Foundations · Reading
Ha and Tha: Pingala and Ida
A traditional reading of the word Hatha: sun and moon, joined.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
A traditional model
Hatha literally means force or effort. A traditional reading divides the word into two syllables: Ha, the sun, and Tha, the moon.
In that reading they stand for Pingala and Ida, the solar and lunar channels, and for the active and receptive sides of every person. Hatha Yog is their yoking together. Breath practices such as Surya Bhedana and Chandra Bhedana work with each side directly.
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3, philosophy and foundations