What Is Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga means literally the "forceful yoga." As its name implies, this approach to yoga emphasizes the vitality and life force of the physical body. Hatha yoga is undoubtedly the most well known, popular, and frequently practiced style of yoga in the West. It places great emphasis on purifying the body through a variety of means that include physical exercise, cleansing rites, and specific breathing techniques. These practices not only strengthen the body through the force of exercise, they can also help you to expand your own personal force, or store of energy, through their vitalizing effects.

One of the most influential and widely read texts on hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, written in the 14th century C.E. In this seminal manual, the author describes 16 physical postures as well as a variety of cleansing and breathing practices and what are known as locks and seals to control the flow of energy within the body.

In its emphasis on physical postures, or asanas, hatha yoga is often considered one of the steps on the eight-limbed path of yoga, which forms an important part of classical, or raja, yoga. However, it is important to bear in mind that emphasis is placed on making the body as whole and complete as possible in order to achieve the ultimate goal of liberation. Practitioners of hatha yoga believe that in order to achieve the fullest unfoldment of our minds and spirits, we must do our utmost to have a body that is at ease and free of disease.

Hatha yoga is thus a way of balancing or harmonizing body and mind. This intent is highlighted in the esoteric interpretation sometimes accorded to the word hatha. According to some practitioners, the word hatha is comprised of two syllables that stand for the sun (ha) and the moon (tha), implying a deep union of the body and the mind and of the masculine and feminine energies within each individual¡ªman and woman alike. Thus, the word hatha reminds us that at heart, yoga is a search for underlying unity and wholeness.

Hatha yoga practitioners see the body as a wonderful vehicle for self-realization. For without a body, we would not be alive today, and thus incapable of seeking the path of transformation. Hatha yoga urges a man to respect his body as a temple of the divine spirit of the universe. The practice of hatha yoga is thus an opportunity of honoring your own inner divinity.

Hatha yoga has become so popular, particularly in the last few decades, that there are now many styles for practicing it. Surprisingly, however, most of the styles of hatha yoga that are practiced today trace their roots to a handful of yoga teachers, who traveled from India to the West in the 1960s and 1970s to train practitioners here in their particular approach to yoga; or to a small number of Westerners who traveled to India during the same time period to train as teachers with a few celebrated masters.

The teachers of the 60s and 70s differed in their approach to presenting yoga from the gurus who had preceded them. The earliest teachers of yoga who traveled to the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries emphasized the traditional sacred texts and metaphysical aspects of yoga. The newer generation of teachers, while revering all aspects of the yoga tradition, also incorporated much more of the physical exercise aspect of yoga into their teaching. Their approaches to yoga appealed to Western practitioners, and, consequently, much of the yoga that has developed in the United States has focused on the physical postures of hatha yoga.

The following chapters will introduce you to the main approaches to hatha yoga that have helped to define hatha practice in the West. Because there are now so many styles of yoga available, the choice of a practice can seem overwhelming. These chapters will introduce you to the main styles of hatha yoga so that you can be better informed as you undertake your own practice of yoga.

Each of the main styles of hatha yoga is generally named after the individual who first introduced or was influential in the teachings of that style, such as Iyengar Yoga and Sivananda Yoga; the institute that was founded based on their teachings, such as yoga taught at the Himalayan Institute and Integral Yoga; or for a prominent element or focal point of the approach, such as Ashtanga Yoga and kundalini yoga.

Nearly all the various styles of hatha yoga have as their base a common repertoire of physical postures and practices, which have evolved over the centuries. The emphasis on how to perform these practices can differ widely from one style of yoga to another, however. Understanding the differences among these styles can help you choose the style of hatha yoga that is right for you. The following chapters describe the major styles of hatha yoga that you are likely to encounter in your exploration of yoga today. As you read these chapters, please bear in mind that the approaches to yoga presented are grouped together under hatha yoga for convenience. In addition to instruction in the physical postures of yoga, most of these approaches can also help you incorporate a full range of yogic practices into your life.

