Haṭha yoga is a branch of the Indian tradition of yoga practice. The Sanskrit word हठ haṭha literally means «force» anti gravity yoga long island thus alludes to a system of physical techniques.

In India, haṭha yoga is associated in popular tradition with the ‘Yogis’ of the Natha Sampradaya through its mythical founder Matsyendranath. Matsyendranath, also known as Minanath or Minapa in Tibet, is celebrated as a saint in both Buddhist and Hindu tantric and haṭha yoga schools. Currently, the oldest dated text to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th century CE Amṛtasiddhi, comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of hatha are also Vajrayana Buddhist. This modern postural yoga is now colloquially termed simply as «yoga. According to Birch, the earliest mentions of haṭha yoga specifically are also from Buddhist texts, mainly Tantric works from the 8th century onwards, such as Puṇḍarīka’s Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakratantra.

While the actual means of practice are not specified, the forcing of the breath into the central channel and the restraining of bindu are central features of later haṭha yoga practice texts. Roughly around the 11th century, certain techniques which are associated with haṭha yoga begin to be outlined in a series of early texts. The Dattātreyayogaśāstra, a Vaisnava text probably composed in the 13th century CE, teaches an eightfold yoga identical with Patañjali’s 8 limbs that it attributes to Yajnavalkya and others as well as eight mudras that it says were undertaken by the rishi Kapila and other ṛishis. The Dattātreyayogaśāstra teaches mahāmudrā, mahābandha, khecarīmudrā, jālandharabandha, uḍḍiyāṇabandha, mūlabandha, viparītakaraṇī, vajrolī, amarolī, and sahajolī. Kundalinī who is said to dwell at the other end of the central channel. This text does not mention the preservation of bindu, but merely says that liberation is achieved by controlling the mind through controlling the breath. The ̣Śārṅgadharapaddhati is an anthology of verses on a wide range of subjects compiled in 1363 CE, which in its description of Hatha Yoga includes ̣the Dattātreyayogaśāstra’s teachings on five mudrās.

The Khecarīvidyā teaches only the method of khecarīmudrā, which is meant to give one access to stores of amrta in the body and to raise Kundalinī via the six chakras. The Amaraughaprabodha the three bandhas as in the Amṛtasiddhi, but also adds the raising of Kundalinī. The Śivasamhitā is a text of Śaiva non-dualism and Śrīvidyā Śāktism. It teaches all ten mudrās taught in earlier works as well as various Śākta practices, such as repeating the Śrīvidyā mantrarāja. Mallinson sees these later texts as promoting a universalist yoga, available to all, without the need to study the metaphysics of Samkhya-yoga or the complex esoterism of Shaiva Tantra. Instead this «democratization of yoga» led to the teaching of these techniques to all people, «without the need for priestly intermediaries, ritual paraphernalia or sectarian initiations.

There is no universal model of the action of hatha yoga agreed by all texts. The Haṭhayogapradīpikā is one of the most influential texts of Hatha yoga. It was compiled by Svātmārāma in the 15th century CE from earlier hatha yoga texts. These earlier texts were of Vedanta or non-dual Shaiva orientation.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika is the best known and most widely used Hatha yoga text. Chapter 3 with 130 verses discusses the mudras and their benefits. Chapter 4 with 114 verses deals with meditation and samadhi as a journey of personal spiritual growth. Amaraughasasana: a Sharada script manuscript of this Hatha yoga text was copied in 1525 CE. The text discusses khecarimudra, but calls it saranas. Hathapradipika Siddhantamuktavali: an early 18th-century text that expands on Hathapradīpikạ by adding practical insights and citations to other Indian texts on yoga.

Gheranda Samhita: a 17th or 18th-century text that presents Hatha yoga as «ghatastha yoga», according to Mallinson. Jogapradipika: an 18th-century Braj-language text by Ramanandi Jayatarama that presents Hatha yoga simply as «yoga». It presents 6 cleansing methods, 84 asanas, 24 mudras and 8 kumbhakas. Historically, Hatha yoga has been a broad movement across the Indian traditions, openly available to anyone. Hatha Yoga, like other methods of yoga, can be practiced by all, regardless of sex, caste, class, or creed. Many texts explicitly state that it is practice alone that leads to success. Sectarian affiliation and philosophical inclination are of no importance.