Doing Asana doesn’t mean practicing Hatha Yoga

When we see a listing of classes offered we find various ‘styles’, like Iyengar, Yin, Vinyasa etc. Unfortunately, one so called ‘style’ among them is Hatha Yoga

We live in times where the way one does physical posture practice has come to be known as ‘style’ of Yoga, that is because Asana has popularly come to be seen as Yoga. But Hatha Yoga is neither a ‘style’ of Yoga, nor a way of doing posture practice

As if that were not enough, Hatha Yoga is also perceived as a ‘gentle’ style of Yoga (a gentle way of doing postures), as opposed to physically intensive ways. Even popular website like WebMD dumbs down Hatha Yoga to ‘Gentle’ physical practice, stating – “Hatha yoga originally meant the physical practice of yoga, the poses rather than the breathing exercises.” [source: webmd.com]

Calling Hatha Yoga a posture practice is like reducing an entire 7 course meal to a plate of salad. The reasons being,

Hatha Yoga is (at least) a 1000-year-old philosophy & practice system of psycho-physical transformation aimed at Self-realization (Moksha). I do not think any of the ‘styles’ of ‘Yoga’ either aim for Self-realization or provide a complete system of transformation towards that end. This itself makes Hatha Yoga an odd term in the list of Yoga ‘styles’

Hatha Yoga is also not limited only to posture practice (Asana). Traditional Hatha teachings give five core corporal practices, namely, Shatakarma, Asana, Pranayama, Mudra, Bandha, called Hatha Kriya. These Hatha Kriyas (corporal practices) are done for mind-body refinement to reach the psychological state of Samadhi. Yogi Swatmarama, the author of Hatha Pradipika emphatically states that “the knowledge of Hatha is given only for attainment of Raja Yoga”, & Raja Yoga means Self-realization. I’ve heard many state that since modern people are not in touch with their bodies, they need Hatha Yoga. Such erroneous generalizations happen because we correlate an entire system with posture practice

3 things to do then

• If you just do asana, just say you do asana – no need to call it Hatha Yoga
• Desist from referring Hatha Yoga as a ‘style’ of Yoga
• Do not label ‘Hatha Yoga’ as a ‘gentle’ practice (even etymologically ‘Hatha’ means forceful, so, nowhere close to gentle)