Hatha yoga
[3][4] Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon.
Some of the early hatha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women rajas – menstrual fluid).
[3] Two early hatha yoga techniques sought to either physically reverse this process of dripping by using gravity to trap the bindhu in inverted postures like viparītakaraṇī, or force bindu upwards through the central channel by directing the breath flow into the centre channel using mudras (yogic seals, not to be confused with hand mudras, which are gestures).
[8] Later Nāth as well as Śākta texts adopt the practices of hatha yoga mudras into a Saiva system, melding them with Layayoga methods, without mentioning bindu.
According to the Indologist James Mallinson, some haṭha yoga style techniques practised only by ascetics can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Sanskrit epics (Hinduism) and the Pali canon (Buddhism).
[a] In the Mahāsaccaka sutta (MN 36), the Buddha mentions how physical practices such as various meditations on holding one's breath did not help him "attain to greater excellence in noble knowledge and insight which transcends the human condition."
[9] The term haṭha yoga was first used in the c. 3rd century Bodhisattvabhūmi, the phrase na haṭhayogena seemingly meaning only that the bodhisattva would get his qualities "not by force".
[10] The earliest mentions of haṭha yoga as a specific set of techniques are from some seventeen[b] Vajrayana Buddhist texts, mainly tantric works from the 8th century onwards.
[10][4] In Puṇḍarīka's c. 1030 Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra, haṭha yoga is for the first time defined[10] within the context of tantric sexual ritual:[4] when the undying moment does not arise because the breath is unrestrained [even] when the image is seen by means of withdrawal (pratyahara) and the other (auxiliaries of yoga, i.e. dhyana, pranayama, dharana, anusmrti and samadhi), then, having forcefully (hathena) made the breath flow in the central channel through the practice of nada, which is about to be explained, [the yogi] should attain the undying moment by restraining the bindu [i.e. semen] of the bodhicitta in the vajra [penis] when it is in the lotus of wisdom [vagina].
[4][10] The c. 11th century Amṛtasiddhi is the earliest substantial text describing Haṭha yoga, though it does not use the term; it is a tantric Buddhist work, and makes use of metaphors from alchemy.
[6][11] The text teaches mahābandha, mahāmudrā, and mahāvedha which involve bodily postures and breath control, as a means to preserve amrta or bindu (vital energy) in the head (the "moon") from dripping down the central channel and being burned by the fire (the "sun") at the perineum.
[8] These techniques sought to either physically reverse this process (by inverted postures like viparītakaraṇī) or use the breath to force bindu upwards through the central channel.
[3] In contrast to these, early Nāth works like the Gorakṣaśataka and the Yogabīja teach a yoga based on raising Kundalinī (through śakticālanī mudrā).
Then, in later Nāth as well as Śākta texts, the adoption of haṭha yoga is more developed, and focused solely on the raising of Kundalinī without mentioning bindu.
[8] Mallinson sees these later texts as promoting a universalist yoga, available to all, without the need to study the metaphysics of Samkhya-yoga or the complex esotericism of Shaiva Tantra.
Instead this "democratization of yoga" led to the teaching of these techniques to all people, "without the need for priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia or sectarian initiations.
[23] The text lists 35 great yoga siddhas starting with Adi Natha (Hindu god Shiva) followed by Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath.
[45][46] Yoga as exercise, of the type seen in the West, has been greatly influenced by Swami Kuvalayananda and his student Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who taught from 1924 until his death in 1989.
Section 1.16 of the Haṭha yoga Pradipika, for example, states these to be utsaha (enthusiasm, fortitude), sahasa (courage), dhairya (patience), jnana tattva (essence for knowledge), nishcaya (resolve, determination) and tyaga (solitude, renunciation).
[50] In the Indian and Tibetan traditions, Haṭha yoga integrates ideas of ethics, diet, cleansing, pranayama (breathing exercises), meditation and a system for spiritual development of the yogi.
[3][55][56] Mallinson, however, disagrees and suggests that such fringe practices are far removed from the mainstream Yoga's goal as meditation–driven means to liberation in Indian religions.
[58] The mainstream practice considered the pursuit of magical powers as a distraction or hindrance to Haṭha yoga's ultimate aim of spiritual liberation, self-knowledge or release from rebirth that the Indian traditions call mukti or moksha.
[62] Verses 1.57 through 1.63 of the critical edition of Haṭha Yoga Pradipika suggests that taste cravings should not drive one's eating habits, rather the best diet is one that is tasty, nutritious and likable as well as sufficient to meet the needs of one's body and for one's inner self.
The text states, according to Mallinson, "food should be unctuous and sweet", one must not overeat and stop when still a bit hungry (leave a quarter of the stomach empty), and whatever one eats should please Shiva.
Its texts vary in specifics and number of cleansing methods, ranging from simple hygiene practices to the peculiar exercises such as reversing seminal fluid flow.
[67] Prāṇāyāma is made out of two Sanskrit words prāṇa (प्राण, breath, vital energy, life force)[68][69] and āyāma (आयाम, restraining, extending, stretching).
For example, Haṭha yoga pradipka in section 2.71 explains it as a threefold practice: recaka (exhalation), puraka (inhalation) and kumbhaka (retention).
[88] Most of the early asanas are inspired by nature, such as a form of union with symmetric, harmonious flowing shapes of animals, birds or plants.
The aim was to access amṛta (the nectar of immortality) situated in the head, which subsequently floods the body, in contradiction with the early Haṭha yoga goal of preserving bindu.
[98] According to Guy Beck – a professor of Religious Studies known for his studies on Yoga and music, a Hatha yogi in this stage of practice seeks "inner union of physical opposites", into an inner state of samadhi that is described by Haṭha yoga texts in terms of divine sounds, and as a union with Nada-Brahman in musical literature of ancient India.
