Hatha Yoga Pradipika

Svatmarama's Hatha Yoga Pradipika (c. 14th–15th century) — the foundational manual of India's physical cultivation tradition and the most widely transmitted classical yoga text in the world. Where the Charaka Samhita and Ashtanga Hridaya gave us Ayurvedic medicine, this fills the remaining gap: the Indian tradition that treats the body itself as the site of practice. Eight modules cover posture as 'steady and comfortable', moderation in diet and living, the body-map of prana and the nadis, and concentration and absorption — closing with a cross-tradition comparison against Chinese breath regulation, guiding-and-pulling exercise, and the conservation of essence. Bilingual (Chinese lectures + English teaching), with Chinese MP3 narration. (This series is intellectual history, not a practice guide. The six purifications (shatkarma, including gastric and nasal lavage) and breath retention (kumbhaka) described in the original carry real risk without qualified in-person instruction; they are not taught here and no procedures are given — module five explains that decision.)