When we talk about meditation and yoga, a specific type of yoga usually comes to mind, which for those who have never practiced it and are not involved in the world of yoga or are yogis, is called hatha yoga. It is, so to speak, the typical yoga for meditation and the most practiced (or one of them).
When Hatha yoga is practiced, postures are performed or as it is called in the yogi world “asana” that provide among many other benefits to those who practice it, they are those of having greater body flexibility, better concentration, more resistance and greater strength, elasticity, more firmness in the muscles and a better body correction. All this, at general levels, would be what is achieved at the corporal level. Obviously, there are more factors, such as personal factors, satisfaction, well-being, happiness, complicity, etc.
Hatha yoga was created around the 15th and 16th century and the person who “invented” it (by the way, Suatmarama) was based on tantric angels. In order for you to put yourself in the situation a little and to know a little what “tantric angels” means, it is necessary to say and explain (briefly) that it is basically about finding balance, love and tantric. All this, exploring it yourself or with your partner, letting yourself go and finding yourself in the depths of his being.
If we take all this into account and commenting that it is a very gentle type of yoga (and not like other specialties that are somewhat more intense) it becomes even more famous because it can be practiced by any type of person, of any age.
Instructions
- When you start practicing hatha yoga you should know that it is a type of yoga that is very involved with transitions. What does this mean? They will go from one asana to the next and so on. What, translated, has been, that passes from one posture (exercise) to another. There are no breaks.
- Something that they will always teach you and tell you in class is that breathing(along with concentration) will be vital. It is very important to breathe deeply and do it correctly. Think that breathing and meditation are things that go almost hand in hand.
- It will be just as important to be breathing correctly and adequately at all times as it is to know how to meditate and try to leave your mind blank throughout the session. If you take your problems with you while practicing hatha yoga, it will show. It will be reflected in the asana and you will not relax properly.
- In this type of yoga, they focus mainly on the spiritual and corporal part. Both together, they help to greatly enhance the physical state with those spectacular postures and so complicated for many (which take many years of work to achieve and a lot of concentration), together with the gestures (mudras are very important), the breaths that we mentioned, the movements, leaving the mind clear and free of worries and thoughts, the level of consciousness, reaching maximum relaxation, feeling free and better.
- You will have to learn (which will be easy if you practice it regularly) some words that you will not stop hearing with hatha yoga. For example, the most recurrent words will be: Mudras(referring to gestures), Banda’s (referring to the locks of the body itself), Pranayama’s (referring to breathing).
- Something that many people (or almost all) agree on when they have been practicing yoga for some time, is that they feel much more relaxed, at peace with themselves and above all, with others. They see things differently. It is very good for them to disconnect from everything and everyone while they practice yoga, they feel peace, they do not think about anything, they improve themselves day by day with the practice of new or more complicated figures, they feel healthier, more agile, without pain or many of them are disappearing over time at the level of muscles and elasticity.
- When you perform different movements or exercises(called asana) you will realize that you move practically the whole body or that at least, in most of them, many different parts of the muscles will be launched where you will begin to work and strengthen them. When you start with a null base, you will go from more to less, little by little. You do not want to force the machine and start with very complex figures because they will not only be impossible for you to perform, but surely, you will end up injuring yourself.
- You will notice with the practice of yoga if you manage to breathe properly (it is not easy, but with patience and calm and a lot of perseverance, you can achieve it) get rid of a lot of stress, if not everything.
- When you advance with yoga, you reach a level of pure contact with your inner “I”. You will get to know yourself much better, you will listen to yourself, you will relax, you will see things from another prism and only when that begins to happen, you will know that you are a yogi and that as they call it, you have united your (ha) and your (that).
- Something that should be clear to you when you decide to start with Hatha yoga is its philosophy. In this type of yoga, the holistic world is combined. That is to say, they will combine the physical part with all the exercise of the movements and the exercises with the most yogic part that is said (yogic) that is the mudras and a great binomial is made with the spiritual part. Both spiritual, such as relaxation, meditation and without fail, breathing.
- If you want to study the philosophy of yoga a little more and know where to start, the first thing that will be taught to you will be the different stages or branches that it has. That is, you should know and know that there are a total of five types or paths to Yoga as such. Those five variants are raja yoga, bhakti yoga, Janna yoga, karma yoga and hatha yoga(which we are talking about). Of course, each branch means one thing and has its meaning. We tell you very briefly.
- Bhakti yoga refers to love. Janna yoga means knowledge and wisdom. Raya yoga is the mind. Karma yoga is love towards others, but in a selfless way. And hatha yoga refers to the exercise part, the physical state.
- Always try, if you want to do real hatha yoga, that this is the original and not the one that seems to be more abundant in gym rooms. The original, the true, is what we have told. The combination not only of the physical part (which of course is important), but also of the mental part and, of course, of breathing. If you realize that you are practically doing exercises, with the physical part and that there is hardly anything else, you are not doing hatha yoga. Don’t be fooled.
- One of the most frequently asked questions is always the same: can I do it myself? Depending on the ages. And the answer is practically the same, yes. The advantage is that it can be done by anyone; obviously, it will depend on the physical state, being able to do more or less asana or more or less complicated. But everyone can practice it.
- Hatha yoga comes from India and the fundamentals clearly say that the most important thing is breathing and the level of consciousness.
- The most famous postures and those that are most practiced with hatha yoga are those of the cobra, the camel posture, the grasshopper, the bow, the triangle, the tree, the child, the corpse pose, the posture lotus etc.
- If you are worried about how the yoga sessions and/or classes will be, don’t worry. In general, they will always start with breathing; they will go through a warm-up that is vital to prevent you from suffering injuries. Surely, you will warm up with a posture called sun salutation, you will continue with the postures (the so-called asana) but they will be of torsion, flexion, extension and lateral inclination, relaxation and meditate. They are always the same pillars and, in fact, if this is not the case, do not trust them because it is essential to perform these exercises to not only be sure that you will not suffer injuries, muscular overloads, impingement, sprains… but also to obtain a greater release of stress and relaxation.
What do you need
- Comfortable clothes.
- Water to hydrate.
- Towel.
- a mat
Tips
Translated hatha yoga would come to say something like “the feminine energy of the moon” and also “the sun”. In other words, taking both concepts, it would be translated as the combination of the feminine part with the masculine part, intuition, the rational, cerebral part, reason… the feminine part and the masculine part, mixed.
If your level in yoga is little or rather nil, if you have never practiced it, do not worry. Start with Hatha yoga, which is the simplest and as you progress and become more familiar with it, you will be able to see what other modalities (or not) you like or want to try. To begin with, the most recommended would be this one. Because of its simplicity and little complexity for beginners, although don’t be fooled. Over the years and with experience, there are many yoga fans that perform spectacular and very complicated movements for the rest of us mortals.
