Hatha yoga

Hatha yoga (Skt. haṭha-yoga; Tib. དྲག་ཤུལ་སྦྱོར་བ་ or བཙན་ཐབས་ཀྱི་རྣལ་འབྱོར་, Wyl.drag shul sbyor ba or btsan thabs kyi rnal 'byor)—a system of physical exercises and breathing control used in yoga.

The scholar James Mallinson has traced the origin of hatha yoga back to a text called the Amritasiddhi, which he asserts, contrary to earlier beliefs, to have been written in a Buddhist milieu. He then asserts that we can trace the origin of hatha yoga further back to sexual yogas found in the buddhist tantras. One of the earliest instances of the word hatha yoga can be found in the Guhyasamaja Tantra. James Mallinson quotes the Vimalaprabha to provide a definition of hatha yoga:

"Now haṭhayoga is explained. In this system, when the undying moment does not arise because the breath is unrestrained [even] when the image is seen by means of withdrawal (pratyāhāra) and the other [auxiliaries of yoga, i.e. dhyāna, prāņāyāma, dhāraṇā, anusmṛti and samādhi), then, having forcefully (haṭhena) made the breath flow in the central channel through the practice of nāda, which is about to be explained, [the yogi) should attain the undying moment by non-vibration through restraining the drops of bodhicitta [i.e. semen] in the vajra [i.e. penis] when it is in the lotus of wisdom [i.e. vagina). That is haṭhayoga.”

Alternative Translations

• Fierce yoga
• Forceful yoga