Hatha Yoga is:
🔸South Asian in origin
🔸हठ Hatha is the Sanskrit word for “force.” It is also the combination of “ha”(sun) and “tha”(moon). So this is a practice of energy balance.
🔸part of a living tradition
🔸strongly focused on physical asana practice, though not limited to this
🔸Accessible to every body, given the right teacher
Hatha Yoga is not:
🔸competitive, comparative, or exclusive
🔸just about physical exercise or flexibility
🔸a way to zone out—yoga is about turning deeper within
🔸a religion
Fun facts about Hatha (and yoga in general):
🔸All forms of yoga are rooted in Hatha yoga
🔸There is blossoming research on the impacts of yoga for cognitive function—it increases neuroplasticity, builds resilience to stress, and so much more the research is just starting to catch up to
🔸Ayurveda is the sister science of Yoga, and is the study of healing and health. Ayurveda is the science of life, while Yoga can be thought of as the science of enlightenment or unity.
References:
Birch, J. (2011). The Meaning of haṭha in Early Haṭhayoga. Journal of the American Oriental Society, 131(4), 527–554. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41440511
Cohen, S. (2023, August 3). A new understanding of the power of yoga Psychiatrist Helen Lavretsky studies yoga's effect on the brain. UCLA Health. https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/new-understanding-power-yoga#:~:text=Brain%20benefits%20of%20yoga&text=Like%20this%20new%20study%2C%20it,and%20monitoring%20thoughts%20and%20behaviors)
The Connection Between Yoga and Ayurveda. (2024). Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health. https://kripalu.org/resources/connection-between-yoga-and-ayurveda
Gallegos AM, Crean HF, Pigeon WR, Heffner KL. Meditation and yoga for posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analytic review of randomized controlled trials. Clin Psychol Rev. 2017 Dec;58:115-124. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2017.10.004. PMID: 29100863; PMCID: PMC5939561.
Mallinson, J. (2021). Yoga: Haṭha. The Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Religion, Edited by Stewart Goetz and Charles Taliaferro, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell, IV (Q–Z), 2526–29.