Hatha Yoga
When people refer to yoga, what they’re really thinking about is a specific method of yoga that is widely known has hatha yoga. It is the yoga of postures, and it emphasizes the use of postures and breathing techniques that encourage purity and fitness. Fitness is important because meditation that lasts for hours, days, or months requires a certain level of fitness. Hatha yoga is a type of yoga that focuses on the physical. Its purpose to prepare people for long stretches of meditation, which will then lead to enlightenment. Controlling breathing is just as important because the ancient yogis believed the secret to unlocking the mind was controlling the breath. It was described in detail by the Yogi Swatmarama in the fifteenth century. He presented this type of yoga as a stairway, or a preparation for the practice of higher meditation because it renders the body purified.
Hatha yoga is the study of opposites, as reflected in its name. Ha mean sun and tha means moon. It represents opposing energies: hot and cold, male and female, positive and negative. It seeks to balance these opposing forces in and around the body through many different steps. They include physical postures, or the asanas, purification practices, controlled breathing, and meditation. The various physical poses are designed to strengthen the body, tone the muscles, and make you physically fit enough to dedicate yourself to the long term meditation that would lead to enlightenment.
Hatha yoga focuses on the ten yamas: non-violence, truthfulness, not entering into debt, celibacy or faithfulness, compassion, honesty, moderation, and purity.
Related Information:
Hatha yoga is the most common type of yoga practiced in the western world.
When many of us refer to yoga, we are actually thinking about hatha yoga.