The Hatha Yoga Pradipika defines ‘Hatha’ as a conjunction of the Sun and the Moon. This is to denote the presence and harmony of the opposites in an individual. In physiology, this conjunction of the opposites corresponds with the Ida and Pingala channels of energy, as defined in the ancient Yoga-Ayurveda scriptures. A universal interconnection of energies of which the individual is part forms the main precepts of understanding in Hatha Yoga.
The Scope of Hatha Yoga
Perhaps the most widely practiced style of Yoga today, Hatha Yoga denotes the parts of yogic discipline that relate with physical exercise or asanas. However, physical exercises are nothing but the means to the end of channeling one’s inner energies in specific directions. There is a clear mechanism at play in the movements, positions, and dynamics of the body in distributing, intensifying and directing energies.
There is a total of eighty-four distinguishable yogasanas in the collective of Hatha Yoga. Performing these postures correctly and with the right intent can actually expand your body’s capacity and prepare it for an elevated state of consciousness. The enhanced level of consciousness reached through a determined sadhana or practice of yoga is the spiritual goal.
While spiritualism is an experience, the benefits of spiritual consciousness manifest in both physical and psychical forms. The positive changes would come to the practitioner as the practice progresses and these are as follows—
The Perpetual State of Happiness
Yoga is a life-affirming discipline. The more you engage your body-mind in yogic observances, cleaner your soul will be from negativities. Unresolved emotional issues causing stress will find an effective release, connecting in depth with your ‘Self’ and will make you a self-sustained and eventually a happy individual.
There is an apt. epithet in the yogic language for the person who has known Truth and thus remains in a perpetual state of happiness. Satchidananda—a combination of Sat or truth, child or Knowledge, and Ananda or Bliss, shows the connection between realizing the truth and how it takes us closer to the universal knowledge and brings supreme bliss.
Becoming More Interpersonally Perceptive
The world of men binds one to another through shared functions, responsibilities, and emotional attachments. However, a preoccupation with selfish interests in any of these matters isolates the individual and causes irrevocable mental anguish in the process.
Hatha Yoga upholds the ideal of loving, sharing, and being mutually perceptive to each other’s needs without attaching self-centered interests in a relationship. The art of wholehearted participation without the overwhelming involvement is a spiritual outcome of the yogic discipline.
Culturing a Silence Within
Silence is a yogic virtue and like all virtues, it is consciously cultured. While a competitive market teaches its participants to be rash, vocal, and unthinkingly assertive, yoga exudes silence. It asks you to preserve your energies, contemplate before action, and turning your listening inwards.
Silence is understood through the practice of yoga as an agency for fortifying resolution and becoming more sure-footed and self-contained.
Having More Balance and Coordination in the Body
Spiritual upliftment also has its bodily manifestations. The freer of negative emotions and resentment you would be, the more confident will be your poise. An upright torso, strength, and focus in the body come with a dedicated observance of the asanas and performing meditation.
You will also experience a better range of movement and coordination between different parts of the body as your movements will be more mindful.
Hatha Yoga is thus the first step in bringing spiritual consciousness in the body-mind. A yoga teacher training in India, the birth land of the Satchidananda way of living is therefore full of textual reading, exercises, and orientation for this kind of spirituality.
