what
is
yoga?

the
tree
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about
hatha
yoga

yoga for health

About Hatha Yoga

Hatha is a Sanskrit word that means sun and moon. It is sometimes mistaken to be a style of yoga. In fact it refers to forms of yoga which work directly with the energy of the body and breath. All the various styles of yoga that use postures and breathing exercises are part of Hatha yoga. Vinyasa Krama is one of these forms.

The sun and moon symbolically represent the male and female, hot and cold, right and left - the opposites of existence. Hatha yoga works to balance these energies to achieve a potent union of opposites within the body.

We experience the interplay of opposites with every breath. As we breathe in, we expand and receive. As we breathe out, we contract and surrender. We are born and die with every breath. Between each breath is a moment of stillness, beyond the duality of opposites.

The practice of yoga is to fully experience both the breath and the stillness in which it moves. In this awareness we can experience a sense of the eternal in the ever changing world. The result is a blissful feeling of deep peace.