Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga, also known as Hatha vidya, is a particular system of Yoga introduced by Yogi Swatmarama, a sage of 15th century India, and compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. In this treatise Swatmarama introduces Hatha Yoga as a stairway to the heights of Raja Yoga, hence a preparatory stage of physical purification that renders the body fit for the practise of higher meditation. This practise is called shatkarma. The word Hatha is a compound of the words Ha and Tha meaning sun and moon and refers to the principal nadis (energy channels) of the subtle body that must be fully operational to attain a state of dhyana or samadhi. In other respects Hatha yoga follows the same principles as the Raja Yoga of Patanjali including moral restraint yama and spiritual observances niyama. Hatha Yoga is what most people in the West associate with the word Yoga and is practiced for mental and physical health throughout the West.

Some traditions associate the origins of Hatha Yoga with Gorakhnath, a yogin of the 10th/11th century CE but the oldest surviving comprehensive text of Hatha Yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Yogi Swatmarama. This work is nonetheless derived from older Sanskrit texts on Yoga besides Yogi Swatmarama's own yogic experiences. It includes information about shatkarma, asana, pranayama, chakras, kundalini, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis, and mudras among other topics.

Many modern schools of Hatha Yoga derive from the school of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who taught from 1924 until his death in 1989. Among his students prominent in popularizing Yoga in the West were Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, famous for popularizing the vigorous Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga style, B.K.S. Iyengar who emphasizes alignment and the use of props, Indra Devi and the son of Krishnamacharya, T.K.V. Desikachar who developed the Viniyoga style. Desikachar founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Chennai, with the aim of making available the heritage of yoga as taught by Krishnamacharya.

Another major stream of influence was Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh (1887-1963) and his many disciples, including Swami Vishnu-Devananda - founder of International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres, Swami Satyananda - of the Bihar School of Yoga, and Swami Satchidananda - of Integral Yoga, among others.

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