Misplaced Pages

#256743

67-516: The name Bhujangasana comes from the Sanskrit words भुजंग bhujaṅga , "snake" and आसन āsana , "posture" or "seat", from the resemblance to a snake with its head raised; it was described in the 17th century hatha yoga text Gheranda Samhita in chapter 2, verses 42–43. In the 19th century Sritattvanidhi , the pose is named सरपासन Sarpāsana , "Serpent Pose", from सरप, sarpa[m] , "serpent" or "snake". Yogi Narayana Ghamande described and illustrated

134-488: A beginner, states the historian of religion Mircea Eliade , the asanas are uncomfortable, typically difficult, cause the body to shake, and are typically unbearable to hold for extended periods of time. However, with repetition and persistence, as the muscle tone improves, the effort reduces and posture improves. According to the Haṭha yoga texts, each posture becomes perfect when the "effort disappears", one no longer thinks about

201-400: A blanket under the pelvis. Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana, Upward Dog, is entered with an inhalation from a prone position (or from Chaturanga Dandasana or Ashtanga Namaskara in a Surya Namaskar cycle), taking the feet a little apart. The legs are stretched out straight, the toes out (not tucked under), and the weight of the body is supported on the hands with outstretched arms so the hips are off

268-559: A controlled diet is one of the three important parts of a complete and successful practice. The text does not provide details or recipes. The text states, according to Mallinson, "food should be unctuous and sweet", one must not overeat and stop when still a bit hungry (leave a quarter of the stomach empty), and whatever one eats should please Shiva . Haṭha yoga teaches various steps of inner body cleansing with consultations of one's yoga teacher. Its texts vary in specifics and number of cleansing methods, ranging from simple hygiene practices to

335-467: A strap , or free. In Urdhva Prasarita Padasana, the back is on the ground, the arms are stretched out on the floor above the head, and the legs are raised either partly or to the vertical. In pregnancy , the pose can be practised as "Wall Butterfly", with the buttocks and feet against a wall, feet together as in Baddha Konasana , the knees falling to the sides. The hands can be used to press

402-538: A system of chakras was overlaid onto the earlier bindu-oriented system. The aim was to access amṛta (the nectar of immortality) situated in the head, which subsequently floods the body, in contradiction with the early Haṭha yoga goal of preserving bindu. The classical sources for the mudras are the Gheranda Samhita and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika . The yoga mudras are diverse in the parts of

469-448: A wall and sometimes a pile of blankets, where it is considered a restful practice. As a mudra it was practised using any preferred inversion, such as a headstand or shoulderstand. The purpose of the mudra was to reverse the downward flow of vital fluid being lost from the head, using gravity. The name comes from the Sanskrit words विपरीत viparīta , "inverted" or "reversed", and करणी karaṇī , "a particular type of practice". The practice

536-470: A water wash and others describing the use of cleansing aids such as cloth. Prāṇāyāma is made out of two Sanskrit words prāṇa (प्राण, breath, vital energy, life force) and āyāma (आयाम, restraining, extending, stretching). Some Haṭha yoga texts teach breath exercises but do not refer to it as Pranayama. For example, section 3.55 of the GherandaSamhita calls it Ghatavastha (state of being

603-605: Is "said to represent the teachings of Virūpākṣa ". According to Mallinson, this figure is most likely the Buddhist mahasiddha Virupa . The c. 10th century Kubjikāmatatantra anticipates haṭha yoga with its description of the raising of Kundalini , and a 6- chakra system. Around the 11th century, techniques associated with Haṭha yoga also begin to be outlined in a series of early Hindu texts. The aims of these practices were siddhis (supranormal powers such as levitation) and mukti (liberation) . In India, haṭha yoga

