The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, compiled by the yogi Svatmarama probably in the fifteenth century CE, is the single most influential manual of hatha yoga and the text on which the Hatha Yoga discipline described here is anchored. It draws together older tantric and yogic material, much of it associated with the Nath tradition and the semi legendary teachers Matsyendranath and Gorakshanath, into a structured curriculum. The text opens by naming hatha yoga a preparatory discipline whose purpose is to still the body so that raja yoga, meditative absorption, becomes possible, rather than treating physical mastery as an end in itself. Its four chapters cover asana, seated and postural forms meant to steady the body for long practice; pranayama, breath retention and regulation said to govern the vital force, prana; mudra and bandha, physical locks and seals meant to direct that force along the subtle channels, or nadis, toward the central Sushumna and up through the chakras; and a concluding treatment of nada, inner sound, and samadhi, absorption.
A related section, common to the wider hatha corpus and elaborated further in the later Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita, describes shatkarma, six cleansing techniques for the digestive and respiratory passages, prescribed before the subtler practices are attempted. The text repeatedly warns that its more advanced techniques, especially breath retention and the raising of kundalini, require gradual progress under a qualified teacher rather than self directed effort.