Wicca Teachings: The History Of Hatha Yoga

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One of the commonly exercised designs of yoga in the United States, hatha yoga emphasizes uniting the body, breath and mind into one quiet energy. The earliest proof of yoga practice dates back more than 5,000 years to Northern India. At the time, the Brahmans and mystic seers of the civilization instructed yoga as an exercise for the mind, as opposed to the body.

Early History

For hundreds of years, yoga was a topsy-turvy practice with contradictory beliefs and techniques. In the second century B.C., a man named Patanjali organized yoga into one concentrated idea. Patanjali's yoga techniques developed over the centuries to focus on the physical aspects of the practice, resulting in the mind-body connection of hatha yoga.

Literature

In the 15th century, Swatmarama composed the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a four-chapter text describing hatha yoga. Since 2011, it's considered the oldest surviving literature on hatha yoga and continues to be among the most revered texts on the practice. The chapters consist of information on hatha yoga postures, breathing strategy and body cleansing treatments. The text also consists of pointers for exercising yoga, consisting of the type of room to practice in, foods to consume, foods to avoid and the types of habits a yogi need to display.

Development

In 1893, Swami Vivekananda offered lectures on yoga at the Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, hatha yoga continued to develop in India, and the first hatha yoga school opened in 1924 in Mysore. In 1947, the first hatha yoga studio in the United States opened in Hollywood. Since then, it's actually broadened across the nation.

Emphasis

The word 'hatha' is a combination of the words 'ha,' which means 'crucial life force' and 'tha,' which means 'mental force.' The standard meaning of 'yoga' is 'union.' The hatha yoga school stresses proficiency of the body to take out the mind from exterior items. Hatha yoga practice urges purification, breathing policy and particular body poses, referred to as asanas.