670-411: Is an integral part of asanas . According to section 1.38 of Haṭha yoga pradipika , Siddhasana is the most suitable and easiest posture to learn breathing exercises. The different Haṭha yoga texts discuss pranayama in various ways. For example, Haṭha yoga pradipka in section 2.71 explains it as a threefold practice: recaka (exhalation), puraka (inhalation) and kumbhaka (retention). During

737-722: Is associated in popular tradition with the Yogis of the Natha Sampradaya . Almost all hathayogic texts belong to the Nath siddhas , and the important ones are credited to Gorakhnath or Gorakshanath (c. early 11th century), the founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India, though those texts post-date him. Goraknath is regarded by the contemporary Nath-tradition as the disciple of Matsyendranath (early 10th century), who

SECTION 10

#1732797880257

804-542: Is celebrated as a saint in both Hindu and Buddhist tantric and haṭha yoga schools, and regarded by tradition as the founder of the Natha Sampradaya. Early haṭha yoga works include: The earliest haṭha yoga methods of the Amṛtasiddhi , Dattātreyayogaśāstra and Vivekamārtaṇḍa are used to raise and conserve bindu ( semen , and in women rajas – menstrual fluid) which was seen as the physical essence of life that

871-495: Is complex and requires certain characteristics of the yogi. Section 1.16 of the Haṭha yoga Pradipika , for example, states these to be utsaha (enthusiasm, fortitude), sahasa (courage), dhairya (patience), jnana tattva (essence for knowledge), nishcaya (resolve, determination) and tyaga (solitude, renunciation). In Western culture, Haṭha yoga is typically understood as exercise using asanas and it can be practiced as such. In

938-563: Is crucial in all yogas, but it is the mainstay of Haṭha yoga. Mudras and certain kundalini-related ideas are included in Haṭha yoga, but not mentioned in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali . Patanjali yoga considers asanas important but dwells less on various asanas than the Haṭha yoga texts. In contrast, the Haṭha yoga texts consider meditation as important but dwell less on meditation methodology than Patanjali yoga. The Haṭha yoga texts acknowledge and refer to Patanjali yoga, attesting to

1005-400: Is described as "a restful practice, where the body is inverted without effort", and the lower back and buttocks are supported with a pile of blankets, while the legs are rested against a wall, either together or allowed to fall outwards into a straddle. In Uttanapadasana, meaning "feet up pose", the back rests on the floor and the legs point straight up, either against a wall, supported with

1072-401: Is described by Haṭha yoga texts in terms of divine sounds, and as a union with Nada-Brahman in musical literature of ancient India. Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga. It shares numerous ideas and doctrines with other forms of yoga, such as the more ancient system taught by Patanjali . The differences are in the addition of some aspects, and different emphasis on others. For example, pranayama

1139-440: Is described in the 13th century Vivekamārtaṇḍa (verses 103–131) as a means of yogic withdrawal, pratyahara . The pose was practised from the 17th century onwards in hatha yoga under names such as Narakasana, Kapalasana and Viparitakaranasana; its purpose as a mudra was to reverse the downflow and loss of the life-giving substance ( Bindu ) through the use of gravity . In the early Bindu Model of Hatha Yoga, as described in

1206-482: Is one of the most influential texts of Haṭha yoga. It was compiled by Svātmārāma in the 15th century CE from earlier Haṭha yoga texts. Earlier texts were of Vedanta or non-dual Shaiva orientation, and from both, the Haṭha Yoga Pradīpika borrowed the philosophy of non-duality (advaita). According to Mallinson, this reliance on non-duality helped Haṭha yoga thrive in the medieval period as non-duality became

1273-601: Is practice alone that leads to success. Sectarian affiliation and philosophical inclination are of no importance. The texts of Haṭha yoga, with some exceptions, do not include teachings on metaphysics or sect-specific practices. Haṭha yoga represented a trend towards the democratization of yoga insights and religion similar to the Bhakti movement . It eliminated the need for "either ascetic renunciation or priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia and sectarian initiations". This led to its broad historic popularity in India. Later in

