Hatha Yoga: The Hidden Language, Symbols, Secrets & Metaphors

by Sivananda Radha

Long considered essential reading for Hatha Yoga students and teachers, the revised 20th anniversary edition of Hatha The Hidden Language presents 22 classical Hatha asanas with in-depth investigations into their symbolic natures. Swami Sivananda Radha explores the mythological meaning of each posture as she encourages the hatha yogi to stretch beyond the physical. Building on the classical foundations of an ancient tradition, Swami Radha brilliantly synthesizes the ancient wisdom of yoga with an understanding of psychological and spiritual facets of contemporary life. With this approach, one can penetrate the mystical messages of the asanas so that the body is truly understood as a spiritual tool. It was twenty years ago when Swami Radha first introduced the transformational Hidden Language method to students interested in going deeper with their practice. Now, with expanded instructions on how to incorporate the Hidden Language method into a personal practice, beautiful photographs by Derek Shapton and an introduction by ascent columnist, Swami Lalitananda, the 20th anniversary edition of HLHY is essential reading for the serious student of yoga. “This book contains the insights of an extraordinary woman who dared to look deeper into the practice of asana to experience wholeness, which is the essence of yoga." – Sharon Gannon, co-founder of the Jivamukti Yoga method “Swami Radha's book has been on my bookshelf since it was first published. The language of yoga, as spoken by Swami Radha, speaks to my heart.” – Amy Weintraub author and yoga teacher

Genres: Spirituality, Health

277 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Swami Sivananda Radha, born Sylvia Hellman was a German yogini who emigrated to Canada and founded Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia. She established a Western-based lineage in the Sivananda tradition and published books on several branches of Yoga.

Reviews

[Lucia · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first 90% of the book is dedicated to the postures and is quite interesting, although longish and repetitive.
The last bit is about celibacy and this is when it got extremely binary, repeating over and over how sexual attraction is something one can only have towards the opposite sex, which is something that was not even on topic at times, just mentioned with no cohesion to what was being mentioned before or after. The points of view on celibacy itself were varied, as with all other topics, so my review gets two points mainly because of it.

[Lorraine · Rating 5 out of 5]

George Harrison once quoted that life is like a drop of water on a lotus leaf. So these words were even more special, arriving in the wake of George's words:

"There is another peculiarity about the lotus which sets it apart; a drop of water on a lotus leaf has a silvery shine, reflecting the green of the leaf from below and the blue of the sky above."

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wound up mostly skimming this book. As a both a yoga teacher and a psychologist, I love reading about use of language, and I particularly enjoy myths surrounding the origins of yoga pose names. But this book is less about language per se and more about general symbolism and archetypes. It's written in a fairly rambling, repetitive manner, which is why I mostly skimmed the content. Also of note is that this book was originally published in 1987, and so its references to "Western psychology" are completely out-of-date.

[Darsh · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5
More technically written than I thought.

[Annette · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revealing book on Hatha yoga with insightful explanations of the different asanas. Each pose has a name for a reason. Thus the name of a pose has a story to tell whether it is an animal or a symbolic representation of life. Each asana was explained using psychology, physiology, or metaphors unveiling many secrets behind this Eastern tradition and why it works. "Hatha is the science of the will...Yoga is an art and the asanas are a poetic expression of that art-symbols which can unlock the truth and lead us toward the Light."