Foundations · Reading
Hatha Yog
The Yog of the body and breath: purifying and steadying them as a way to the mind.
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.
Philosophy
Hatha Yog is the path most visible in a modern class. It works through the body: shatkarmas to cleanse it, asanas to steady it, pranayama to master the breath, and mudras and bandhas to direct prana.
The Hatha texts are clear that this is not the end in itself. The body and breath are prepared so that the mind can become still. Hatha and Raja Yog are, in that sense, two stages of one path.
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3, philosophy and foundations