1340-422: Is upside down. This can include the asanas of shoulder stand ( Sarvangasana ), headstand ( Sirsasana ), or handstand ( Adho Mukha Vrksasana ). In the Hatha Yoga Pradipika , as in most classical texts on haṭha yoga , Viparita Karani is listed as a mudra , meaning its purpose is for the directing of energy upwards within the body, using gravity's action on the inverted body, as opposed to asanas which are used in

1407-546: The Yogatattva Upanishad teaches a system that includes all aspects of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and all additional elements of Haṭha yoga practice. Viparita Karani Viparita Karani ( Sanskrit : विपरीतकरणी ; IAST : viparītakaraṇī ) or legs up the wall pose is both an asana and a mudra in hatha yoga . In modern yoga as exercise , it is commonly a fully supported pose using

SECTION 20

#1732797880257

1474-604: The Bihar School of Yoga ; and Swami Satchidananda of Integral Yoga . The Bihar School of Yoga has been one of the largest Haṭha yoga teacher training centers in India but is little known in Europe and the Americas. Theos Casimir Bernard 's 1943 book Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience provides an informative but fictionalised account of traditional Haṭha yoga as a spiritual path. Yoga as exercise , of

1541-460: The Buddha describes pressing the tongue against the palate for the purposes of controlling hunger or the mind, depending on the passage. However, there is no mention of the tongue being inserted further back into the nasopharynx as in true khecarī mudrā . The Buddha also used a posture where pressure is put on the perineum with the heel, similar to modern postures used to stimulate Kundalini . In

1608-554: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika and other texts, the vital fluid is held in the head but constantly drips down and is lost. Mudras were thought to block the central sushumna nadi channel of the subtle body and work to force the flow back up, or in the case of Viparita Karani actually reverse the flow, using gravity . A headstand is described and illustrated in halftone as Viparita Karani in the 1905 Yogasopana Purvacatuska . Viparita Karani can be any practice where one

1675-408: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika to create steadiness. In one popular expression of Viparita Karani as an asana in modern postural yoga , it resembles Salamba Sarvāngāsana (supported shoulder stand) but with extension in the thoracic spine (rather than the cervical spine , elbows on the floor and hands supporting hips or lower back. In Iyengar Yoga , the pose, also called "Legs-up-the-Wall Pose",

1742-554: The Mahāsaccaka sutta ( MN 36), the Buddha mentions how physical practices such as various meditations on holding one's breath did not help him "attain to greater excellence in noble knowledge and insight which transcends the human condition." After trying these, he then sought another path to enlightenment . The term haṭha yoga was first used in the c. 3rd century Bodhisattvabhūmi , the phrase na haṭhayogena seemingly meaning only that

1809-530: The Yogabīja teach a yoga based on raising Kundalinī (through śakticālanī mudrā). This is not called haṭha yoga in these early texts, but Layayoga ("the yoga of dissolution"). However, other early Nāth texts like the Vivekamārtaṇḍa can be seen as co-opting the mudrās of haṭha yoga meant to preserve bindu. Then, in later Nāth as well as Śākta texts, the adoption of haṭha yoga is more developed, and focused solely on

1876-464: The bodhisattva would get his qualities "not by force". The earliest mentions of haṭha yoga as a specific set of techniques are from some seventeen Vajrayana Buddhist texts, mainly tantric works from the 8th century onwards. In Puṇḍarīka's c. 1030 Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra , haṭha yoga is for the first time defined within the context of tantric sexual ritual: when

1943-881: The siddhis are symbolic references to the cherished soteriological goals of Indian religions. For example, the Vayu Siddhi or "conquest of the air" literally implies rising into the air as in levitation, but it likely has a symbolic meaning of "a state of consciousness into a vast ocean of space" or "voidness" ideas found respectively in Hinduism and Buddhism. Some traditions such as the Kaula tantric sect of Hinduism and Sahajiya tantric sect of Buddhism pursued more esoteric goals such as alchemy (Nagarjuna, Carpita), magic, kalavancana (cheating death) and parakayapravesa (entering another's body). Mallinson, however, disagrees and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from

