The Ha and the Tha of it all.

Hatha = 'Ha' (Sun) and 'Tha' (Moon).

Yoga = To yoke or harness or unite or bring together.

Hath Yoga is the integration of opposites - night and day.

In our feelings - (Annamaya kosha), we have the opposites of Joy and Despair.
We constantly hear about the joy of yoga - but when I look around I don't see too much evidence of it. What I do see is a great deal of compulsive behaviour and avoidance of intimacy through too much Asana practise, combined with a too busy work schedule.

Where's the joy, the peace, the bliss absolute?

Well it could just be time to get real, especially if you struggle to find happiness and contentment. The Yoga magazines and wonderful PR'd yoga centers keep telling us how great we will feel if we do yoga - and we do for a while admittedly - until the novelty wears off. Some but not all of us can be left with a feeling of despair, depression and a judgement that - yoga is rubbish and just another thing that hasn't helped us.

People need to understand that yoga is not cosmetic - but it can be - it is not a social networking event - though it can be. What it is - or seems to be - is a deeply radical system of transformation that takes no prisoners.

Now you may think I'm over reacting - but just ask yourself seriously - where do you think you are going with this practice that you are - doing - 'performing'?

Joy and despair are opposite ends of the same spectrum - and in my experience you cannot have joy - unless you are prepared to have and feel despair - but you have to remember of course that all of it is an illusion anyway - because as you may now know - underneath all of the subtleties of feeling and thought there is ananda maya kosha - bliss!

Have you felt that yet?

Despair is 'just a feeling' with bad PR. I see it as the gate way to a profound realization of what lies beyond - if you keep compulsively avoiding it - becomes something you will become terrified of - and like the dragon - it continues to guard the door to the treasure chamber.

My experience of yoga practice over the long term shows me that it is a series of yogic events leading to crisis - then from crisis into a new level of consciousness - then a new series of yoga events leading to another crisis - and on and on - all the while clearing out the dross and uploading new information from the cosmic grid.

Don't give up!

'Waiting for the miracle' Leonard Cohen.