From the Body to the Overself. Dewar Adair

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      Although modern postural hatha yoga is more of an eclectic collection from diverse sources, it is clearly very helpful as a relaxing and beneficial balance to our performance-oriented society of the 21st century.

      But if we seek a spiritual discipline in hatha yoga, we are faced with many questions. For example, how was hatha yoga practised in the past? What exactly is kundalini and how is it activated? Why do the various schools differ in the number and location of the chakras? How is pranayama correctly performed? We will probably never be able to answer these and similar questions correctly since the hatha- yogic scriptures handed down are written in a highly cryptic and enigmatic language. They allow countless possibilities of interpretation. Furthermore, as already mentioned, there is no uninterrupted tradition from that age that could elucidate for us the true meaning of the scriptures.

      Even though we may have no direct access to the original practice of hatha yoga, we can read indirectly from the scriptures how intense the practice must have been. For example, just practising pañcadhāraṇā, as described in Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā⁴, would take 10 hours. In addition, there are the dietary and various ascetic requirements. The yogis of that time had no children to look after, no profession to pursue, no aging parents to care for. They were full-time yogis who had set themselves the goal of making the breakthrough to their divine nature in this incarnation, come what may. It is not without reason that the Sanskrit word "hatha" can be translated as "powerful", "energetic", "aggressive", even "violent".⁵

      Taking all of this into account with regard to our modern world, we quickly come to the conclusion that hatha yoga raises more questions than it provides answers, and as a practicable spiritual discipline is rather unsuitable for a person of the 21st century.

      But this does not necessarily mean that the hathayogic practices, done in moderation, must completely disappear from our spiritual discipline. It is more important that these practices, especially the body and breath work, serve the original purpose, namely, to open the body from within as a preparation for meditation. We can also draw on the insights of Western pioneers such as Wilhelm Reich, Gerda Boysen and Paul Brunton to complement and deepen our spiritual practice.

      But before we turn to the subject of practice and these pioneers, it is worthwhile to give a brief overview of spirituality from a yogic perspective, so that we can better understand the overall context in which our physical practice takes place.

      “The most valuable metaphysical fruit of the quantum theory is its finding that the processes of the universe which occur in space and time, emanate from what is fundamentally not in space and time.”

      Paul Brunton