"Yantra Yoga: The Tibetan Yoga of Movement" by Chogyal Namkhai Norbu. A Brief History and Development of Yoga:
Mantra-yoga, Laya-yoga, Raja-yoga, Jain-yoga, Bouddha-yoga etc. have contributed for the development of Raja Yoga.This was the period when Vedanta,
Compositions of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism, describe many dialogues he had with Jogis, a Hindu community which practiced yoga. [221], Yoga has developed into a worldwide multi-billion dollar business, involving classes, certification of teachers, clothing, books, videos, equipment, and holidays. [167][note 19], Mainstream Hinduism's influence on Jain yoga can be see in Haribhadra's Yogadṛṣṭisamuccaya which outlines an eightfold yoga influenced by Patanjali's eightfold yoga. Sanskrit, the Indo-European language of the Vedas, India's ancient religious texts, gave birth to both the literature and the technique of yoga. [103][104] These principles are significant to the history of spiritual side of yoga. After Patanjali, many Sages and Yoga Masters contributed greatly for the preservation and development of the field through their well documented practices and literature. [138]Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining the mind-stuff (Citta) from taking various forms (Vrittis). [241][242], Buddhist yoga encompasses an extensive variety of methods that aim to develop key virtues or qualities known as the 37 aids to awakening. 6) dedicated to traditional yoga practice, including meditation,[109] it introduces three prominent types of yoga:[110], The Gita consists of 18 chapters and 700 shlokas (verses),[114] with each chapter named as a different yoga, thus delineating eighteen different yogas. However, depictions of yoga postures were found in the recent excavations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. During this period, commentaries of Vyasa on Yoga Sutras and Bhagawadgita
Vipassanā also requires an understanding of suffering or dukkha (and thus the four noble truths), impermanence (anicca) and interdependent origination. [97], The hymns in Book 2 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, another late first millennium BCE text, states a procedure in which the body is held in upright posture, the breath is restrained and mind is meditatively focussed, preferably inside a cave or a place that is simple, plain, of silence or gently flowing water, with no noises nor harsh winds. However, among the Yoga Sutras, just three sutrasare dedicated to asanas. "All the ancient commentaries on Yoga have stressed that it is essential to work under the direction
[176] Tantra yoga may be described, according to Samuel, as practices in 9th to 10th century Buddhist and Hindu (Saiva, Shakti) texts, which included yogic practices with elaborate deity visualizations using geometrical arrays and drawings (mandala), fierce male and particularly female deities, transgressive life stage related rituals, extensive use of chakras and mantras, and sexual techniques, all aimed to help one's health, long life and liberation. The Buddhist tradition of Abhidharma developed various treatises which further expanded teachings on Buddhist phenomenological theory and yogic techniques. This interpretation is considered speculative and uncertain by more recent analysis of Srinivasan[10] and may be a case of projecting "later practices into archeological findings". [234] The name "Rāja yoga" (yoga of kings) originally denoted the ultimate goal of yoga, samadhi,[235] but was popularised by Vivekananda as a common name for Ashtanga Yoga,[note 22] the eight limbs to be practised to attain samadhi, as described in the Yoga Sutras. This metaphysical system holds that puruṣas undergo cycles of reincarnation through its interaction and identification with prakirti. [136] Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is a synthesis of these three traditions. [289] Yoga was, however, not accepted by mainstream Sunni and Shia Islam. The Nyingma tradition practices Yantra yoga (Tib. [218][219], The number of asanas used in yoga as exercise has increased rapidly from a nominal 84 in 1830, as illustrated in Joga Pradipika, to some 200 in Light on Yoga and over 900 performed by Dharma Mittra by 1984. [95][96] It is the earliest literary work that highlights the fundamentals of yoga. [157] The Yoga Yajnavalkya discusses eight yoga Asanas – Swastika, Gomukha, Padma, Vira, Simha, Bhadra, Mukta and Mayura,[158] numerous breathing exercises for body cleansing,[159] and meditation.[160]. Knut A. Jacobsen; et al., eds. For an overview of the six orthodox schools, with detail on the grouping of schools, see: For a brief overview of the yoga school of philosophy see: Worthington writes, "Yoga fully acknowledges its debt to Jainism, and Jainism reciprocates by making the practice of yoga part and parcel of life. [264] Gorakshanath is widely considered to have been responsible for popularizing hatha yoga as we know it today. [136] From Abhidharma Buddhism's idea of nirodhasamadhi, suggests Larson, Yoga Sutras adopt the pursuit of altered state of awareness, but unlike Buddhism's concept of no self nor soul, Yoga is physicalist and realist like Samkhya in believing that each individual has a self and soul. Websters: "Yogi, A follower of the yoga philosophy; an ascetic.". – Sutra 1.2, Patanjali’s Yoga … [209] Before 1900 there were few standing poses in Haṭha yoga. [104], Onesicritus also mentions his colleague Calanus trying to meet them, who is initially denied audience, but later invited because he was sent by a "king curious of wisdom and philosophy". [222] The ancient cross-legged sitting asanas like lotus pose (Padmasana) and Siddhasana are widely recognised symbols of yoga. Yoga is also commonly understood as a therapy or exercise system for health and fitness. fundamentally, hatha yoga is a preparatory process so that the body can sustain higher levels of energy. MN Gulati (2008), Comparative Religions And