> Hatha Yoga is an oxymoron.
Is there some latter-day thinking that differs from the following excerpt?
The most comprehensive text of hatha yoga is the Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Yogi Swatmarama. This work is nonetheless derived from older Sanskrit texts on yoga besides Yogi Swatmarama’s own yogic experiences. It includes information about shatkarma (purification), asana, pranayama (subtle energy control), chakras (centers of energy), kundalini (instinct), bandhas (muscle force), kriyas (techniques; manifestations of kundalini), shakti (sacred force), nadis (channels), and mudras (symbolic gestures) among other topics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga
Your comments will be appreciated.
Yoga is one of the six traditional systems of Indian philosophy - Nyaya, Vaisheshika, Sankhya, Yoga, Karma Mimamsa, and Vedanta - and, despite what the “writer of the wikipedia” article says, the Yoga Darshana of Patanjali is the accepted text, and the ONLY accepted text, for this system.
Verse two of chapter one of this document states, “Yogaschittavriddhinarodhah,” which, translated into English from the original Sanskrit, is, “Yoga is the cessation of the modifications of the mind.”
Period.
End of story.
Deep in the body of the text, yogasanas (flexibility positions)are mentioned as an ancillary technique - one of eight - for the achievement of this end.
They are NOT yoga, nor can they be equated with same; they are, at BEST, a more or less useful tool for exercising the body between bouts of meditation.
Please refer all further questions to this document, an excellent translation of which is offered by State University of New York Press; I’m getting a little tired of this (very) old thread.