The sources

Classical texts

The books this whole tradition rests on, read chapter by chapter and explained in our own words. Every practice page points back to the chapter it comes from.

• Hatha yoga (ghatastha yoga) · circa 17th century CE

  Gheranda Samhita

  A dialogue between the sage Gheranda and his student Chanda Kapali, taught in seven lessons. It calls its method ghatastha yoga — the yoga of the vessel — and treats the body as a pot to be baked into strength through cleansing, posture, seal, restraint, withdrawal, meditation and absorption.

• Hatha yoga · circa 15th century CE

  Hatha Yoga Pradipika

  Compiled by Svatmarama, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the best known manual of hatha yoga. It is a practical book: posture, cleansing, breath, seals and locks, and the states of absorption that follow. Its argument is simple — steady the body, steady the breath, and the mind becomes workable.

• Classical yoga (raja yoga) · circa 2nd century BCE - 4th century CE

  Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

  Patanjali's 196 aphorisms define yoga as the settling of the movements of consciousness. The text maps the eight limbs, the obstacles of the mind, and the progressive stages of concentration, meditation and absorption. It is the philosophical spine that hatha yoga rests against.