Hatha Yoga
As part of the Teacher Training, on our next weekend we will be explaining what "Hatha" means. I will be absent for this particular weekend, as I'll be going to Puerto Rico to celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. However, since I have such curiosity about learning more about yoga, I thought it would be fun for me to refresh this term and explore the meaning of the word. Here is what I found so far...
Hatha:
1. ("Forceful" yoga), "That hatha yoga must also not be dismissed as an "easy" way is hinted at in the word hatha itself, which means "force" or "forceful."...
"The word hatha also has a deeper, esoteric significance. Thus its two component syllables, ha and tha, are frequently explained as standing for the microcosmic sun (surya) and moon (candra) respectively, while yoga is the union between these two psychoenergetic principles."
Georg Feuerstein's The Shambala Encyclopedia of Yoga.
2. "Physical exercises or postures; "sun-moon union". From the verb root hath= "to oppress." A yogic discipline by which the unitive (samadhi) state is attained by uniting the prana and apana (ingoing and outgoing breath). Various bodily and mental exercises are practiced for the purpose of purifying the 72,000 nadis and to bring about the even flow of prana. When the flow of prana is even, then the mind becomes still. One then experiences equality consciousness and enters into the state of samadhi."
John Grime's A Concise Dictionary of Indian Philosophy
3. "Yogic practices, both physical and mental, performed for the purpose of purifying and strengthening the physical and subtle bodies."
Sally Kempton's The Heart of Meditation
4. "All of the best-known styles of yoga practiced in the West today are a form of Hatha yoga: Vinyasa Flow, Iyengar, Anusara, Ashtanga Vinyasa, Power yoga, and dozens of others that offer only slightly variations on a tradition or style but with a branded name. It may come as a surprise that the first in-depth writings on Hatha yoga and related explanations of asana practice are just a few hundred years old, not thousands as is often claimed or intimated in the popular yoga media and literature..."
"The first substantial writing on Hatha yoga, the well-known Hatha Yoga Pradipika, was written in the fourteenth century by the Indian sage Swami Swatmarama."
Mark Stephen's Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques
Interesting!
Some thoughts:
I love how the left side of the body, in yoga, is considered the "moon" side and the right side is considered the "sun" side. And since yoga is all about balancing both sides of the body -balancing the left and the right, the feminine and the masculine, being strong and soft- then hatha yoga is about uniting duality. Or what we perceive as duality, since it's all really one thing...
I also appreciate that the word "hatha" means forceful, since it really is such a powerful practice. Newcomers to yoga always comment how "hard" yoga was for them! They came into class thinking it would be a few stretches and are often surprised (not in a bad way though) by how challenging yoga was!
Lastly, the poet in me deeply appreciates the image of me walking around carrying 72,000 invisible channels of energy (nadis) from which my life force travels. Deeply love the image of my body as a harp-like instrument, finely woven, throbbing with every wind of my breath. What a glorious sight to behold with my mind's eye. Talk about looking at myself with a completely different mirror!
Off to do some yoga in the park and then do an Ayurvedic workshop with Arun Deva.
Tomorrow I'll be going to Del Mar with my brother and his sweet girlfriend, to watch Zenyatta run. If you don't know who Zenyatta is, you are in for a treat. She is a Thoroughbred racehorse, undefeated in her 17 starts. To put it simply: she is a female horse, with big gorgeous hips, who is kicking all the male horse's ass. The Associated Press named her runner up (after Serena Williams) for Female Athlete of the year 2009. Unbelievable! Check her out on You Tube and get ready for goose bumps and tears. ZENYATTA!
Have a great weekend everyone!
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