HATHA YOGA
In the west, Hatha Yoga is generally thought of as being that aspect of yoga focusing on physical exercise and the performance of the postures or asanas.
The word Hatha has a number of interpretations. Sometimes it is known as `forceful yoga`; hinting at the powerful effects of the exercises. There is the deeper esoteric meaning based on the formation of the word combining the two words `ha` - the sun, and `tha` - the moon. Linked with the word `yoga`, implying yoking or joining, there is the implication of the joining of those two forces – sun/moon, masculine/feminine, Shiva/Shakti.
The aim of hatha yoga is to transform the human body so that `self-realization can be effected. On a relatively trivial level, aching knees make it very difficult for the person praying to focus on their prayer. Hatha yoga brings about a healthy body which is free of distractions. Through hard work the body is tempered like steel to become both hard and flexible. In this condition the body has been likened to a fired pot, as against the raw clay it is formed from.
The postures and practices of hatha yoga may be as old as man`s first realization of the need to stretch and move to keep fit, but early writings say little of the physical exercises which are now used.
It is acknowledged that in the ninth or tenth century CE, Goraksha, a disciple in turn of Matsyendra, of the Natha sect, established the basis of hatha yoga as we know it today. It is seen as a part of the Tantric tradition in yoga. Tantra being based around ritual and practices all designed to bring about the transformation of the person to a state of Self-realization.
Although it appears to be involved only with the physical body, hatha yoga has always included the other practices of breath control, concentration and meditation; all designed to bring about not just health, but more importantly, control of the vital energy to bring about the joining of the Shakti and Shiva forces in the body.
The `Hatha Yoga Pradipika` by Svatmarama Yogin, is regarded as the most generally useful book in the study of Hatha yoga, and dates from the 14thC.
In the west, Hatha Yoga is generally thought of as being that aspect of yoga focusing on physical exercise and the performance of the postures or asanas.
The word Hatha has a number of interpretations. Sometimes it is known as `forceful yoga`; hinting at the powerful effects of the exercises. There is the deeper esoteric meaning based on the formation of the word combining the two words `ha` - the sun, and `tha` - the moon. Linked with the word `yoga`, implying yoking or joining, there is the implication of the joining of those two forces – sun/moon, masculine/feminine, Shiva/Shakti.
The aim of hatha yoga is to transform the human body so that `self-realization can be effected. On a relatively trivial level, aching knees make it very difficult for the person praying to focus on their prayer. Hatha yoga brings about a healthy body which is free of distractions. Through hard work the body is tempered like steel to become both hard and flexible. In this condition the body has been likened to a fired pot, as against the raw clay it is formed from.
The postures and practices of hatha yoga may be as old as man`s first realization of the need to stretch and move to keep fit, but early writings say little of the physical exercises which are now used.
It is acknowledged that in the ninth or tenth century CE, Goraksha, a disciple in turn of Matsyendra, of the Natha sect, established the basis of hatha yoga as we know it today. It is seen as a part of the Tantric tradition in yoga. Tantra being based around ritual and practices all designed to bring about the transformation of the person to a state of Self-realization.
Although it appears to be involved only with the physical body, hatha yoga has always included the other practices of breath control, concentration and meditation; all designed to bring about not just health, but more importantly, control of the vital energy to bring about the joining of the Shakti and Shiva forces in the body.
The `Hatha Yoga Pradipika` by Svatmarama Yogin, is regarded as the most generally useful book in the study of Hatha yoga, and dates from the 14thC.
