education fellowship located in Lenox,
Massachusetts, and the largest retreat center
for yoga and holistic health in North America.
The organization was founded in 1966, when
Yogi Amrit Desai created the Yoga Society of
Pennsylvania, a nonprofit organization provid-
ing yoga classes and training for yoga teachers.
The center was renamed to honor Yogi Desai’s
guru, Swami Kripalvananda. Swami Kripalu is
better known as Bapuji, which means beloved
grandfather. He was a master of kundalini yoga
as well as a respected speaker, writer, and musi-
cian. Kripalu’s philosophy consists of three
conceptual stages. Willful practice focuses on
body alignment, breath, and consciousness;
willful surrender is the practice of holding pos-
tures to the level of tolerance and beyond to
deepen concentration, and release tension.
12. Kriya yoga: A technique of pranayama (energy
control) used during meditation to accelerate
one’s spiritual progress. Kriya, the Sanskrit
word for action, is geared to divine union
through a certain act or technique. It was intro-
duced to the West by Paramahansa Yogananda
and combines an esoteric meditation technique
with other practices of raja and hatha yoga. It is
considered to be one of the most effective tech-
niques for achieving self-realization (samadhi).
The Ananda Sangha organization offers Kriya
preparation classes, including the year-long
Ananda Course in Self-Realization.
13. Kundalini yoga: The source of all forms of yoga,
Kundalini is a comprehensive science of
breathwork, postures, sound, chanting, and
meditation with the goal of merging with the
universal Self. Known as the Yoga of Aware-
ness, Kundalinimeans “coiled one,” referring to
the power of the Absolute or Consciousness
that creates and sustains the universe. The idea
is that the coiled and dormant form of this
power is harbored by everyone and symbolizes
the potential of consciousness. Yogi Bhajan
introduced Kundalini to the West in 1969; he
believed that it is everyone’s birthright to be
healthy, happy, and holy and that people of all
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