Man and The Yoga Lifestyle

The focus on yoga in the West is very often placed on the physical postures of hatha yoga. This aspect of yoga appeals to many men because of the physical strength, flexibility, and grace these postures can help them achieve. Yoga can do much more than help you make the most of your body, though.
Yoga is a very rich and multifaceted web of practices. The ultimate goal of yoga is union of the individual self with the Cosmic Self. Some venerated approaches to yoga eschew the physical practices of hatha yoga in favor of other practices that foster self-reflection, such as meditation and breath awareness. Hatha yoga literally means the "forceful yoga." Some yoga sages believe that hatha yoga can be too "forceful" a path.
The Yoga Vasistha, one of the leading classic texts on yoga, described the experience of self-realization by a sage named Uddalaka. It recounts in detail how this man achieved bliss. Uddalaka engaged himself in austerities and the study of scriptures. He sat down in meditation and recited the sacred word Om, while he practiced special breathing techniques. And through these means, Uddalaka entered into a superconscious state in which he achieved enlightenment and liberation. It is significant that the writer of this sacred text underscores the fact that Uddalaka achieved self-realization without the practice of hatha yoga: "All this Uddalaka practiced without the violence involved in Hatha Yoga, for Hatha Yoga gives rise to pain."
While the Yoga Vasistha describes hatha yoga as leading to pain, it certainly doesn¡¯t need to. With instruction and guidance from a qualified teacher, hatha yoga practice need not be too forceful, painful, or dangerous. Because many men think of yoga only as the practice of hatha yoga, though, it is important to know that you can also follow a path of yoga without necessarily doing the physical postures of hatha yoga. The following chapter will introduce you to additional yoga practices that you can use to round out your practice of hatha yoga or do instead of hatha yoga if you prefer.
Pursued to the fullest, yoga can help you make the most of both your body and your mind to achieve a place of inner peace and tranquility. In addition to providing guidance on beneficial physical postures, yoga can also help teach you about ways to live a healthier and more fulfilling lifestyle. If you expand your physical practice of yoga to embrace its teachings on diet, breathing exercises, and meditation, you can join the millions of other men around the world who have discovered that yoga is not only a physical discipline, but also a way of life. Chapter 16 provides valuable information on how you can make yoga a complete practice for realizing your full potential as a man.

Hatha Yoga:Need more energy ?

Hatha Yoga is the movement of energy, prana, through channels known as the nadi's. They are not visible channels but are the electrical fields around the body through which energy flows. Hatha means the merging of the sun and the moon, the light and the dark. The two opposites merge to create one single line of flow. The merging or uniting of the various nadi's (there are 72,000) is the uniting of the two sides of the body, the light and dark, male and female.

These two sides of our body also represent judgements of right and wrong, good and evil, pleasure and pain. The merging of duality is considered the central position, Yoke or Yoga. When we can see order in creation we move beyond judgement to love. Love is therefore the ultimate mission of all Yoga.

Hatha Yoga is designed to remove the blocks in our energy flow. Although the focus is initially on physical asana, the philosophy is critical. Blockages are not purely physical, they are a function of the physiology and psychology of the body. What we eat, drink, think, say, see, do and how we breathe affects the path of energy through the body. This is the science of Hatha Yoga.

The primary blockage to the flow of energy through the body is called the Kundalini. This is the coiled snake; coiled in such a way as to absorb and block flow. It is the mirror of emotional and physical beliefs. The elimination of Kundalini blockage is a vital focus of Hatha Yoga practice. The specific focus on the energy wasted through the Kundalini is called Tantra Yoga, where the connection between body, energy and the cosmos are interconnected and mastered.

This technique is a meditative process in itself, bringing us more into the present with our bodies to the exclusion of all that is around us. It is an important learning process; an external one which eventually gives way to a deeper more intuitive form of energy management-the internal feel of the subtle flow.

In Ashtanga Yoga there is not a lot of emphasis on the external alignment of the body. Once again the student is taught to work with internal energy, the body's own internal intelligence, to create a true and inner alignment.

The benefits of this internal focus on energy movement are significant: it increases the control and management of energy within the pose, tones and relaxes the nervous system, decreases the likelihood of injury, increases strength and endurance in poses, internally aligns the body in the pose from the inside, and prepares the body, breath and mind for pranayama.