 Hatha Yoga All of our five senses, located in the body, act as input and output instruments of perception. Through our senses we experience the world around us (input); mind is the interpreter of all those experiences and, in turn, stimulates the senses to action (output). There is often more input through senses than mind and emotions can handle. When the output of action does not balance with the input, the result can range from mild disaster to catastrophe. Hatha Yoga in its various aspects is a means to bring the input-output into balance, and to obtain a new understanding of the body as a tool that can function much beyond the limitations usually determined by our beliefs and attitudes.
YOGA AND THE WHOLE PERSON The meaning of Yoga is “union” the bringing together of the various polarities within, in order to reach a state of balance and transcend out limited vision. But Truth is approached by degrees. We have first to know the truth about ourselves. We have learned to cover up our many fears very well. In Hatha Yoga we confront our fears as well as our potentials by balancing attention between the body and the mind; for example, a person who has a neck and shoulders as unyielding as a piece of steel is probably unyielding in daily life. Asanas might loosen up the neck and shoulders temporarily, but becoming aware of the psychological implications will help to make the change more permanent. By observing and dealing with the mental-emotional process, awareness and understanding are increased. Reverence for one’s body, as for all life, is an antidote to abuse and violence. When the relatedness of the physical and the mental is better understood, the mind can function as its own therapist by shifting focus, with reprogramming as the intended choice. Through the practice of asanas, students will become aware of stress in the body and, by the use of their own minds, discover many of their problems. Changes can then be made in life by a conscious decision on the basis of will and self analysis. The inability to cope with stress, and the sense of helplessness and hopelessness that many people experience, can be counteracted by recognizing the option and applying the power of choice. Unfortunately, in the West, Yoga of any types has often been confused in the lay of person’s mind with Eastern religions or cults. Yoga is not a religion, although its practice is used by many religions to help their followers. The physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects are of utmost importance and have always been the basis on which the various Yogas, Kundalini and Hatha specifically, have been built to achieve the harmonious development of human beings. It is, however, essential to have some understanding of culture from which Yoga has sprung if one intends to work with it; other wise the “spirit” will be missed and, as a result, more harm than good may be done. Hatha Yoga is human science that takes into consideration bodily pains, poor posture, faulty breathing, and incorrect walking, teaching greater awareness of body as a whole, without separating it from the mind and the influences of all the senses. It is not a separate system from Kundalini; each has its own complexities. Since Yoga has become known in the West, the Kundalini system has been compartmentalized, often beyond recognition. This reductionist view has prevented the achievement of the promised results. Kundalini has many branches, like a tree, and Hatha Yoga is one of them. In this presentation Hatha Yoga is singled out to obtain a clearer understanding at a very basic level so that the entire system can be better appreciated. However, because human beings are so complex, various branches of Yoga must be practiced in proper combinations to help people become harmonious beings beyond the fulfillment of their immediate needs; and it takes time for the whole picture to emerge. It would be a mistake to practice Hatha Yoga, limiting it to the physical aspects only, and leave out other branches of the tree of life such as Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, or Raja Yoga. (The Bhagavat Gita mentions eighteen different Yogas.) Mantra Yoga, which is part of Bhakti, the Yoga of devotion, uses repetition of the scared sound or the Divine Name. Aspirants will often receive from their Guru (teacher) a Mantra to be practiced together with the asanas. If the mind has a higher focus such as Mantra while one is in an asana, the benefit to the body will be greater, and adverse psychological characteristics will become evident through the symbolism of the postures themselves. The asansa named after beasts, birds, reptiles, and so on, do not refer to a lower-than-human kingdom whose postural patterns they try to intimate. They are meant to remind one that the world is a place in which many living creatures have their existence. All life is scared. B.K.S. Iyengar, who has developed a rigorous and demanding yoga system, has grouped the asanas to demonstrate particular qualities of a species, with the explanation the one has to pay reverence to each, and that we should never be too proud to learn from their characteristics. Integral Yoga Sri Aurobindo’s Integral Yoga divides in seven planes. They are as follows: The centre of the lower three planes is known to us in psychological terms as Ego. I prefer to us the words Life Centre. The centre of the higher three planes is know to us by the familiar term Soul. In Integral Yoga this is called Psychic Centre. The middle plane acts as a link between the Inner Upper and Manifest Lower hemisphere of existence. The processes of ascending from life centre to Psychic Centre and descending from Psychic Centre to Life Centre is the function of the Integral Yoga. This is not an escape from the responsibilities of material existence. One who aspires to make progress through the Yoga in fact commits to two fold responsibilities.. he carried on firstly with his normal worldly duties to the best of his abilities. Secondly, he brings in the influence of higher centre slowly and gradually to his life and work.
