'Tha' – Moon, 'Ha' – Sun
Hatha yoga is a science about cleansing the body and awakening of pranic energy. Hatha yoga balances left and right side of the body, female – male energy, yin and yang of our body.
In Hatha yoga we mention Ida and Pingala nadi. Ida is left energy channel and Pingala right one. Both channels run through nostrils along the spine all the way to the end of the spine where they unite into a main energy channel called Shusumna. Only three main channels are mentioned here but there are 72000 Nadis in our body.
Short history of Hatha Yoga
First text about Hatha Yoga were found already in ancient text called Upanishads from 6st Century B.C but its true development began in India, somewhere around 6th Century A.D.
In acient times Hatha Yoga was a system to prepare physical body to higher levels of consciousness. Nowadays its true purpose is mostly forgotten. To most people Hatha Yoga is a way of physical practice/workout.
Up to 6th Century A.D. spirituality achieved big dimensions. It has been developing through centuries. At that ime two great men were born. Buddha and Mahavir, founder of Jain sect, indian tradition. They both represented humble way of life and preached non-violence, ahimsa. Buddha developed his path known as the Four noble truths. Vipassana in Anapanasati were accepted and recognized all over the World. Buddha set a fundament of Eight-limb path which more or less represents same ethical system as Yam and Niyam of Raja Yoga. Because of Buddha meditation became major form of spiritual practice. Indian nation agreed that meditation is the highest path but were all united that nobody can start with meditation just like that. Even today there is a belief that one should prepare for meditation.
Eventhough Buddha was a great personality his teachings remained merely a psychological experience. So it was essential to set a correct system of meditation. This is how Hatha Yoga path was developed. In 4th, 5th and 6th Century A.D. after Decadence of Buddhism in India the great Yogis Matsyendranath, Gorakhnat and others realized that tantric system was ignored and wrongly interpreted. Matsyendranath founded Nath Cult which believed and thaught that one's body needs to be prepared and cleaned before meditation which is the main purpose of Hatha Yoga.
Because of unbalanced energies in the body in physical in mental sense, a disease occurs. This is why nadis have to be cleaned which we achieve with Hatha Yoga. This is how we prepare our body for meditation which heals our body.
Hatha and Ashtanga Yoga are practices which prepare us for Raya Yoga, royal, meditative Yoga. With meditation we achieve the highest aim of yoga, Contemplation ( Samadhi), meeting Higher Self which we can also cal God, Angel, depends on one's beliefs.
EIGHT PATHS OF YOGA
Yoga represents Eight main steps of exploring and practice of oneself
- Yam – teaches us how to live in a society
- Niyam – exploring and developing oneself
- Asana – steady, stable body posture which effect physical and energetic body
- Pranayam – teaching us propper breathing and controlling of life force
- Pratyahar – shutting scences from the outter world to inner self
- Dharan – the power of concentration, 'being' in the moment
- Dhyan – meditation
- Contemplation, Samadhi – meeting ones True Self
The Path of Yoga can be explored and read about in so many books so I am only mentioning the basics.
Recommended materials
Recommended materials:
- Goswami Krijananda: Duhovna znanost Krija joge
- Swami Muktibodhananda: Hatha Yoga Pradipika
- Swami Swatyananda Saraswati: Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
- Dr. Jack Hawley: Bhagavad Gita za zahodnjake
- Swami Prabhavananda: Patanjali Yoga Sutras
- Paramhansa Jogananda: Avtobiografija Jogija
- Inge Shöps: Joga, veliki priročnik za začetnike in izkušene
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