An interpretation of hatha yoga as a practice of embodiment:

A practice of embodiment which emphasizes the process of knowing oneself intimately and experientially through one s body. Embodiment it is definite as a deepening of interior awareness, sensation, feeling, and kinesthetic conosciusness as a way of knowing how all of the dimensions of the self-physical, emotial, cognitive and spiritual- are expressed through the body interdependently. In hatha yoga, this practice leads to an embodied illumination that is not merely a mind-transcending state but illumines the body itself; the body is experienced as the body of the divine. In this system, embodiment can be interpreted both as an evolved state of being and as the process of getting there.
A key word is “permeating” penetratring through the pores or spaces or spreading this troughout.
Embodiment can be understood as the process of exploring what in the yogic model is considered as the layers of embodied being.
Hatha yoga as a practice of embodiment, a new yogic techniques. Two peoples may do the same asana; however, the difference in their experiences is shaped by how they perceive and conceive of what they are doing.

• Hatha yoga as bodily practice can be viewed as a way of exploring. Cultivating, observing, transforming, and knowing all aspects of oneself as expressed through the body.
• The primary techniques of hatha yoga- asana (postures), pranayama (breath extension), dritis (focused gaze), bandhas (containment of internal energy), mantra (sound), and svadayaya (self-observation or stoudy).
• Through the techniques of hatha yoga, there is a release of inhibiting patterns manifest in the bodymind and the development of awareness grounded in the changing sesations of the body.
• The techniques of hatha yoga enable the practitioners to naturally ease the dominance of verbal/mental activity to experience a non-verbal state of embodied awareness.
• The awareness developed through the techniques of hatha yoga extends throughout the body from the surface into the interior.
• The practice of hatha yoga can thus be seen as a practice of embodiment that permeates the body with consiusness.
• That embodied consiusness is cultivated during the practice as a tool for self-awareness in everyday life.

from Thesis: Hatha yoga as a Practice of Embodiment
Shiva Rea Bailey