History of Yoga

The Beginning

While some believe that yoga derived from the Hindu religion, that’s simply not true. Yoga origins predate Hinduism by literally thousands of years. The Vedas, which are ancient Sanskrit literary texts, featured drawings of people in meditation poses. Rough dating of these texts goes back as far as 8,000 years. Vedic scholars suggest that approximately 4,000 years ago, the definition of yoga became the “joining, yoking or uniting of mind to truth”.

Pantajali

Scholars believe that the Indian sage Pantajali established the foundation of classical yoga. He studied the ancient yogis and developed the text, Raja Yoga Sutras in the second century B.C. as a way to explain the yogis’ findings.

The physical demonstration of yoga that most of us are familiar with, the asanas, are but one of a series of eight steps outlined in the Yoga Sutras to join the physical, astral, and casual bodies.

The eight steps are:

1. Yamas: explores truth and morals
2. Niyamas: contentedness
3. Asanas: concentrated poses
4. Pranayama: using breath as energy
5. Pratyahara: withdrawal of the senses
6. Dharana: focused mind
7. Dhyana: meditation with intent
8. Samadhi: achieving the higher consciousness

Major Yoga Branches

As yoga evolved, five distinct paths developed. Each has a focus on spirituality, which probably causes the confusion that yoga is a religion. However, while the history of yoga is steeped in divine exploration and the acceptance of universal truth, yoga as method is more of a practical aid for an individual to use to achieve these pursuits.

• Hatha Yoga: Developed by sages in the 15th century, it focuses on preparing the body physically to receive the mental and spiritual benefits of practice.
• Karma Yoga: This branch involves selfless service and purification of the mind.
• Jnana Yoga: Considered the most difficult yoga path, it explores levels of spiritual knowledge.
• Bhakti Yoga: This is the devotional path, allowing the yogi to intensify his or her personal relationship with God as defined individually.
• Raja Yoga: A more scientific perspective, it involves building awareness beyond the conscious mind through concentration on the Yoga Sutras.

Modern Yoga is Reborn Through Tirumalai Krishnamacharya

For many centuries, the people of India, Japan, China, and other countries following Eastern philosophies expanded and examined yoga practices. But, in the 1600s, as cultures were exposed to integration, many of the old theories of yoga faded away. In certain circumstances, yogic ideas lost meaning altogether, to the point that people considered yoga outdated and unprogressive. Many societies wanted nothing to do with it. Colonial rule also played a large part in suppressing yoga in many Indian and Asian cultures.

In the early 1900s, a young man named Tirumalai Krishnamacharya studied with the few remaining Hatha Yoga masters in India. He learned hundreds of asanas and immersed himself in the ancient texts. There is little known about his motivation, his life, or his intentions, but by the 1930s, he was at the forefront of a new yoga movement.

Krishnamacharya assumed the role of guru to other seekers curious about the “old ways”. Indra Devi, Pattabhi Jois, and B.K.S. Iyengar emerged as founding fathers of updated and accessible styles of yoga. Krishnamacharya and his students encouraged a broader acceptance of the practice, and much of what we know of modern Western yoga traces back to him.

Helpful Books on the History of Yoga

It is truly fascinating to explore the history of yoga through literature. It allows for quiet reflection and interpretation. The following are just a few of the many resources that will provide you with a more detailed perspective of yoga:

• The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice by Georg Feuerstein
• The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda
• Yogarahasya by Sri T. Krishnamacharya
• Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda
• Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar