A Brief History of Yoga: Origin and Development
In order to fully appreciate your current yoga practice, it is important to understand where it all began. The history of yoga is deep and rich and therefore cannot be fully documented within the context of this blog. This article will act as a simplified version of the history of yoga to help you enjoy the traditions that are still present in yoga today.
The first thing that you need to know about the history of yoga is that there are still some things that we do not understand about early yoga because the practice has been orally transmitted and inscribed on sacred texts. Many of the writings recovered about yoga were written on palm leaves which are easily damaged. Yoga can be traced back to over 5,000 years ago, but others say that it may be as old as 10,000 years.
The history of yoga can be divided into four main categories based on innovation, practice and development:
Vedic
Pre-Classical
Classical
Post-Classical
Vedic Yoga or Archaic Yoga
In order to understand Vedic Yoga you must first understand the Rig Veda. The Rig-Veda is the oldest known text in the Indo-European language and the first to mention yoga. The Sanskrit word veda means knowledge and rig means praise. It is an ancient Indian collection of Vedic hymns, mantras and rituals that praise a higher power. The yogic teachings in the Rig-Veda and the other three ancient hymns are known as Vedic Yoga. Other three Vedas are:
Yajur Veda - Knowledge of Sacrifice - which consists of sacrificial formulas used by the Vedic priests
Sama-Veda - Knowledge of Chants - which contains the chants that go with the sacrifices
Atharvana Veda - Knowledge of Atharvana - which is made up of magical incantations for all occasions and a number of philosophical hymns.
Combined, these hymns could be roughly compared to the books of the Old Testament. Vedic yoga was centered on the idea that rituals and sacrifice were a means of connecting the material world with the spirit world. In order for the sacrifices to be successful, the ones performing the sacrifice had to focus their mind for long lengths of time. Vedic leaders were thought to possess a vision of the supreme reality and have great intuitions. This ability to focus oneself inwardly in order to break the boundaries of the mind is the basis of Yoga.
Pre-Classical Yoga
Pre-Classical yoga covers a timeframe from about 2,000 years until the second century. Early pre-classical yoga was similar to Vedic yoga in that included sacrifice. Some of the texts in this period were Gnostic texts, called the Upanishads. They wrote about the self and ultimate reality and spoke of the hidden teachings associated with the unity of all things. It also preached about the importance of opposing evil. Pre-classical yoga also focused on meditation techniques designed to help one discover their true self.
There are approximately 200 Upanishads. This is the period of time when Buddhism and yoga intersected. Just like Vedic yoga can be likened to the Old Testament, the Upanishads can be likened to the New Testament.
Classical Yoga or Raja Yoga
Classical Yoga was defined by Patanjali in his Yoga-Sûtra which is believed to have been written in the second century. It contained 195 dictums. It is also where the eight limbs, paths or eight-fold concept of yoga came from. These eight paths outline the steps towards achieving enlightenment. Some consider Patanjali to be the father of yoga.
Patanjali taught that each person is made up of prakriti (matter) and purusha (spirit). He believed that yoga allowed one to separate matter and spirit which restored pureness to the spirit. This dualism is important because most of India’s philosophical beliefs were based on either spirit or matter but not both.
Post-Classical Yoga
Post-Classical Yoga marked a massive change towards the power of the physical body verses the mind. They cast off the teachings of the Vedas and aimed to achieve enlightenment by revitalizing and cleansing the body and prolonging its life. Post-Classical Yoga centered on the idea that everything everywhere is connected. This exploration of the physical, spiritual and body centered aspects of yoga gave way to Hatha Yoga, which is how much of the world thinks of yoga today.
Yoga has been around for so long that it is practiced around the world. The intricacies and traditions are what make it such a beautiful and beneficial part of life for many people. Many of the ancient teachings are still practiced in some way shape or form today.