Find Your Yoga Tradition
Different Yoga traditions emphasize different practices, philosophies and methods. Explore and decide what resonates with you.
This is an exploration, not a prescription — NOSTOPS won't tell you which tradition you 'should' follow, and makes no medical or spiritual guarantees. Every suggestion below is drawn from real teacher and tradition data.
Start with what interests you
Traditions that emphasise meditation
Related practices: Dhāraṇā · Dhyāna · Samādhi
- Rāja YogaHistorical
Historical Paramparā · 1 teacher on NOSTOPS
Rāja Yoga, the 'royal' path of meditation, is identified with Patañjali's eight-limbed discipline and its progressive interiorisation culminating in samādhi. The term was popularised for the modern world by Swami Vivekananda in his 1896 work of the same name.
- Pātañjala Yoga (Classical Yoga)Historical
Darśana
Pātañjala Yoga is the classical darśana codified in the Yoga Sūtras (c. 2nd–4th c. CE), defining yoga as the stilling of the movements of the mind (citta-vṛtti-nirodha) and mapping the eight limbs (aṣṭāṅga): yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi. The date and identity of Patañjali are debated by scholars.