Your friend knows your love for yoga. Please, explain the meaning of Hatha yoga and its practices.

" The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, your nature with nature" Joeseph Campbell

In general my friends understand that yoga is more than excercize. Hatha means sun and moon. We are harmonizing with both male and female polarity within ourselves.  There is a mind- body connection which carves the way for higher realization. They ask me why there are so many different styles. I tell them there are many different religions so why not in yoga. We come from many directions to reach the same goal.  In yoga we discover that way to harness our mind body and spirit. In order to achieve this union, it is first necessary to take control of the mind and remove the unnecessary stimuli and clutter that get in the way of clarity.
Yoga teaches us balance: balance of the body in relation to gravity; balance of the mind between action and observation; and balance between stress and relaxation Through a regular yoga practice we learn which poses are effective in re-establishing balance in some aspect of our existence.