2010-586: The "dominant soteriological method in scholarly religious discourse in India". The text lists 35 great yoga siddhas starting with Adi Natha (Hindu god Shiva) followed by Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath. It includes information about shatkarma (six acts of self purification), 15 asana (postures: seated, laying down, and non-seated), pranayama (breathing) and kumbhaka (breath retention), mudras (internalized energetic practices), meditation, chakras (centers of energy), kundalini , nadanusandhana (concentration on inner sound), and other topics. The text includes

2077-528: The "higher spiritual path of Raja yoga ". This common disdain by the officials and intellectuals slowed the study and adoption of Haṭha yoga. A well-known school of Haṭha yoga from the 20th century is the Divine Life Society founded by Swami Sivananda of Rishikesh (1887–1963) and his many disciples including, among others, Swami Vishnu-devananda  – founder of International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres ; Swami Satyananda  – of

Bhujangasana - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-610: The 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon . The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century Amṛtasiddhi , comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of hatha are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onward. Some of the early hatha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen , and in women rajas – menstrual fluid). This

2211-417: The 20th century, states Mallinson, this disconnect of Haṭha yoga from religious aspects and the democratic access of Haṭha yoga enabled it to spread worldwide. Between the 17th and 19th century, however, the various urban Hindu and Muslim elites and ruling classes viewed Yogis with derision. They were persecuted during the rule of Aurangzeb ; this ended a long period of religious tolerance that had defined

2278-467: The Buddhist elements (such as the deity Chinnamasta which appears in the earliest manuscripts and was originally a Buddhist deity, only appearing in Hindu works after the 16th century). However, the earliest manuscript makes it clear that this text originated in a Vajrayana Buddhist milieu. The inscription at the end of one Amṛtasiddhi manuscript ascribes the text to Mādhavacandra or Avadhūtacandra and

2345-487: The Indian and Tibetan traditions, Haṭha yoga integrates ideas of ethics, diet, cleansing, pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation and a system for spiritual development of the yogi. The aims of Haṭha yoga in various Indian traditions have included physical siddhis (special powers, bodily benefits such as slowing age effects, magical powers) and spiritual liberation (moksha, mukti). According to Mikel Burley , some of

2412-452: The Nath siddhas , and the important early ones (11th-13th c.) are credited to Matsyendranatha and his disciple, Gorakhnath or Gorakshanath (11th c.). Early Nāth works teach a yoga based on raising kuṇḍalinī through energy channels and chakras , called Layayoga ("the yoga of dissolution"). However, other early Nāth texts like the Vivekamārtaṇḍa can be seen as co-opting the hatha yoga mudrās. Later Nāth as well as Śākta texts adopt

2479-581: The Salute to the Sun. Balasana , child's pose, is a counter pose for bhujangasana. An easier variant is Sphinx Pose, sometimes called Salamba Bhujangasana (षलम्ब भुजंगासन), in which the forearms rest on the ground, giving a gentler backbend. It is used in the long holds of Yin Yoga , either with the forearms on the ground or with the arms straightened. The pose can be modified, for instance, in pregnancy , by placing

2546-400: The Sun. That exercise was not until then considered to be yoga. It was later taught by his pupils Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar . The pose may be entered from a prone position or from Downward Dog . The palms are placed under the shoulders, pushing down until the hips lift slightly. The backs of the feet rest on the ground, the legs outstretched; the gaze is directed forwards, giving

