To help your body live long enough and be healthy enough for your mind to realize yoga.
To improve communications within the body by enhancing the circulation of prana (energy) and Citta (consciousness/information) through the nadis (subtle channels), thus helping us to educate, energize, nourish and heal various parts of our body.
Hatha Yoga is the yoga practice most commonly known in the west. Hatha Yoga is essentially liberation through physical transformation. The stages of Hatha Yoga are those of Raja Yoga – the 8 limbs. It focuses especially on asana, pranayama, and meditation. Hatha Yoga was first described 2000 years ago in the Yoga Yajnavalkya Samhita. Another major, and better known text is the Hatha Yoga Prandipika. A key aspect of the Hatha Yoga practices is awareness of the breath to link the body and mind in the practice. Krishnamacharya and his students were, and are still today (teachers such as A.G., Indra, and Ganesh Mohan) major components of Hatha Yoga. Students such as Iyengar, however, emphasized the asana practice more than others. Texts such as the Hatha Yoga Prandipika also advocate cleansing techniques to assist general well-being, which assists in the steadiness of body and mind and helps on the path to self-transformation.
