Instructing Hatha Yoga

Instructing Hatha Yoga is not half as hard as it sounds.



Then again, it isn’t as easy as it is made out to be either. Nowadays, you find any number of Yoga institutes and centers, not to mention ashramas, mushrooming pell-mell all over the place. Sadly, not all of them are well-acquainted with the nitty-gritties of Hatha Yoga.



If you want to be a Hatha Yoga Instructor, you must acquaint yourself with all the facts first.

Hatha yoga is also called Hatha Vidya. It is the specific system of Yoga that was, centuries ago, introduced by the sage Yogi Swatmarama – the 15th century to be precise – in India. He is also credited with being the compiler of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.



In this vast and long treatise Yogi Swatmarama refers to Hatha Yoga as 'a stairway to the heights of Raja Yoga'. For this reason, it is considered a preliminary stage of physical purification, one which renders the body fit for the practise of higher meditation.

The word Hatha is a formed from the words Ha and Tha – they literally mean the sun and the moon respectively. They are said to refer to the principal Nadis (energy channels) of the Sukshma Sharira (subtle body) that have to be totally an completely operational if one is to reach the state of dhyana or Samadhi. The Yogis of yore used to physically train their bodies for long spells of meditation through the practise of the Asanas and Pranayamas prescribed in Raja Yoga. In other respects, too, Hatha Yoga sticks to the selfsame principles of the Raja Yoga of Patanjali. These include Yama (moral restraint) and Niyama (spiritual observances). Most people in the West associate Hatha Yoga with the word "Yoga" and practice it for mental and physical well-being.

Hence the growing need for Hatha Yoga Instructors. A lot of Yoga institutions conduct Hatha Yoga Teacher’s Training courses. The fees are not too high. But the courses are rigorous and one has to be prepared to submit oneself to obedience and surrender to the teacher.