Thanks to Vicki Salisbury from Yoga in the Parlour for sharing this article.
Yoga is proven to bring plenty of physical and emotional benefits such as increased strength, flexibility, energy, and emotional balance. Modern day yoga is practically synonymous in the West as a series of asanas and posture classes that are found virtually everywhere in the world.
“Hatha Yoga takes an organic approach to turning into the body and allowing your inner teacher to guide you”
I recently travelled to West Sumatra and enjoyed participating in a yoga/gymnastics/pilates infused class filled with enthusiastic Indonesians. Then there’s Body Balance yoga in gyms, aqua yoga at the community pool, aerial, SUP, hot, pump, core, power… the list goes on! While exact statistics are hard to find, clearly yoga is booming.
So, with so many different choices and styles, what exactly is Hatha Yoga?
Hatha refers to the practice of physical yoga postures. This means your Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Iyengar and Hot Core Power Yoga classes are all based on Hatha Yoga. But, as history shows, the essence of yoga is more than physical postures.
The term Hatha actually means ‘forceful’ or ‘violent’, but it is also interpreted to indicate the union of the ‘ha’ sun (right, masculine) and ‘tha’ moon (left, feminine), which symbolically indicates the goal of the system.
The practice of Hatha Yoga unifies the two energies of the ‘ha’ and ‘tha’ and merges them into ‘susumna’ (central nadi), running in the centre of the spine from the base to the top of the head. The result is that vital breath (prana) activates and unblocks the ‘nadis’ — energetic pathways up and down the spine and throughout the body to bring balance.
Hatha Yoga takes an organic approach to turning into the body and allowing your inner teacher to guide you. The class is a dynamic and energising 75-minute flow of postures and exercises for strength, flexibility and balance. I share the foundational yoga poses of Hatha Yoga and each session includes breathing techniques and a final, deep relaxation. Students experience the tools of yoga including asana, breath, mudra, sound and meditation.
Get involved
Join Vicki for her Introduction to Hatha Yoga course, which runs over eight weeks starting on March 9. The sessions are every Wednesday from 7pm to 8.15pm at the newly opened Yoga in the Parlour at 224-226 Flinders Street East (across the road from Cactus Jack’s).
This class suitable for all levels of fitness — the postures and exercises will be adjusted according to your own level of fitness and experience. Each student is given a manual with explanations of the postures and some of the theory underpinning this ancient philosophy.
For information see the Events Calendar or www.yogaintheparlour.com
