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Tantra and Hatha Yoga

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Tantra and Hatha Yoga 1 Tantra and Hatha Yoga. A little history and some introductory thoughts: These areas of practice in yoga are really all part of the same, with Tantra being the historical development in practice that later spawned hatha yoga. Practices originating in these traditions form much of what we practice in the modern day yoga. Many terms, ideas and theories that we use come from this body of knowledge though we may not always fully realise it or understand or appreciate their original context and intent. There are a huge number of practices described that may or may not seem relevant to our current practice and interests. These practices are ultimately designed for complete transformation and liberation, but along the way there are many practices designed to be of therapeutic value to humans on many levels and without which the potential for transformation cannot happen. Historically, Tantra started to emerge around the 6th to 8th Centuries A.D. partly as a response to unrealistic austerities in yoga practice that some practitioners were espousing in relation to lifestyle, food, sex and normal householder life in general. Tantra is essentially a re-embracing of all aspects of life as being part of a yogic path; the argument being that if indeed all of life manifests from an underlying source and is therefore all interconnected then all of life is inherently spiritual or worthy of our attention. And indeed, if we do not attend to all aspects of life in our practice this can lead to problems and imbalances. This embracing of all of life includes looking at our shadows and dark sides and integrating or transforming them, ideas which also seem to be embraced in modern psychology. The idea of all aspects of life being grist for the yogic mill is a very positive one. The re-embracing of the body and all its energies paved the way for hatha yoga to develop. The idea that existed in some Vedanta and Buddhist schools that the body was a temporary vehicle to be denigrated was seem as invalid and unhelpful. And as we shall see the tantric view of the human being existing as an interrelating spectrum from consciousness through to matter that needs to be attended to on all these levels is an idea gaining more credence amongst modern western holistic practitioners ( although the framework of description may vary a little ) . 2 It’s an important concept in both tantra and hatha yoga that if we are to release ourselves from restrictive conditioning , then this has to happen within the body and the mind on all levels and not just one bit or the other; or , to use a computer analogy, if not deleted properly, the conditioning software virus will just reinstall itself via the unaddressed level. From this perspective the tantric philosophy is very complete. That said it’s a large area that we’re not going to go into much more here. The main thing is that it is the base for hatha yoga. There are different branches of it and some pretty weird practices associated with it (sitting in a graveyard on a pile of dung with a pot of burning ashes on your head – any takers?) Much tantra presented in the west focuses on sexual practices, which while part of the original tradition, is just a small part, not the whole thing. Hatha Yoga Hatha Yoga is a later development of tantra (probably around the 14th century). It’s really its own thing, but with mainly the same philosophical basis as tantra. Hatha yoga encompasses asana, pranayama, meditation and includes Patanjali’s theory although presented a little differently. The older texts mostly associated with it are the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Gheranda Samhita, and the Siva Samhita – which all broadly describe the same practices and introduce the asanas as we would recognise them properly for the first time. Most of what is taught in the modern west is a derivative of hatha yoga . If we could define it, it might be: ‘the balancing and unification of opposites to merge with a unified consciousness’. This unification and balancing of opposites is a central theme both philosophically and literally in terms of the practices. Traditionally Ha refers to the sun, male energy, left brain processes, rationality sympathetic nervous system, linear time and the right side of the body; Tha to the moon, female energy, right brain creative activity, non-linear space, intuition and the left side of the body. The practices are orientated around balancing these two opposite tendencies on many levels to head towards a unified transcendent state. Relationship of hatha yoga to other practices in yoga. We can conceive of Yoga Practice as having 2 main frameworks, or 2 parallel ways of describing the same process. These two processes are happening simultaneously. Viewed this way some of the more esoteric descriptions in Hatha 3 Yoga and Tantra seem more obviously connected to other descriptions of yoga. 1. A Mind/Psychological/philosophical model - this is the language of getting a perspective on, and deconstructing our conditioning so we can see the truth of who/what we are really are below the surface activity of the mind through the means of mind/body disciplines, philosophical inquiry and meditation. This is clearly laid out in Patanjalis Yoga Sutras and the yogic path of the Buddha. It tends to focus most on ethics, right living and meditation. 