Hatha Yoga taught at Shree Hari yoga School in India is a classical method of asanas practice. This practice is held in regulation and observation of the body, breath, mind and the prevailing consciousness of ourselves.
This yoga is a process of purification
which unites the practitioner with the whole, the inner and outer Universe.
The body is an instrument, a tool for the soul to experience the world. Hatha yoga is the set of tools we use to tune, purify and adjust the subtle, gross and spiritual aspects of the body to make its passage in this world as harmonic as possible.
The word Hatha also means ‘force’ in Sanskrit
and may have this association because it is believed that its practice was challenging and ‘forced its results to happen’ on the yogi. The term Hatha yoga reflects to the physical techniques, from the older concept of Yoga.
In the west, the major yoga form are classified as Hatha Yoga which refers to the practice of physical postures. This means also your Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Iyengar and Power Yoga classes are all simply Hatha Yoga. We teach Hatha and all other Yoga at Shree Hari yoga School in India as Multi-Style Yoga School, because these yoga styles are different. The word ‘Hatha’ can be translated from Sanskrit as ‘willful’ or ‘forceful’ the yoga of action, and as the yoga of balance.
Practices of Hatha Yoga are designed to align and calm your body, mind, and spirit in preparation for meditation.
The regular yoga practice emphasizes proper diet, processes to internally purify the body, proper breathing and its regulation particularly during the yoga practice, and the exercise routine consisting of asanas (bodily postures).
The methodology sometimes includes sequences such as the Surya Namaskara, or ‘sun salutation’, which consists of several asanas performed as a fluid movement sequence. The aims of Hatha yoga have traditionally been the same as those of other varieties of yoga. They include physical siddhis (special powers or bodily benefits such as slowing age effects) and spiritual liberation (moksha, mukti).
In the 20th century, the yoga techniques of Hatha is particularly the asanas (physical postures) became popular throughout the world as a form of physical exercise for relaxation, body flexibility, strength and personal concentration to focus the mind.
Hatha Yoga is a tool for holistic health, it is the first step you do, to reach higher stages of yoga, to experience your athma, your real self, samadhi – moksha.
