Hatha-Yoga: Its Context, Theory and Practice

Many thousand of people throughout the world claim to practise some form of yoga, but the philosophical background of this ancient discipline is frequently either neglected or subjected to oversimplification and misrepresentation. This has been especially true of hatha-yoga (literally the 'forceful yoga'), the tradition most closely associated with the performance of postures (asanas), cleansing practics (Karmani or kriyas) and techniques that involve altering the breathing rhythm and flow of 'vital energy' (pranayama). In this study, philosopher and hatha practitioner Mikel Burley place the soteriological system of hatha-yoga within its proper context, drawing attention to its cintinuity with Vedic religion, its initiatory pedagogical structure, and to the theoretical underpinnings of hatha practice.