The origins of yoga can be traced back to North India more than 5, 000 years ago. The word Yoga was first mentioned in ancient sacred texts called Rig Veda. Preclassic Yoga The beginnings of yoga were developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in northern India more than 5,000 years ago. The word yoga was first mentioned in the oldest sacred texts, the Rig Veda.
The Vedas were a collection of texts containing songs, mantras and rituals to be used by Brahmins, the Vedic priests. Yoga was slowly refined and developed by Brahmans and Rishis (mystical seers), who documented their practices and beliefs in the Upanishads, an enormous work containing more than 200 scriptures. The best known of the Yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, composed around 500 BC, E. The Upanishads took the idea of the ritual sacrifice of the Vedas and internalized it, teaching the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action (karma yoga) and wisdom (jnana yoga).
The theory of yoga (along with various physical postures or asanas) that has gained worldwide attention can be traced back to the Indus Valley civilization (c. The word “yoga” itself comes from the root “yuj”, which means “yoke”. However, this is no longer a common word in the English language, so you may not understand its meaning at first sight. As I continued to delve into yoga's recent past, the pieces of the puzzle slowly came together, revealing a growing portion of the whole picture.
In the first decades of the 20th century, India, like much of the rest of the world, was gripped by an unprecedented fervor for physical culture, which was closely linked to the struggle for national independence. Building better bodies, people reasoned, would create a better nation and increase the chances of success in the event of a violent struggle against colonizers. A wide variety of exercise systems emerged that combined Western techniques with traditional Indian practices from disciplines such as wrestling. Often, the name given to these strengthening regimens was “yoga”.
Some teachers, such as Tiruka (a, k, a. Raghavendra Rao), traveled the country disguised as yoga gurus, teaching strengthening and combat techniques to potential revolutionaries. Tiruka's goal was to prepare the people for an uprising against the British and, by disguising himself as a religious ascetic, he avoided the watchful eye of the authorities. Centuries after the fundamental text of Patanjali, around 800 to 1700 AD, yoga was still developing.
Therefore, if we want to gain a deeper and more accurate understanding of the history of yoga, we can look at what is often referred to as “the Yoga Bible” for a deeper insight. Practicing the different types of yoga (opens in a new tab) can be as simple as unfolding the yoga mat in the living room and doing some sun salutations before work. I hope that whoever wants to claim that Yoga is from their heritage will tickle and be grateful that others can benefit. One only has to examine the translations of texts such as the Hatha Tattva Kaumudi, the Gheranda Samhita or the Hatha Ratnavali, to see that much of the yoga that dominates America and Europe today has changed almost beyond the recognition of medieval practices.
Most yogis who begin to really delve into the teachings and process of yoga, eventually need to learn about the real history of yoga itself. A pioneering text called The Yoga Sutras is widely attributed to the wise Patanjali in ancient Tamilakam. It is said that Jnana, Bhakti, Yoga (Raja) and Karma; any or any combination of these 4 paths if practiced with the goal of self-realization will lead to the same place. In Patanjali's yoga sutras, he clarified eight parts of yoga practice, namely: Yama (social ethics), Niyama (personal ethics), Asana (postures), Pranayama (life force), Pratyahara (turning the senses inward), Dharana (single-point approach), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (fusion with the self).
It was, like the Kuvalayananda system, a union of hatha yoga, wrestling exercises and modern Western gymnastic movement, and unlike anything seen before in the tradition of yoga. If anyone wants to see the clearest evidence in this regard, I suggest reading “The Roots of Yoga” by Jim Mallinson and Mark Singleton. With yoga, it transmits the sense of union: the union or union of the individual self with the higher self. The prehistoric origins of yoga that you imply are found in the archaeological evidence of various meditation postures and allusions to prana.
Newly arrived asana-based yoga systems were, of course, often interpreted through the lens of these pre-existing Western gymnastic traditions. . .
