What Is Hatha Yoga?

Recently, a student asked me what Hatha Yoga truly means.

Many of us come to yoga for the physical benefits—strength, flexibility, balance—and for long-term health and well-being. Yet yoga offers something deeper and more lasting, Hatha yoga is considered a science, a very important science for all humanity.

The word yoga means union or yoking together. Through practice, we cultivate resilience, awareness, and a sense of presence. These skills are not limited to the mat; they become tools we carry into daily life.

On the mat, we learn to pay attention—to movement, to breath, and to the landscape of our thoughts, emotions, and sensations. In doing so, we practice being fully present in both mind and body, experiencing moments of union.

Yoga practices vary widely. Different styles use synchronized combinations of posture, breath, rhythm, and focus to cultivate specific qualities and benefits. While the outer forms may differ, the inner intention remains the same.

According to early yogic texts, particularly the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the body’s organs and systems do not subsist solely on food and vitamins. The primary source of vitality is prana, expressed through complementary forces—often described as positive and negative, solar and lunar, active and receptive.

The word Hatha itself reflects this balance:

Ha — solar, warming, activating energy

Tha — lunar, cooling, calming energy

Hatha Yoga is the science of harmonizing these forces within the body and mind. When balance is restored, clarity arises naturally, creating the conditions for health, steadiness, and inner awareness.

This Sunday, December 21, 2025, we reach a meaningful moment in the calendar—the Winter Solstice.

It marks the shortest day of the year and the longest night, a powerful threshold inviting gentle yoga, reflection, and renewal.

To experience the deeper meaning of HATHA YOGA in modern days.

I invite you to join me this Sunday at 9:00 AM EST as we build a sanctuary for practice and intention setting. This is a time to pause, listen inward, and plant seeds for the season ahead—seeds placed in the most fertile, dark soil of the year, where transformation quietly begins.

Asato mā sad gamaya

Tamaso mā jyotir gamaya

Mṛtyor mā amṛtaṁ gamaya

Lead us from the unreal to the real,

from darkness to light,

from fear to remembrance of what is eternal.

May the stillness of this longest night nourish your roots,

and may the returning light rise gently within you.

• REGISTER - DECEMBER 21

• SUNDAY WINTER SOLSTICE -