​ Hata Yoga is one of the most popular types of Yoga in the world.

In western countries it's often used as a form of exercise to relax, keeping the body elastic, and improve breathing.
The word Yoga means union with our inner Self (Soul, Atma, God), but until we get that union, our ability to achieve lasting peace will be hopeless.
Meditation become just another task in our busy schedule, and rather than getting closer to our Self, we walk away from it despite all our best intentions. We expect great things from our meditations, but we realize soon that little has changed. Our time is wasted in many ways and the union remain a distant dream.

This is quite unfortunate considering that nothing is closer to us as our own Self.

Our mind, by its very nature, is unstable and always changing. Any event can potentially disrupt its fragile structure. Ideas and events unleash desires and fears that emerge in our conscious mind trying to take control of it.

Quite often people practicing Hata Yoga realize these patterns and limitations.
The unconscious mind is left free to roam around, and in spite of our best efforts, peace is fading away at the slightest issue.

To get the stability of our inner Self which is real, we need to move away from what is not real. We need to get closer to our Self, we need to use our mind to remove the obstacles, not to create new ones.

The practice of the 5 human values is powerful and effective on cleaning the mind from its own creations. [1]

Bhakti Yoga is the practice of devotion to the inner Self.
The spiritual practice (Sadhana) that we need to adopt in this Yoga is focused at surrendering the fruit of our actions, troubles , gains, losses to our Self.
In this Yoga the devote (Sadaka) becomes smaller and smaller until they escape the mind and go beyond it.

Jnana Yoga is the Yoga of wisdom or knowledge. In Jnana yoga, the mind is used to inquire into its own nature and to transcend the mind's identification and limitations. For example, the Sadaka question everything we give for granted including birth, death, until the idea of being a person (ego) is recognized as a product of imagination and rejected.
In contrast with Bhakti Yoga, in Jnana Yoga the Sadaka goes beyond the mind by becoming bigger and bigger.

Eventually both Bhakti and Jnana Yoga reach the same goal, and can be even practiced together.


[1] https://www.fempton.com/human-values​