Blog #3 Attaining Universal Balance with Hatha Yoga

With due respect to my Yoga gurus, with whom I have learnt in person and to whom I have listened & observed over years to imbibe the depths of Yoga, and with a deep gratitude to my biggest teacher Yoga Swami Sivananda whose teachings have made me rise above the surface level of Yoga and adopt the Yoga tradition than merely an asana practice, this write-up is about what actually is Hatha Yoga, its purpose & why do I completely believe in this form of practice for body & mind inner balance.

Classical Hatha Yoga tradition is different from regular day to day Yoga class, the intention, the approach, the methodology, the effects, everything varies, while what remains constant is the Asana, Pranayama and other Yogic tools to achieve the intension.

While Hatha Yoga is considered to be the easy form of yoga practice, this myth gets broken just with the explanation of word 'Hatha', where, 'Ha' means Sun & 'Tha' means the moon and this science deals with the universal, the eternal that exists everywhere, within us & outside us.

Similar to how the nature moves in the cyclic pattern of Sun & Moon dominance, similarly the dominance of the attributes of Sun (in the form of ambition, activity, aggression, anger, brightness, light) and Moon (inertia, laziness, dullness, darkness, stillness) in our personality in an imbalanced manner at the level of our subtle layers results in bigger imbalances that begin to manifest as physical imbalances if not addressed. Hatha Yoga is the science of balancing the Sun & Moon attributes in our personality & to detoxify us using asanas (symbolizing the Sun energy) & deeply relaxing in stillness postures & practices (symbolizing the Moon energy).

This balance of Ha (Sun) & Moon (Tha), at the deeper level is the balance of Ida (Moon channel of the body) & Pingala (Sun channel of the body) nadis which very closely associate with our sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for body's inner communication, perceiving powers and analyzing powers. Ultimately, we perceive the outer world basis our perceptions formed by the inputs taken in via our senses and perceived by the nervous system. However, what we do not know is the how the perception created at the nervous system's function level designs us as a person, our emotions, our choices, our habits, our habits & our lifestyle. All these factors are the deep subtle energies behind how disease process begins in the body.

Thus, Hatha Yoga is not just a set of asanas but the science of purifying the body systematically to the extent that you clearly begin to see where your best potential lies and how can achieve it the best way. Hatha Yoga clearly is the science of self-transformation & in the process you end up changing everything about you starting from your physical structure to the communication between your hormones, to the signaling that the autonomous nervous system sends out that changes everything. However, as simple as it sounds, the practice still begins with dedicated asana practice. This practice is different in performance with following approach followed in the practice:

1. Asanas are held anywhere from 1-5 minutes and 3 minutes is generally the holding standard.
2. Practice flows dynamically, still within each posture you create time & space for holding.
3. Maintains a level of relaxation in and after each asana with few seconds of stillness to induce parasympathetic response of the body.
4. Lowers metabolism & slows down internal processes, thus preserving the energy.
5. Body resources are used less, there is less wear & tear, less oxygenation is required, body gets into a state of calm, slowdown & stillness most of the time during practice.