The problem is you have not trained your body and mind. Sitting down on the floor, you realize in what state your body is. Hatha yoga means keeping everything in the system flowing. If you do the right kind of hatha yoga, you will live long, because you do not allow death to crop up in your system. Otherwise, rigor mortis is slowly creeping in – slowly, the body is becoming stiff.

Hatha yoga can lead to asana siddhi. If you attain to asana siddhi, your body becomes still.

Hatha yoga can make meditation a joy. Likewise, if you train your mind to stay focused on something, meditation will be effortless. If both your body and your mind are well-trained, meditation will not be difficult. Hatha yoga can lead to asana siddhi. If you attain to asana siddhi, your body becomes still.

Stillness is of many different levels. If you become totally still, you are in meditation, without any effort. The only effort is managing to sit in one place and to keep your mind where you want it. Right now, both the body and the mind are not listening to you – they are hopping all over the place. If I make you sit here for one-and-a-half hours, your legs will be telling their own story. If I make you sit for two hours or more, your bladder will be telling its own story. You will not care about heaven or enlightenment anymore – there will be only one place you want to go. For some people, it is food; for others, it is sexuality or some other physical compulsion that rules their lives. Once these compulsions come up, everything else gets obliterated. There are many ways to fix this.

Breaking Compulsions

Once, a young woman was in a cinema. While the movie was on, she went to the bathroom. When she came back, she tapped a man who was sitting at the end of the row on the shoulder and asked him, “Did I step on your toes when I left?” He said, “Yes,” thinking she wants to apologize. She said, “Well, then this is my row.” People display compulsions in so many different ways. When you have a body, some compulsions are there – you have to eat, sleep, go to the bathroom, and things like that – but that should not determine the direction of your life.

One meaning of the word hatha is being adamant. No matter if your body, mind, emotions, or your family like it or not, you get up in the morning and do your hatha yoga.

One meaning of the word hatha is being adamant. No matter if your body, mind, emotions, or your family like it or not, you get up in the morning and do your hatha yoga. It takes a certain adamancy to break the compulsiveness of your physical body. The body has a million years of evolutionary history behind it. It has its own tendencies, intentions, and compulsions. It will not give in easily.

At the ashram, generally, there are two meals a day. Between the first meal at ten o’clock in the morning and the second one at seven o’clock in the evening, people get hungry. They come and sit in the Biksha Hall for dinner. The volunteers serve and once the food is in front of you, you want to eat. But you wait for everyone to be served, then everyone does an invocation together, and only then you eat. All this is part of hatha yoga. You are adamant about not only keeping the body aware but the mind too. The physical needs of the body are still there, but you slowly overcome the compulsiveness. If there is no compulsiveness in your system and you sit here, without the need for instructions, you are in meditation. What you are trying to work through are the compulsive cycles of karma. It may take a certain amount of time and effort to break all compulsiveness by using your body alone, but it is a fantastic thing to do.

Hatha yoga is not just about bending and twisting the body. Essentially, it is about consciously working towards eliminating all that is compulsive in us – compulsions that we have carried on over millions of years of evolution. What distinguishes human beings and animals, or, in other words, the essence of being human is the possibility to move from compulsiveness to consciousness. Only if you transcend your compulsiveness completely, are you a full-fledged human. Otherwise, you are not a human being, you are a human becoming. We could call it “Project Human.”

Editor’s Note: Isha Hatha Yoga programs are an extensive exploration of classical hatha yoga, which revive various dimensions of this ancient science that are largely absent in the world today. These programs offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore Upa-yoga, Angamardana, Surya Kriya, Surya Shakti, Yogasanas and Bhuta Shuddhi, among other potent yogic practices.

Find Hatha Yoga Program Near You