People generally used to believe yoga consisted solely of stretching
exercises, mantra repetition, and breathing techniques. Today we know this
isn’t entirely true. The development of yoga over the last 5,000 years has
aimed to help you cope with all of the physical, psychological, and spiritual
trials in the surrounding world. You can achieve perfect health only if all
the areas of your life are balanced. If you exercise with yoga, you can learn
to create a balance between body, mind, and soul. Yoga gives you a calm,
focused mind and a strong and flexible body. It also gives you a sense of
unity, harmony, satisfaction, and peace of mind. 

  The mind is unpredictable and hard to master; it swings and dances
through new activities. It is good to control the mind. A controlled mind
creates happiness.—Buddha.

Yoga types

Tantra Yoga is the oldest path in yoga. Through tantric techniques, you
can gradually learn to sense, understand, and see energy. This path works
with the symbolic energy shakti (feminine energy) in order to evoke the
Kundalini-power (the primordial power) that is located at the bottom of the
spine. Tantra Yoga embraces all other paths in yoga. It sometimes uses the
body to carry out different exercises and meditation. The purpose is to
promote positive thoughts and become more conscious of sexual energy.
Bhakti Yoga. Bhakti means emotional devotion towards the divine.
Bhakti Yoga is the path of love and devotion. This devotion is expressed in
prayers, rituals, and ceremonial worshipping. You give praise to the divine
in all of nature’s creatures. This type of yoga focuses on worshipping the
divinity you find in your own heart and mind.
Jnana Yoga. Jnana means wisdom and knowledge. This is the
intellectual path in yoga. The goal here is to achieve a pure mind freed from
shallowness and vanity. In Jnana Yoga, you create balance through trying to
separate reality from illusion (maya) so that you can achieve clarity and
strength.
Raja Yoga. Raja Yoga combines all branches of yoga, and it can include
Karma, Jnana, and Bhakti. Raja means “royal,” and Raja Yoga sees the
body as a “vehicle” for spiritual energy. Raja Yoga primarily focuses on
meditation and on consciously controlling the human mind. Raja Yoga
arose due to the work of Patanjali and the text Yoga Sutras.
Karma Yoga. Karma means action. This branch of yoga works on
achieving balance through unselfish actions (primarily through some sort of
community service). Karma is suitable for people who have a calm and
patient nature and who are interested in supporting and working with other
people.
Hatha Yoga is often called “the path of the body” or “classical yoga.”
Hatha Yoga is a sequence of asanas, or poses, that train the body, soul, and
mind. Hatha means “power” and “strength,” but it also has a more esoteric
meaning. In Sanskrit, ha means “solar” or masculine energy

B.vinodhan,