Currently, yoga is generally understood as hatha yoga, which over the last century has gained extraordinary popularity, first in India itself and then in the West. The peculiarity of this path of spiritual self-realization consists in carefully developed methods of influencing one’s own consciousness through improvement and complete transformation of the physical body. Within this direction, several traditions have long been established, within which many schools are developing that use original methods of working with the body and mind. However, before the publication of this book, not a single work had appeared in world science where the main schools were systematized and, what is much more significant, their philosophical foundations were revealed. Hatha yoga is not just a part of yoga, but a completely self-sufficient means of realizing the main goal of yoga, that is, yoga itself. Yoga is not just a system of Indian philosophy, but a universal means of working with consciousness, introduced in one form or another into any system of Indian philosophy, that is, philosophy in itself. Thus, Hatha Yoga in the Western sense is closer to practical philosophy, where the will dominates the mind, or "philosophy of the body", where self-awareness is mediated by the transformation of bodily functions. The book was written by a specialist in philosophy, who has been practicing Hatha Yoga for many years and conducting scientific research in India, author of practical guides to yoga and popular books on various aspects of Indian culture.