The Five Principles of Hatha Yoga

The following are the main general principles of traditional yoga. As a holistic system, Ayurveda states that each aspect should be done in a more individualized manner and according to the season and your individual constitution (and/or imbalance) to avoid any aggravation of the doshas and promote or restore health. Ayurveda and Yoga complement each other for an overall balanced and healthy lifestyle.

1. Proper Exercise (Yoga Asanas) for Health

The physical body needs to move and exercise to maintain good health. If your lifestyle does not provide a natural motion of muscles and joints, then disease and discomfort will ensue with time, preventing you from practicing meditation. Proper exercise and asana practice should be pleasant and also beneficial to your body, mind and spiritual life. Excessive heat or a practice that is too demanding on your body can have the opposite effect and bring imbalance and disease.

2. Proper Breathing (Pranayama) for Purity of Mind

Breathing techniques help you use the lungs to their maximum capacity while you learn how to control the breath. Proper breathing should be deep, slow and rhythmical. Control of the breath means control of the mind. Pranayama also increases vitality and mental clarity. (Smoking and doing pranayama can cause serious respiratory problems and should not be done without consulting an Ayurvedic practitioner or yoga therapist.)

3. Proper Relaxation (Shavasana) for Rejuvenation

The sages and yogis of ancient India devised powerful techniques for deep relaxation. Many modern stress-management and relaxation methods borrow heavily from the yogic traditions. By deeply relaxing all the muscles, you can thoroughly rejuvenate the nervous system and attain a deep sense of inner peace. Proper relaxation should happen at the physical, mental, and spiritual levels.

4. Proper Diet (Sattvic, Vegetarian) for Purity of Body and Mind

The food you eat has a profound effect on your mind. For optimal body-mind health and spiritual progress, yoga advocates a sattvic (pure), lacto-vegetarian diet. A sattvic diet consists of food that is easy to digest, nourishing, and promotes clarity and purity of mind, such as grains, vegetables, dairy, fruit, and nuts. This type of diet supports any yogic practice. This is why it is an integral part of the traditional yogic lifestyle.

The energy of meat and meat products is both rajasic and tamasic. Eating meat makes the mind more distracted, restless and dull. Digesting meat also requires a lot of energy from your body that could be better utilized for healing and meditation, and makes you more aggressive, discontented (you have more desires), and unhealthy. Basically, eating meat and doing yoga is a contradiction in itself.

5. Meditation (Dhyana): The Aim of Yoga Practice

This is the most important point of all and the aim of the previous four points. Your mind will be slowly controlled and purified by the regular practice of meditation. It is important to keep regularity of time, place, and practice. Discipline and regularity conditions the mind to slow down its activity with a minimum of delay, thus promoting deeper states of meditation over time. Five or ten minutes daily will be more beneficial in the long run than one hour every now and then.

The first 4 yoga principles mentioned above will strongly support your meditation practice by providing the necessary tools to maintain a healthy body and mind, and attain calmness and peace, as well as discipline and inner strength.

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