Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga

Ashtanga yoga
FounderK. Pattabhi Jois
Established1948
Practice emphases
Employs Vinyasas, connecting movements
Related schools
Iyengar yoga

Ashtanga yoga (not to be confused with Patanjali's aṣṭāṅgayoga, the eight limbs of yoga) is a style of yoga as exercise popularised by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century, often promoted as a dynamic form of medieval hatha yoga. Jois claimed to have learnt the system from his teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. The style is energetic, synchronising breath with movements. The individual poses (asanas) are linked by flowing movements called vinyasas.

Jois established his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in 1948. The current style of teaching is called "Mysore style", after the city in India where the practice was originally taught. Ashtanga yoga has given rise to various spinoff styles of power yoga.