All the methods of Hatha Yoga are meant for gaining success in the Raja-Yoga.
Practically in every esoteric teaching there was a special system assigned to work with the physical body — one of the differences between esotericism and religion. Gymnastics of Hermes, wushu, styles of Qigong, whirling dervishes, Zikri, Zongshen — the gymnastics¹ of Vietnamese monachs, breathing practices of Hesychasts and so on. Although the most developed and sophisticated, as well as probably the most ancient of them is Hatha yoga.
What is the sense of work with the physical body within an esoteric tradition? Just to strengthen it in order to prepare for more difficult psychical exercises? Maybe, but then you don’t need such refined exercises. The ordinary gymnastics, invented by Greeks (almost all nations had its analogues), perfectly strengthens our body. Healing the body? Indeed yoga has its therapeutic effect, but not as a chief aim. Already many centuries ago yoga was said to be for strong and healthy people. Not to mention that medical treatment (Tibetan medicine) gives outstanding results and demands from patient much less efforts. Maybe its objective is to attain extraordinary physical capacities: force, flexibility, stamina? Nonsense, of course, if you are not going to make a career as a circus acrobat… Then what is the sense of physical training within esoteric traditions? What is the most important for us, what is the sense of Hatha?
To answer this question let’s remember that yoga is a system, aimed at the conscious changing of a person, at the self-change, conscious restructuring of our psyche, of our subtle bodies. But human’s psyche is difficult to study — to say nothing about our subtle bodies, even more difficult to work with, because a common person cannot see them. This is when we can use the connection between our physical body and our subtle bodies along with our psyche. Our physical body becomes a clue to all the processes that take place in our subtler bodies.
Indeed our physical body is the reflection of our subtle bodies. Whatever is below is similar to that which is above. But unlike subtle bodies, our physical body can be touched and seen. All processes happening in our subtle bodies are reflected in our physical body. So that all possible problems of our psyche, of our ether and astral bodies are reflected in the stature of our physical body in the form of physical constraints: contractions, curvatures of the spine — they show our state of chakral system and in the limit — our diseases².The contrary is also true: by influencing our body, we influence our psyche. That’s what Hatha is about, that was its place and objective in the system of Yoga.Do the objectives of yoga change? I think we can definitely answer «yes». Psychologically a modern European is completely different from a Hindu. We are people «living by our head», while Hindu were to greater extent sensitive, living mostly by their feelings and emotions. This makes our ways to the spiritual harmony different: for Hindu this way had to do with the «lifting» the energy (here’s where Kundalini comes from), while for us it is putting it down, developing our physical sensitivity.
That is why using Indian practices automatically, without adapting them to our modern cultural and historic conditions is a false way, leading away from the harmony and turning yoga itself — an exceptionally rational and pragmatic system — into a religion.
1. I conventionally call it «gymnastics», for the lack of more appropriate term. In fact all the listed techniques are fundаmentally differ (even in the way of looking) from what Greeks used to call «gymnastics». ↑
2. For more details and schemes of this correspondеnce see my book «Psychodiagnostics of Chakras» ↑.