Popular thinking ‘in the West’ (an all-too-common expression now), is that Hatha yoga is about balancing the body and mind. With ‘ha’ representing the esoteric sun, and ‘tha’ the moon, and the practice of Hatha yoga aiming to join, yoke, or balance these two energies. A yoga class described as ‘Hatha’ will typically involve a set of physical postures (yoga poses) and breathing techniques, practised more slowly and with more static posture holds than perhaps a Vinyasa flow.
Literally however, Hatha means ‘force’ and is more traditionally defined as ‘the yoga of force’, or ‘the means of attaining a state of yoga through force’. Also in a sanskrit HATHA word is broken down into 2 words sun ( HA) and moon ( THA). Hatha yoga presents a yoga practice that balances the two energies hot (sun) , cool (moon) or light and dark.
Hatha yoga is a gentle but effective form of style where each pose ( ASANA) are held 4/6 to 10 breaths before moving to next pose.