I have described the aims if Integral Yoga without explaining its distinctive features. Why is it integral? (1) It is integral because it touches the totality of one’s being here and now and is concerned not just with communion as are most systems of Yoga, but applies equally to the problems of communication. In the midst of diversity of faiths and multiplicity of approaches, Integral Yoga seeks to remove all outward differences in order to find the whole world at a centre from where things communicate. (2) This is not an escape from the work of life but in fact a return to the world of matter with the light from above. Matter also participates in this venture of spiritual which is the central theme of Integral Yoga. It is this feature which makes this Yoga differs from most of the traditional approaches to Yoga. (3) One has to remember the important fact of this Yoga. This is not a creed or the cult of any god or goddess whatever. Sri Aurobindo says that “The perfection of the Integral Yoga will come when each man is able to follow his own path of Yoga, pursuing the development of his own nature in its upsurging towars that which transcends the nature. For freedom is the final law and the last consummation.” (4) Further Sri Aurobindo says that “ By this Yoga we not seek infinite but we call upon the Infinite to unfold himself in human life.” Most Yoga systems are concerned with Ascent, it is Integral Yoga which lays special stress on Descent. It is this aspect which elevates the person towards creation a dynamic centre of communication in which he becomes a channel for the transmission of energy from sources other than those of his own consciousness.
This book is an attempt in a humble and limited way aimed at the discovery of the New Consciousness through the use of Asanas, Pranayama (breathing), Bandhas, Mudras, Mantras and Meditation.  
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Every Man and Woman is a bridge between two worlds, the material and mental. The body is the material tangible side, subject to its own laws; the mind, which uses the body as a tool of expression (frequently violating the physical laws), has its own realm of time and space where it roams about, often undirected or misdirected. The body is material – the bones, muscles, blood, and everything that makes up the cells. The brain, too, is material. The mind, however, is immaterial and intangible; we can only become aware of it through its manifestation in thought and other functions.
The human being functions in polarity and this is expressed in the meaning of the word Hatha. Ha means “the sun, heat, light, energy, creativity, activity, passion, positive,” and the means “the moon, cool, reflective, receptive, negative.” The terms positive and negative also refer to the electrical chemical charge of body, the right side being positively charged and the left negatively. We are dealing here with two extremes: heat and cold, activity and inactivity, positive and negative. The mind also has its own polarities. Life is mainly of such a nature; we move from one extreme to the other. This takes a place because of preconceived ideas and a wider range of set opinions and assumptions. The ultimate goal of yogic practices is to be in the center.
Imposition of immortality becomes by itself a larger goal in which the race with the time is to be won. This involves adjustment of rate of decay of body cell and rate of replacement of new cells. This is done by Supramental Yoga. The problem of universalizing individuality and mentality is tackled by consciousness through its gradual development until full liberation is obtained. Transformation which is aimed has to be achieved through (1) aspiration (2) faith (3) openness (4) rejection and (5) surrender to higher influence.
The path shown to aspirants does not impose dogmatic restrictions as such. In the interpretations of teaching dogmas inevitably crop up and when they arise, they are not be observed as ours and not belonging to the Integral Yoga. The objective we keep in our view in this Toga should lead us to the growth and possession of the Divine Presence and consciousness. To love the Divine for the Divine’s sake alone, to adjust our nature into the nature of the Divine by removing the imperfections and difficulties lying in our path without laying too much stress on shadows and darkness, should be our endeavors. It is in fact the clouds of shadows which we harbor obstruct our outlets of escape into the growth of light and inner prosperity. Our endeavors should create a faith in our possibilities, faith in the Power at work at work behind us and faith in the work to be done in and around us. In ore undertaking of fulfilling the Divine mandate, one has to remember that the life remains a docile and willing vehicle in the hands of the divine. In this Yoga one accepts the view that Divine is everywhere in everything and if one finds that He, She or it is hidden, it is because we do not take the trouble to discover Him, Her or It. We accordingly take care of material things not because we are attached to it, but because its manifests something of the Divine wonder. Material wealth belongs to the Divine and those of us who are committed to serve the Divine mandate hold this wealth as trustees appointed by the Divine and not as possessors. Copyright © 2006. All Rights Reserved.