Haṭhapradīpikā's Success In Yoga

Dear Yogis!

I’m an improbable student at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, studying an ancient yogic text called the Haṭhapradīpikā. It’s the first text that mentions physical yoga practices. I’m wading through academic language which seems to waste words for no reason.

But I liked this paragraph which I am translating heavily!

Yoga did not develop from a single religion or tradition. It was first adapted by a number of competing ascetic movements which were pushing for change and reform, like Buddhism and Jainism. The large geographical area of India had various religions and traditions which influence and overlap each other. Judaism, Islam, and Christianity have more in common with each other than the types of Hinduism that spread across India.

This means that there is not any universally accepted monolithic Hindu tradition. It also means that yoga came up through many different traditions and religious worldviews.

I love it! Yoga styles have always adapted and adjusted for contrasting communities, some who exchanged techniques and overcame social boundaries. The Haṭhapradīpikā comes along and steps away from asceticism and meditation and says that yoga is practice, not a theory or philosophy and that the practitioner will succeed; the non-practitioner will not. Success in Yoga is not achieved by merely reading books.

Quite!

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Yoga in the news 

Yahoo! Style UK has: Sound Baths Are Perfect for People Who Hate Meditating. “Sound all around you creates a ‘bath’ of visceral sound where you can feel the frequency of sound in the deepest parts of your body. A sound bath creates a meditative state where the brain emits healing brainwaves.”

Daily Express has: Parkinson’s disease: Three 'safe' exercises to reduce risk and improve symptoms. ‘beneficial forms of physical activity… include running, dancing, traditional Chinese martial arts, yoga, and weight training. Yoga provides improvements in motor functions, mobility, balance, flexibility, and strength in upper and lower limbs, which can help reduce the fear of falls in Parkinson's patients’.