Philosophies : Anthropomorphism And Divinity. [23], According to Pāṇini, the term yoga can be derived from either of two roots, yujir yoga (to yoke) or yuj samādhau ("to concentrate"). Keeping these meanings in the mind, we might think of the art and science of yoga as a kind of magnificent tapestry that is woven together by the threads of universal truths. Georg Feuerstein (2011), The Bhagavad Gita – A New Translation, Shambhala. E. Easwaran, Essence of the Bhagavad Gita, Nilgiri Press. [74], Werner states, "The Buddha was the founder of his [Yoga] system, even though, admittedly, he made use of some of the experiences he had previously gained under various Yoga teachers of his time. Other scholars say it is the knowledge of the primordial soul." [153], The Yoga Yajnavalkya is a classical treatise on yoga attributed to the Vedic sage Yajnavalkya. Desikachar)", "Trying to Reconcile the Ways of the Vatican and the East", "The Subtle Body – Should Christians Practice Yoga? Some key works of this era include the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, the Yoga-Yājñavalkya, the Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra and the Visuddhimagga. breathing followed by willful regulation of respiration as the functional or vital basis of one’s existence. ‘to join’ or ‘to yoke’ or ‘to unite’. Examples of this are found in Hinduism, A technique for entering into other bodies, generating multiple bodies, and the attainment of other supernatural accomplishments. Between 200 BCE and 500 CE, philosophical schools of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism were taking form and a coherent philosophical system of yoga began to emerge. It was a part of Upasana and yoga sadhana was inbuilt in their rituals. Each person has an individual puruṣa, which is their true self, the witness and the enjoyer, and that which is liberated. Literally meaning "thread," sutra has also been translated as "aphorism," which means a tersely phrased statement of truth. [193] Hatha yoga synthesizes elements of Patanjali's Yoga Sutras with posture and breathing exercises. This has led certain Indologists like Prof. Robert J. Zydenbos to call Jainism, essentially, a system of yogic thinking that grew into a full-fledged religion. [17] Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise; it has a meditative and spiritual core. [108] Mahabharata defines the purpose of yoga as the experience of uniting the individual ātman with the universal Brahman that pervades all things. Eliot Deutsch (1980), Advaita Vedanta : A Philosophical Reconstruction, University of Hawaii Press. Thus the aim of Yoga is Self-realization, to overcome all kinds of sufferings leading to 'the state of liberation' (Moksha) or ‘freedom’ (Kaivalya). Another text which teaches yoga with an Advaita point of view is the Yoga-Yājñavalkya. over mind and paves way for higher yogic attainment.Shat-karmas are de-toxification procedures, help to remove the toxins acumalated in the body and are clinical in nature. Introduction :Yoga is essentially a spiritual discipline based on an extremely subtle science, which focuses on bringing harmony between mind and body. period (2700 B.C. It is the
In Hinduism, practices include Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga, Laya Yoga and Hatha Yoga. But since Jain sources postdate Buddhist ones, it is difficult to distinguish between the nature of the early Jain school and elements derived from other schools. Modern yoga spread across America and Europe, and then the rest of the world. They are: In later Hindu scholasticism (12th century onwards), yoga became the name of one of the six orthodox philosophical schools (darsanas), which refers to traditions that accept the testimony of Vedas. , Page last updated on: 24/7/2012. '[257] Yoga in Advaita is ultimately a "meditative exercise of withdrawal from the particular and identification with the universal, leading to contemplation of oneself as the most universal, namely, Consciousness". [274] A common way of teaching this method is to awaken the kundalini residing at the lowest chakra and to guide it through the central channel to unite with the absolute consciousness at the highest chakra (in the top of the head). [259] This work uses numerous short stories and anecdotes to illustrate its main ideas. 207–208. With ha meaning "sun" and tha meaning "moon," we have the common interpretation of hatha yoga as "a union of the pairs of opposites." Jnana-yoga, Bhakti-yoga, Karma-yoga, Dhyana-yoga, Patanjala-yoga, Kundalini-yoga, Hatha-yoga,
Philipp Maas (2013), A Concise Historiography of Classical Yoga Philosophy, in Periodization and Historiography of Indian Philosophy (Editor: Eli Franco), Sammlung de Nobili, Institut für Südasien-, Tibet- und Buddhismuskunde der Universität Wien. Others understand it to be the ascertainment of Siva and the soul as non-different. The very important commentary on Yoga sutra by Vyasa was also written. The beginnings of Yoga were developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India over 5,000 years ago. A collection of 195 statements, the Sutra provides a kind of philosophical guidebook for dealing with the challenges of being human. Published 2002 (Routledge). Good deeds help one merge into Divination. In the modern era, new forms of Jain meditation have also been developed. [132] The parallels between Yoga and Samkhya were so close that Max Müller says that "the two philosophies were in popular parlance distinguished from each other as Samkhya with and Samkhya without a Lord. "[276] Some[which?] One of these was Patanjali's Yogasutras. [167] The five yamas or the constraints of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali bear a resemblance to the five major vows of Jainism, indicating a history of strong cross-fertilization between these traditions. Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are widely regarded as the first compilation of the formal yoga philosophy.