2613-881: The West were K. Pattabhi Jois famous for popularizing the vigorous Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga style, B. K. S. Iyengar who emphasized alignment and the use of props in Iyengar Yoga , and by Indra Devi and Krishnamacharya's son T. K. V. Desikachar . Krishnamacharya-linked schools have become widely known in the Western world. Examples of other branded forms of yoga, with some controversies, that make use of Haṭha yoga include Anusara Yoga , Bikram Yoga , Integral Yoga , Jivamukti Yoga , Kundalini Yoga , Kripalu Yoga , Kriya Yoga , Sivananda Yoga and Viniyoga . After about 1975, yoga has become increasingly popular globally, in both developed and developing countries. Haṭha yoga practice

2680-475: The belief that these aerate and assist blood flow to targeted regions of the body. Before starting yoga practice, state the Haṭha yoga texts, the yogi must establish a suitable place. This is to be away from all distractions, preferably a mathika (hermitage) distant from falling rocks, fire and a damp shifting surface. Once a peaceful stable location has been chosen, the yogi begins the posture exercises called asanas . These postures come in numerous forms. For

2747-484: The best diet is one that is tasty, nutritious and likable as well as sufficient to meet the needs of one's body and for one's inner self. It recommends that one must "eat only when one feels hungry" and "neither overeat nor eat to completely fill one's stomach; rather leave a quarter portion empty and fill three quarters with quality food and fresh water". According to another text, the Goraksha Sataka , eating

Bhujangasana - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-622: The body and gaining most benefits from the practice of Haṭha yoga. Eating, states the Gheranda Samhita , is a form of a devotional act to the temple of body, as if one is expressing affection for the gods. Similarly, sections 3.20 and 5.25 of the Shiva Samhita includes mitahara as an essential part of a holistic Haṭha yoga practice. Verses 1.57 through 1.63 of the critical edition of Haṭha Yoga Pradipika suggests that taste cravings should not drive one's eating habits, rather

2881-531: The body involved and in the procedures required, as in Mula Bandha , Mahamudra , Viparita Karani , Khecarī mudrā , and Vajroli mudra . The Haṭha Yoga Pradipika text dedicates almost a third of its verses to meditation . Similarly, other major texts of Haṭha yoga such as the Shiva Samhita and the Gheranda Samhita discuss meditation. In all three texts, meditation is the ultimate goal of all

2948-601: The contradictory goals of raising Bindu, inherited from the Amritasiddhi , and of raising Kundalini, inherited from the Kubjikamatatantra . Post- Hathayogapradipika texts on Haṭha yoga include: According to Mallinson, Haṭha yoga has been a broad movement across the Indian traditions, openly available to anyone: Haṭha yoga, like other methods of yoga, can be practiced by all, regardless of sex, caste, class, or creed. Many texts explicitly state that it

3015-455: The earliest formulations, Haṭha yoga was a means to raise and preserve the bindu, believed to be one of the vital energies. The two early Haṭha yoga techniques to achieve this were inverted poses to trap the bindu using gravity, or mudras (yogic seals) to make breath flow into the centre channel and force bindu up. However, in later Haṭha yoga, the Kaula visualization of Kuṇḍalini rising through

3082-530: The exhalation and inhalation, the text states that three things move: air, prana and yogi's thoughts, and all three are intimately connected. It is kumbhaka where stillness and dissolution emerges. The text divides kumbhaka into two kinds: sahita (supported) and kevala (complete). Sahita kumbhaka is further sub-divided into two types: retention with inhalation, retention with exhalation. Each of these breath units are then combined in different permutations, time lengths, posture and targeted muscle exercises in

3149-470: The goals of bubhukshu (seeker of enjoyment, bhoga). Some Haṭha texts place major emphasis on mitahara , which means "measured diet" or "moderate eating". For example, sections 1.58 to 1.63 and 2.14 of the Haṭha Yoga Pradipika and sections 5.16 to 5.32 of the Gheranda Samhita discuss the importance of proper diet to the body. They link the food one eats and one's eating habits to balancing

