Hatha Yoga

  

Hatha Yoga is a very ancient limb of Indian Spiritual Traditions. Hatha yoga is a discipline that harnesses and combines different currents of the body to invoke the all powerful Kundalini force. Thus, the journey of Hatha yoga from physical to the subtlest form is covered systematically step by step. Hatha yoga combines posture, breath control, seals, and locks as a means to bodily immortality and supernatural power.

Hatha Yoga has developed techniques that not only include postures (asana) and cleansing techniques (Shaucha), but also breathe control (pranayama). Hatha Yoga begins the journey by purifying and toning the body. A well-toned body is said to be the prerequisite for further enhancements to delve deeper in our inner being. The stages of supreme concentration and meditation ultimately summons the state of Samadhi. This Samadhi leads us to know and unite with our supreme and pure self. Hatha Yoga is able to bring about a balance between the human mind and human body.

Origin of Hatha Yoga
Coming from Sanskrit origin, the root words "Ha" means Sun and "Tha" means Moon. Tradition says that Hatha Yoga was propounded by Lord Shiva. Legend says that on a lonely island Lord Shiva had transferred the knowledge of Hatha Yoga to Parvati assuming that nobody would hear him but a fish heard the entire discourse and remained still during the entire time. Lord Shiva had mercy on the fish and made him a Siddha and he came to be known as ‘Matsyendranaatha’. Matsyendranaatha taught Hatha Yoga to ‘Chaurangi’, a limbless man who was given hands and limbs by Matsyendranaatha just by looking at him.

Some experts view the existence of Hatha Yoga to be a tradition whose roots extend back at least several thousand years, with its earliest known authentic text being the ‘Yoga Karunta’. Modern practices of Hatha Yoga are derived from the school of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya who had taught Hatha Yoga to his pupils from the year 1924 and he had continued his teaching till the year 1989.

Concepts in Hatha Yoga
The concept of Hatha Yoga says that Hatha Yoga is a holistic yogic path consisting of moral disciplines, physical postures called asanas, purification processes, mudras and meditation. Hatha Yoga is also considered to be a stress reducing exercise. Hatha Yoga believes that keeping the body in a healthy condition is very necessary for attaining the universal happiness in life. The body can be kept in a healthy condition only with the help of proper physical exercises. The main attempt of Hatha Yoga is to bring about a proper balance of body and mind.

Human Body and Hatha Yoga
Hatha Yoga is often regarded as physical or bodily yoga. Such an over simplistic view is mistaken if that is all Hatha is considered to be; but it is certainly the case that Hatha Yoga works very much ‘with’ and ‘through’ the body, and that its conceptual isolation of the body is crucial to Hatha’s theory and practice. This conceptualization which involves whole ‘subtle’ physiological dimension forms should be understood properly. For that the misunderstood conclusions have to be discarded.

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