What is Traditional Haṭha Yoga?
By Traditional Haṭha Yoga I mean a practice that combines Postures (āsana) Mindful Breathing (prāṇāyāma) and Meditation (dhyāna). I believe that these three subjects are intertwined. The ancient Yogis used āsana to gain the physical strength and steadiness required for long periods of meditation. Meditation gives one strength of mind for prolonged periods of exercise. They support each other. Breathing provides the oxygen to keep body and soul together. Prāṇāyāma is not just automatic habitual breathing, it is intentional, mindful breathing.
Although Yoga is ancient, it has changed significantly since its introduction to the West. Its origin is in ancient Buddhist and Hindu techniques used to aid meditation and is at least 3000 years old. However, now it’s become a fitness and health program with no religious overtones. It is compatible with all religions and I have known Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and Muslims who practice yoga. Even atheists can practice without fear of religious conversion.
How Many Poses are there?
The 17th century text “Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā” claims that there are 8.4 million postures but suggests that only 32 are useful. We’ll look at about 32 poses in detail in my classes but not the same 32 that are listed in Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā. As you might expect from a tradition that emphasizes sitting in meditation, the majority of poses in the ancient texts are sitting poses. There is no mention of Dog pose or Triangle pose which we all know and love. I believe that Krishnamacharya named and introduced many of these “modern” poses early in the 20th century. Mr Iyengar’s 1964 book “Light on Yoga” gives detailed instructions on 200 poses and there are a few others that he introduced later.
While there are hundreds of postures, there are only a handful of prāṇāyāma techniques. BKS Iyengar gives detailed instructions for 14 techniques in his 1981 book “Light On Prāṇāyāma”. We’ll only look at 3 in depth in my classes.
There are even fewer meditation techniques. We’ll probably only look at 1 or 2 meditation techniques in depth.
What are all the dots and accents for in the names of the poses?
The poses and techniques all have Sanskrit names just as Judo techniques have Japanese names. Sanskrit is usually written using the Devanagari alphabet used in modern Hindi and other Indian languages. There is a standard way to represent the Devanagari script in the Roman alphabet and the dots and accents (diacritics) are used to indicate the exact spelling of the Sanskrit. For example ṭh represents the letter ठ whereas th represents थ . Without the correct diacritics you don’t know the exact Sanskrit word.
This is not important to most people but I like Sanskrit and I’ll introduce you to the Sanskrit terms and explain them in class. If there is enough interest, I’ll start a Sanskrit study group using the Pañcatantra as our source material.
Mr Iyengar
BBC article on Mr Iyengar published shortly after his death.
Alignment
If I had to summarize Iyengar yoga in a single word it would be “Alignment”. He always taught us exactly how the limbs should be aligned in every pose and was very tough on us if we were in any way sloppy in our postures.
Its hard to explain why alignment is so important but I’m going to try. If you’ve seen any “tensegrity” structures, which are usually put together with rigid objects strung together with flexible connectors, you have probably marveled that they can stay upright. It seems to defy gravity.
The human body is similar in many ways. The bones are the rigid objects and the muscles and tendons are the flexible connectors.
If you put your hand on top of your head and push it upwards, you’ll be able to lift it up an inch or so. If you slump down, you’ll be able to drop your hand noticeably. That seems to defy gravity. Yet this is how yoga poses work. In a tensegrity structure, if you move one of the components more than a tiny amount, the whole thing will collapse. That’s how important alignment is in tensegrity. It is just as important in posture.
If you spend hours slumped at a desk, think how this affects the structure of your body. The chest is collapsed and your heart and lungs are being squished and your breathing is shallow.
When I teach yoga poses I often tell students to do the poses “from the bones”. What I mean is to move the bones into the correct alignment. The rest just follows.
However, as Mr Iyengar says “The study of asana is not about mastering posture.
It’s about using posture to understand and transform yourself.” – B.K.S. Iyengar, Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health.