What Does HaTha Mean?
“Hatha yoga does not mean twisting your body, standing on your head, or holding your breath.”
The Sanskrit word ha means "sun" and tha means "moon," and thus hatha, or literally sun-moon yoga,strives to balance opposing parts of the physical body the front and back,left and right, top and bottom,the balance of masculine aspects:emissive ,hot,sun and feminine aspects:receptive,cool, moon within all of us.Also the former refers to the solar nadi(channel) Pingala-masculine qualities and the latter to the lunar nadi (channel) Ida-feminine qualities.
The most fundamental text of Hatha Yoga is the “Hatha Yoga Pradipika”, written by Swami Swatamarama, a disciple of Swami Goraknath, a yogic sage of the 15th century in India.The text describes the asanas(postures), pranayama(breathing practices) mudra(symbolic or ritual gesture) and bandhas(locks).
The objectives of HaTha Yoga are:
1. to locate and activate the chakras (centers of energy)
2. to remove the obstacles to address the further steps of Pratyahara(sense-withdrawal),Dharana(Concentration), Dhyana(Meditation).
Hatha yoga attempts to balance mind and body/ physical postures and exercisses (asanas), it asks us to bring our attention to our breath and the calming of the mind through relaxation and meditation.It’s a powerful tool for self-transformation. In our physical bodies we develop a balance of strength and flexibility. We also learn to balance our effort and surrender in each pose.
Comes in many varieties and tradition,such like Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga , Kripalu Yoga, Viniyoga, Bikram Yoga, Yin Yoga ,etc.