3216-478: The ground. The gaze is directed straight upwards, so the neck and back are arched. Hatha yoga Traditional Hatha yoga ( / ˈ h ʌ t ə , ˈ h ɑː t ə / ; IAST : Haṭha-yoga ) is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ haṭha literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to

3283-429: The latter's antiquity. However, this acknowledgment is essentially only in passing, as they offer no serious commentary or exposition of Patanjali's system. This suggests that Haṭha yoga developed as a branch of the more ancient yoga. According to P.V. Kane, Patanjali yoga concentrates more on the yoga of the mind, while Haṭha yoga focuses on body and health. Some Hindu texts do not recognize this distinction. For example,

3350-568: The mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation–driven means to liberation in Indian religions. The majority of historic Haṭha yoga texts do not give any importance to siddhis . The mainstream practice considered the pursuit of magical powers as a distraction or hindrance to Haṭha yoga's ultimate aim of spiritual liberation, self-knowledge or release from rebirth that the Indian traditions call mukti or moksha . The goals of Haṭha yoga, in its earliest texts, were linked to mumukshu (seeker of liberation, moksha). The later texts added and experimented with

3417-417: The peculiar exercises such as reversing seminal fluid flow. The most common list is called the shatkarmas , or six cleansing actions: dhauti (cleanse teeth and body), basti (cleanse rectum), neti (cleanse nasal passages), trataka (cleanse eyes), nauli (abdominal massage) and kapalabhati (cleanse phlegm). The actual procedure for cleansing varies by the Haṭha yoga text, some suggesting

SECTION 50

#1732797880257

3484-411: The pose in halftone as Bhujangasana in the 1905 Yogasopana Purvacatuska . Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana ( Sanskrit : ऊर्ध्वमुखश्वानासन IAST : Urdhva mukha śvānāsana ) is from the Sanskrit ऊर्ध्व Urdhva , "upwards"; मुख Mukha , "face"; and श्वान Shvana , "dog". The pose is one of those (along with Downward Dog ) introduced by Krishnamacharya in the mid-20th century from Surya Namaskar , Salute to

3551-427: The posture and one's body position, breathes normally in pranayama , and is able to dwell in one's meditation ( anantasamapattibhyam ). The asanas vary significantly between Haṭha yoga texts, and some of the names are used for different poses. Most of the early asanas are inspired by nature, such as a form of union with symmetric, harmonious flowing shapes of animals, birds or plants. According to Mallinson, in

3618-417: The pot). In others, the term Kumbhaka or Prana-samrodha replaces Pranayama. Regardless of the nomenclature, proper breathing and the use of breathing techniques during a posture is a mainstay of Haṭha yoga. Its texts state that proper breathing exercises cleanse and balance the body. Pranayama is one of the core practices of Haṭha yoga, found in its major texts as one of the limbs regardless of whether

3685-416: The practices of hatha yoga mudras into a Saiva system, melding them with Layayoga methods, without mentioning bindu. These later texts promote a universalist yoga, available to all, "without the need for priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia or sectarian initiations." In the 20th century, a development of hatha yoga focusing particularly on asanas (the physical postures) became popular throughout

3752-474: The preparatory cleansing, asanas, pranayama and other steps. The aim of this meditation is to realize Nada- Brahman , or the complete absorption and union with the Brahman through inner mystic sound. According to Guy Beck – a professor of Religious Studies known for his studies on Yoga and music, a Hatha yogi in this stage of practice seeks "inner union of physical opposites", into an inner state of samadhi that

3819-519: The preparatory pose. For the full pose, the back is arched until the arms are straight, and the gaze is directed straight upwards or a little backwards. In Bhujangasana the legs remain on the ground, whereas in Upward Dog the hips, thighs and knees are lifted slightly off the ground. Salabhasana , Locust pose, or Sphinx pose can be used to prepare for bhujangasana. Bhujangasana is part of the sequence of yoga postures in some forms of Surya Namaskar ,

