The Hatha Yoga Pradipika

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Paperback

ISBN 9780971646612
$14.95

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Hardcover

ISBN 9780971646605
$24.95

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“Was just reading your wonderful Hatha Yoga Pradipika and wanted to say: Bravo! Bravo! Bravo!”

 

“Your introduction and translation of the text is a delight to read. I’m eager to teach it.”

 

“Beautifully printed and translated. Wonderful pictures, too.”

 

“Accurate and accompanied by clear pictures, this translation of an informative Sanskrit text is a very useful addition to the growing literature on Yoga in Western languages.”

 

“One of the key texts that we recommend to all of our students and graduates.”

 

“One of the key texts of yoga - I love this translation - it’s so readable and simple.”

 

“This is my first copy of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and as a beginner in yogic philosophy, I found this book easy to follow and understand. Even though I cannot read Sanskrit, I like that it is included in the text. The photos are clear and a nice addition to the text. From asanas to mudras, this book is a gem.”

 

“I would recommend the book to any serious yoga student who seeks a fuller understanding of traditional Hatha Yoga.”

 

“Utterly unbiased, straightforward, textual translation.”

 

“The translation is simple and clear; loyal to the original text. The English translation juxtapositioned with the Sanskrit text provides clear insight into what Svatmarama had in mind. You can see a lot of thought has gone into making this text clutter free and simple.”

 

“It’s like listening to the yogi himself as he lectures his disciples. Fascinating reading—and if you are a practicing yogi or yogini, you’ll find this insightful.”

 

“I spent a few months reading the Sanskrit, the English, and discussing the content of this short text at the Yoga Society of San Francisco with a world-renowned scholar of Sanskrit. We not only used Akers’ translation, but we also used two other translations. Of all the translations I have read, I have found that Akers’ translation is the most accurate.”

 

“Brian Akers has done a really good job of translating Svatmarama’s extraordinary work. The work is esoteric throughout, and with due respect for this Akers has not included a commentary. Comparing this to Hans Rieker’s famous translation, I think Akers has done a better job.”

 

“A new, crisp, no-nonsense translation of this great classic on the practice of Hatha Yoga. . . . If one, like me, holds that the work of the translator is to be as discreet as possible, then this very faithful translation is probably the best available. . . . The publisher, YogaVidya.com, also produces a version of the Gheranda Samhita, and, I am told, is working on the Shiva Samhita. Serious Yoga students watch out—these are serious translations of serious classics.”

 

“This lively and lucid translation includes the original Sanskrit. It is a must-have for any serious student or teacher.”

 

“Closest thing to a ‘source code’ that we have . . . the Hatha Yoga teachings found in popular works, including B. K. S. Iyengar’s celebrated Light on Yoga, are in no small part based on Svatmarama’s text. . . . Brian Dana Akers brings us a new translation set with the English following the Sanskrit verse by verse. His style is straightforward, clear, and elegant. . . . the people at YogaVidya.com are to be complimented for bringing this text to the general public and for doing so in a most attractive manner. This is the book you want after you have finished with the popular texts.”

 

“There is a certain magic at work here—it is as if an Indian yogi named Svatmarama has projected himself through time, expressing himself through Akers. . . . Part of the charm of Akers’s translation is that he breathes life into the ancient text by retaining its esoteric barriers and anachronisms, while at the same time clearly and simply presenting useful postures for students of Yoga. The book is well illustrated with photographs that depict a model demonstrating the postures. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is a must for serious students of Yoga, and for those of us not so serious, it is informative and entertainingly readable.”

 

“Ably translated into English by Brian Dana Akers, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the classic source book on Hatha Yoga. . . . This faithful reproduction of the crucial text features the original Sanskrit side-by-side with the exacting English translation. . . . an impressive and highly recommended reference for students and devoted practitioners of Hatha Yoga.”

 

“Written over five hundred years ago by Svatmarama, an Indian yogi, the text is considered by many a seminal work on the practice of, and theory behind, Hatha Yoga.”

Table of Contents

Introduction
Asanas
Pranayama
Mudras
Samadhi

From the Introduction

Over the last half millennium, one book has established itself as the classic work on Hatha Yoga—the book you are holding in your hands. An Indian yogi named Svatmarama wrote the Hatha Yoga Pradipika in the fifteenth century C. E. Drawing on his own experience and older works now lost, he wrote this book for the student of Yoga. He wrote this book for you.

Sample Verses

Yoga succeeds by these six: enthusiasm, openness, courage, knowledge of the truth, determination, and solitude.

Success is achieved neither by wearing the right clothes nor by talking about it. Practice alone brings success. This is the truth, without a doubt.

When the breath is unsteady, the mind is unsteady. When the breath is steady, the mind is steady, and the yogi becomes steady. Therefore one should restrain the breath.

As salt and water become one when mixed, so the unity of self and mind is called samadhi.

He who binds the breath, binds the mind. He who binds the mind, binds the breath.

Center the self in space and space in the self. Make everything space, then don’t think of anything.

Empty within, empty without, empty like a pot in space. Full within, full without, full like a pot in the ocean.

Don’t think of external things and don’t think of internal things. Abandon all thoughts, then don’t think of anything.

About the Author

Brian Dana Akers began practicing Yoga at age twelve, learning Sanskrit at seventeen, and working in publishing at twenty-three.