HISTORY OF YOGA
Yoga originated in India thousands of years ago. Ancient Yogis recognised that in order to live in harmony with the environment and to achieve a state of enlightenment, people had to balance their actions, emotions and intelligence.
To do this, the Yogis created a method that combined postures to benefit physical health, with breathing and meditation techniques to aid mental wellbeing.
The oral transmission of the practice has left the history of yoga uncertain but there is evidence to support the belief that it originated some 5,000 years ago, at the beginning of civilization. Archaeological evidence first supported this idea when stone seals depicting yoga postures were excavated from the Indus Valley in Northern India.
The Valley was home to the Indus-Sarasvati civilization, who were a sophisticated and technologically advanced culture. Excavations have shown that the Indus-Sarasvati built multi-storey buildings, placed priority on hygiene, and had sewage and draining systems.
Further evidence of yoga’s ancient history can be found in the oldest existing sacred texts, the Rig Veda. The Vedas are a collection of hymns, incantations and rituals that praised a greater being, and began to be documented between 1500 and 1200 BC. The teachings of the Vedas is known as Vedic or Pre-Classical Yoga.
Vedic priests recorded their beliefs in the Upanishads, an enormous volume containing over 200 scriptures. The term Upanishad means ‘those who sit near’ and implies listening closely to the doctrines of a spiritual leader.
It was at the time of the Upanishads that ritual sacrifice was superseded by the idea of sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action and wisdom. This remains an important philosophy of yoga today.
Around 200 AD, the Yoga Sutras of C.E. Patanjali created a milestone in the history of yoga, defining what is known as the Classical Period.
The Yoga Sutras are a set of 195 aphorisms (sutras) which are short phrases designed to be easily memorized.
In it, Patanjali also defined the ‘eight-limbed’ path, which described the aspects of a yogic lifestyle and provided a guide to achieving harmony of the mind, body and spirit, leading to enlightenment.
Though brief, the sutras are as influential today as they were when written, and Patanjali is considered to the Father of Modern Yoga.
Post-Classical yoga saw a shift in yogic philosophy, with the appreciation of the present moment replacing the idea of liberation from reality. Practices designed to rejuvenate the body were introduced by the yoga Masters, and Tantra Yoga was born, which was designed to cleanse the body and mind, and led to the creation of Hatha Yoga.
By the twentieth century, yoga teachings were being spread to the west by literature or by the Yoga Masters themselves, who began to travel.
One important guru was T Krishnamacharya, who opened the first Hatha yoga school in the 1920s. Three influential practitioners graduated from the school to further yoga’s popularity: BKS Iyengar, TKV Desikachar and Pattabhi Jois.
However, it was Indra Devi’s yoga studio in Hollywood which opened in 1947 that really put yoga on the map of the west and led to its popularity today.