3886-457: The raising of Kundalinī without mentioning bindu. Mallinson sees these later texts as promoting a universalist yoga, available to all, without the need to study the metaphysics of Samkhya-yoga or the complex esotericism of Shaiva Tantra. Instead this "democratization of yoga" led to the teaching of these techniques to all people, "without the need for priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia or sectarian initiations." The Haṭhayogapradīpikā

3953-549: The rule of his predecessors beginning with Akbar, who famously studied with the yogis and other mystics. Haṭha yoga remained popular in rural India. Negative impression for the Hatha yogis continued during the British colonial rule era. According to Mark Singleton , this historical negativity and colonial antipathy likely motivated Swami Vivekananda to make an emphatic distinction between "merely physical exercises of Haṭha yoga" and

4020-564: The term; it is a tantric Buddhist work, and makes use of metaphors from alchemy . A manuscript states its date as 1160. The text teaches mahābandha , mahāmudrā , and mahāvedha which involve bodily postures and breath control, as a means to preserve amrta or bindu (vital energy) in the head (the "moon") from dripping down the central channel and being burned by the fire (the "sun") at the perineum. The text also attacks Vajrayana deity yoga as ineffective. According to Mallinson, later manuscripts and editions of this text have obscured or omitted

4087-519: The total number of limbs taught are four or more. It is the practice of consciously regulating breath (inhalation and exhalation), a concept shared with all schools of yoga. This is done in several ways, inhaling and then suspending exhalation for a period, exhaling and then suspending inhalation for a period, slowing the inhalation and exhalation, consciously changing the time/length of breath (deep, short breathing), combining these with certain focussed muscle exercises. Pranayama or proper breathing

SECTION 60

#1732797880257

4154-526: The type seen in the West, has been greatly influenced by Swami Kuvalayananda and his student Tirumalai Krishnamacharya , who taught from 1924 until his death in 1989. Both Kuvalayananda and Krishnamacharya combined asanas from Haṭha yoga with gymnastic exercises from the physical culture of the time, dropping most of its religious aspects, to develop a flowing style of physical yoga that placed little or no emphasis on Haṭha yoga's spiritual goals. Among Krishnamacharya's students prominent in popularizing yoga in

4221-468: The undying moment by restraining the bindu [i.e. semen] of the bodhicitta in the vajra [penis] when it is in the lotus of wisdom [vagina]. While the actual means of practice are not specified, the forcing of the breath into the central channel and the restraining of ejaculation are central features of later haṭha yoga practice texts. The c. 11th century Amṛtasiddhi is the earliest substantial text describing Haṭha yoga, though it does not use

4288-409: The undying moment does not arise because the breath is unrestrained [even] when the image is seen by means of withdrawal ( pratyahara ) and the other (auxiliaries of yoga, i.e. dhyana , pranayama , dharana , anusmrti and samadhi ), then, having forcefully ( hathena ) made the breath flow in the central channel through the practice of nada , which is about to be explained, [the yogi] should attain

4355-586: The world as a form of physical exercise . This modern form of yoga is now widely known simply as "yoga". According to the Indologist James Mallinson , some haṭha yoga style techniques practised only by ascetics can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Sanskrit epics (Hinduism) and the Pali canon (Buddhism). The Pali canon contains three passages in which

4422-454: Was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. This vital essence is also sometimes called amrta (the nectar of immortality). These techniques sought to either physically reverse this process (by inverted postures like viparītakaraṇī ) or use the breath to force bindu upwards through the central channel . In contrast to these, early Nāth works like the Gorakṣaśataka and

4489-517: Was seen as the physical essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early hatha yoga techniques sought to either physically reverse this process of dripping by using gravity to trap the bindhu in inverted postures like viparītakaraṇī , or force bindu upwards through the central channel by directing the breath flow into the centre channel using mudras (yogic seals, not to be confused with hand mudras , which are gestures). Almost all hathayogic texts belong to

#256743