2. A Body/Energy (Prana) model - this is the language of the body both in the way we would recognise it and though subtle anatomy and the energy body - Koshas (gross and subtle forms of the body), Nadis, Chakras and Kundalini etc. This is the engagement of body and mind in practices, that revolve around removing blockages and tensions in the energy flow in the body/mind and increasing energetic concentrations and vibrations though directed awareness and/or movement. These ideas are laid out in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and Tantric texts. Both 'psychological' and 'energetic' types of practice are mentioned to one degree or another in all of the main Yoga texts as the two frameworks of practice run parallel to each other in their effects (Whether or not we are fully aware of this). They are not separate as demonstrated by there being references to subtle anatomy in the Upanishads, the Bhagavad-Gita and Patanjali as well as there being references to Atman, Purusha, Karma etc in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika and Tantric texts. 4 Main concepts, principles and dynamics of Subtle Anatomy in Tantra and the Hatha Yoga. Five Koshas ( bodies) One of the most helpful ideas in hatha yoga is that of the five koshas - The five sheaths/bodies. Five interlinked and interrelated bodies are described (see diagram and descriptions below). Essentially the principle is that we exist though an interrelating spectrum ranging from matter to pure consciousness and that all these layers are talking to each other all the time. This two dimensional diagram is only a conceptual map as the bodies are interactive. 1. Anna-Maya-kosha; our familiar physical body or 'food body' by which we navigate the material world. 2. Prana-Maya-kosha; the Prana body (Prana as Life force) is the energy field that is associated with, and sustains the physical body. It is the connecting link between the physical body and the mind and provides the field for much of traditional hatha yoga. 5 3. Mano-Maya-kosha; Lower functions of the mind - sensory input and desire, doubt and confusion. Vacillating according to the predominating Gunas in this field, Rajas (activity and stimulation) and Tamas (inertia). 4. Vijnana-maya-kosha; Higher functions of the mind - discernment and wisdom. Tends towards clarity and lucidity due to due to the predominating guna in this field - Sattva. 5. Ananda-Maya-kosha; the bliss body associated with the correct identification with Atman or pure conciousness. All the bodies support each other. As well as hatha yoga, many traditional Asian healthcare practices have similar conceptions of the human being and will consider health and wellbeing as a holistic picture. We seem to be getting there in the west also . Prana - usually translates as 'Life Force', 'that which animates', 'psycho-energy' or vitality due to its close relationship to the mind. It is referred to in the Far East as Chi or Ki. It is considered to be closely related to the breath (though it is not actually the breath) and can be influenced through breathing practices (Pranayama). There is no clear definition of prana and I have struggled over the concept and it’s sometimes English counterpart ‘energy’ . My best sense is that it is referring to the holistic picture of our anatomy, physiology and mind in interrelationship; and ‘blockages’ on any of these levels will somehow show up in our energetic sense of ourselves and how we feel . Hatha yoga certainly looks at the idea of ‘blockages’ , whether literally physically, or mentally/emotionally and how to release them . Sometimes electrical systems, circuits and batteries type analogies are used to describe prana. (Interesting that we also use terms such as 'I need to recharge my batteries' in colloquial language, to describe our experience of energy levels or lack of). Also bear in mind that there are a number of other words also denoting prana such as Shakti, prakriti ( to some extent) , kundalini . Also within our human system we have subdivisions of prana moving in different directions ( Desikachar’s Heart of Yoga chapters on breathing and pranayama describes these accessibly) For Pranayama we can reflect on the fact that the breath is the first and last animation of the body and the seemingly close relationship between the breath and differing states of mind.
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