1997, anusara (loosely translated as opening to grace) appealed to me for its focus on strength and precision as well as its heavy—but not heavy-handed—dose of spirituality.

I was in love from the first downward dog. Although the poses were familiar, the instructor’s guidance brought me into and out of each one with a newfound physical and spiritual awareness. My body melted into each asana, opening more deeply than it ever had. My mind stayed focused on my own experience, not distracted by what might come next. Afterward, I glided home on a cloud of yogic bliss; I’ve been practicing anusara ever since.

After sharing my tale with others, I found I wasn’t alone in finding a deep connection to a specific yoga style. As you search for your own perfect match, you might be inspired by these stories of people who found their bliss in one of the three most popular—but very different—styles of yoga.

Bikram: Joanna loves the heat
Like most Bikram devotees, Joanna Russell has a fondness for sweat. “When you’re doing a difficult balancing pose in 105-degree heat, all you can do is empty your mind and focus,” she says. “It’s pretty cool.”

The seeds of Russell’s Bikram addiction germinated five years ago. She was hoping to shed a few pounds and curb the nagging anxiety that regularly kept her awake at night. A few weeks of regular Bikram classes eased the fretting. (Who had energy left for hand-wringing?) But instead of slimming down, the 33-year-old found a new appreciation for the body she’d spent her life trying to change. “I didn’t lose a pound doing Bikram,” she says with a laugh. “But staring at myself in the mirror for 90 minutes six times a week made me appreciate my body for exactly what it is.”

Russell dabbled in other yoga styles, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that Bikram was her one and only. Iyengar and hatha felt too lethargic. She found ashtanga just as demanding as Bikram, but she missed the high temperatures.

“I love the heat,” she says. “After class, I feel like I’m lying on a beach in the sun.”

Iyengar: John likes a well-aligned spine
John Davie of Bellevue, Washington, started practicing Iyengar yoga after hearing a local teacher discuss the philosophy of yoga on the radio. He was 29. “In my very first class, I felt like I had come home,” he says. “I came out with a big grin on my face.”

Fifteen years later, he’s still practicing Iyengar faithfully and teaching the precision-based style at Yoga Centers in Bellevue. “Once I found Iyengar, there was no reason to try anything else,” he says.

Davie says he’s drawn to Iyengar’s intense focus on alignment. “Your attitude throughout the day is defined largely by the alignment of your body, how you breathe, how you place your body in space,” he says. “When you practice Iyengar yoga, the alignment stays with you.”

Okay, he admits he did do an ashtanga video workout for a few months and loved the vigor of the fast-paced routine. But in the end, Davie returned to Iyengar. He prefers the strengthening that comes with the slow and steady pace of Iyengar to the cardiovascular-based workout of ashtanga.

“For me, force and awareness don’t go together,” he says. “The moment I move faster than my