About Hatha Yoga

Meditationtime Forum Post

Date:  Posted 5 years before Jun 08, 2017

MiBeloved 5 years ago

Inquiry by Edward on LinkedIn:

Is it Hatha Yoga if I do Ashtanga slow?

I'm finding the flow forms of yoga, such as Ashtanga and Vinyasa, currently require too much time to recover. I especially find the constant repetition of vinyasas exhausting. My asanas are progressing and my inversions are improving. If I go through the Ashtanga Primary series slowly, with mindful alignment, am I just doing Hatha Yoga?

MiBeloved’s Response:

These Terms like Ashtanga and Hatha Yoga are now having varied meanings, so you cannot assume that everyone is using the same meaning which you are using. So unless you give some detail of what these are to you, it is difficult to understand your perspective.

One important thing might be to stick to the original well defined meanings given by the persons in India who defined those terms.

For instance Ashtanga Yoga was the definition of Yoga which was given by Patanjali, who is accepted across the board in India as the Authority on yoga. Lord Krishna gives the same definition when he spoke of yoga to Uddhava.

Ashtanga is Sanskrit for eight parts or limbs. Ashta is eight, anga means limb or extended part.

According to Patanjali and Lord Krishna Yoga has 8 parts. That is how the name was originally used in the Sanskrit literature of ancient yogis.

Now in the West we use Hatha Yoga is usually used to mean postures which are the 3rd of the eight parts, which is asana in Sanskrit. This is our Western meaning but that is not the original meaning which goes back to a yogi named Gorakshnath. In his system of yoga there are only 6 parts as compared to Patanjali’s 8 parts. But interestingly he lists everything Patanjali listed except the first two parts which are Yama and Niyama. So Gorakshnath is consistent with Patanjali except for his leaving aside the two most elementary parts of yoga which concern moral restrictions and recommended behaviors.

Going to the original meanings then if you are doing Ashtanga you are doing Hatha because these systems are the same, but that depends on if you are really following the system as explained by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.

Vinyasa Yoga is the system which was standardized recently by K. Pattabhi Jois. Please try to understand that Patanjali’s definition of yoga is complete. This implies that any other definition is either partial or is an altered combination or is just not valid anyway. Acharya Jois’s system combines asanas with pranayama but that is only certain pranayama methods. A similar situation arose with Yogi Bhajan who combined asanas with the bhastrika and kapala bhati pranayama.

So in their systems the 3rd and 4th parts of yoga were combined.

Yoga however is still what Patanjali said it was but obviously the various teachers or masters introduce to their students systems which they perfected and benefited from. But if it is valid it has to be within the context of Patanjali’s system.