Yoga has become a global wellness practice with an incredibly rich history. Its development on the Indian sub-continent influenced many spiritual paths, including Bhakti Yoga with its devotion to a deity and Tantric Yoga which developed techniques for awakening energy in the body.
In the 1920s two great yogis, Shri Yogendra and Swami Sivananda, brought yoga to the West. Learn about their lives and the epochs that led to Yoga’s emergence as a global movement.
Origins
Yoga dates back to ancient Indian texts written in the sacred language of Sanskrit. The earliest transcriptions were found in the Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Samaveda and Atharva Veda. These ancient yogic scriptures are a rich source of spiritual beliefs, practices and wisdom that form the foundation of modern practice.
The ancient rishis (seers) of the Indus-Saraswati river valley civilization shared these ancient yogic practices and spiritual beliefs through deep meditation, orally passing this knowledge from teacher to student for generations. This became known as the Vedas, or “knowledge.” During this time of rishi devotion and self-sacrifice, yogic practitioners gained greater understandings related to the breakdown of physical, emotional and energetic blocks that limit us from experiencing true bliss.
The rishis recorded these teachings in the Upanishads, an extensive collection of Hindu philosophical-religious scriptures. One of the more renowned Upanishads is the Bhagavad Gita, which mentions several forms of yoga including bhakti, karma and jnana yoga. It also teaches how to dismantle the ego through self-study, action and wisdom.
Early yogis
The word yoga is first recorded in the oldest of India’s sacred texts, the Vedas, around 1500 BCE. At this point the practice is mostly an ecstatic experience, but over time it evolved into an organized spiritual path.
The rishis (mystic seers) of this period documented the teachings and practices of their yoga philosophy in the Upanishads, a large collection of religious and philosophical writings that contain anecdotes, dialogues and hymns as well as clear logical reasoning. The Katha Upanishad, composed about 500 BCE, defines yoga as steady control of the senses and cessation of mental activity leading to a state of absorption or enlightenment.
Another hundred years or so later, a yogi named Patanjali wrote the Yoga Sutras. This collection of Sanskrit sutras was the first systematic presentation of yoga we have and is still influential on most styles of modern yoga. At this point the mystical branches of yoga, Jnana Yoga (yoga of wisdom) and Raja Yoga (yoga of meditation), began to develop into more physical poses that we know today as Hatha Yoga. Swami Vivekananda’s lectures at the 1893 Chicago World Fair sparked interest in Yoga in North America and led to an evolution of its physical form. In the 20th century a host of yogis including Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Paramahamsa Yogananda introduced yoga to the West.
Classical period
The classical period was characterized by a number of important yoga scriptures. One of the most notable is the Bhagavad-Gita, which was composed around 500 B.C. It is a central religious text that emphasizes selfless service and the need to perform your duties without expectation of reward.
Also during this time, the Indian sage Patanjali systematized yoga by writing the Yoga Sutras, which detailed a path to union with the ultimate reality. He established that yogis must focus on the spiritual and the physical sides of life and that strict adherence to the eight-limb path would lead to enlightenment.
In this period, yogis started to develop advanced yogic practices to rejuvenate the body and extend their lives. This led to the development of Hatha Yoga, which is a path that is closely related to the style of yoga practiced today. In this era, the emphasis was placed on the body and the use of various yogic techniques, such as pranayama, kriyas and bandhas to balance the flow of energy in the body. This gave yoga its different outlook and helped yogis achieve higher levels of meditation, like Samadhi. It was during this period that Swami Vivekananda, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Ramana Maharshi introduced yoga to the world.