Sivananda centres worldwide — Dhanwantari Ashram in Neyyar Dam (Kerala), Chennai Centre, Orléans Ashram and Paris Centre (France), London Centre (UK), Val Morin Ashram (Québec, Canada) — are licensed to use the same trademarked Sivananda system and copyrighted class materials. That means the same 90-minute structure, the same 12 core postures, the same chanting, in every one of them. A student who learns the sequence in France can walk into the Kerala ashram and follow along without missing a beat. Almost no other style guarantees that kind of consistency across teachers and continents — most styles vary heavily by individual instructor.

vs Ashtanga

Ashtanga is also a fixed sequence — that part is similar. But it's athletic and demanding, typically self-paced ("Mysore style"), with poses linked by continuous flowing movement (vinyasa) and a strong emphasis on breath-synchronized momentum. It builds heat, stamina, and physical intensity.

Sivananda's fixed sequence is not built for intensity — it's built for repeatability and depth of awareness. Poses are held, not flowed through. The comparison to draw: Ashtanga trains the body to sustain effort; Sivananda trains attention within a smaller, steadier set of postures, with chanting, breath work, and relaxation built into the same session rather than practiced separately.

vs Vinyasa

Vinyasa classes are defined by breath-linked movement, but the sequence itself is usually improvised by the teacher — creative, different every class, often music-driven, closer to a moving-meditation workout.

Sivananda deliberately never varies the sequence. That's not a limitation — it's the point. Because the structure stays constant, a student can actually feel their own progress accumulate over months and years, rather than experiencing a different, novel class each time. Vinyasa optimizes for variety and flow; Sivananda optimizes for depth through repetition.

vs Yin

Yin is a real contrast worth naming honestly. It's a passive practice — long holds (3-5 minutes), minimal muscular engagement, targeting connective tissue and fascia, drawing on Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts of energy meridians. The mind settles through stillness and surrender.

Sivananda is a balance of active and passive: postures are actively held and engaged, not surrendered into; breath is deliberately regulated (pranayama), not just softly observed. Where Yin's philosophy comes from Taoist meridian theory, Sivananda's comes from classical Hatha/Raja Yoga and Vedanta, aimed explicitly at steadying the mind (chitta vritti nirodha) through a structured, active path — not primarily through release and surrender.

vs "Hatha" (generic studio classes)

This is the most important distinction to make to a practitioner, because it's the one most likely to be misunderstood. In most Western studios, "Hatha" isn't a specific lineage — it's used as a catch-all label for any non-flowing, physical yoga class. Two teachers both advertising "Hatha yoga" might be running completely different sequences, with no shared structure, philosophy, or teacher training behind them.

Sivananda is a specific, traceable lineage of classical Hatha Yoga — passed from Swami Sivananda through Swami Vishnudevananda, standardized, licensed, and taught identically across every centre. So when a student says "isn't Sivananda just Hatha yoga?", the honest answer is: it's one specific, traditional, verifiable transmission of Hatha yoga — not the generic modern use of the word.

Sources referenced

• sivananda.org.in (Dhanwantari Ashram, Neyyar Dam, Chennai Centre)

• sivananda.org (International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres)

• sivanandaorleans.org (Orléans Ashram, France)

• sivanandalondon.org (London Centre, UK)

• Wikipedia: Sivananda yoga, Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga, Vinyāsa

• Yoga Journal — style comparison guide

• Independent Hatha vs Yin comparison articles