Tracing The History Of Yoga

The History of Yoga has a lot to do with the present times. The earliest Yoga started some 5000 years ago after human civilization had begun. The scholars have believed that Yoga was originated out of Stone Age Shamanism.

They believe this because there were some cultural similarities between Mehrgarh which was a Neolithic settlement and the Modern Hindus. The shamanistic culture of Mergarh has in fact influenced Hindu ideals, symbols and rituals of the present. The ancient shamanism and early Yoga had so much similarity for the reason that they both wanted to go beyond the human condition.

Shamanism’s primary goal was to heal the members who were in their community and at the same time act as the religious mediators.

Archaic Yoga also had the same objectives as they were community oriented and they aimed to determine the enormous order through senses and inner vision which then can be applied to our daily lives.

As time went on, Yoga progressed and has come to focus on the inner most experience. Yogis since then have focused on how to improve the individual's enlightenment, experience and journey.

Yoga’s evidences were first tracked in the archeological evidence which was found in stone seals exhumed from the Indus valley. Yoga postures were traced and seen from the figures which were illustrated in the stone seals. Representations of these artifacts were placed in History books circa 3000 B.C., which was linked to the great Indus-Sarasvati Civilization which was known to be the largest civilization that exist in the ancient world. The Indus-Sarasvati, being a maritime society, exported goods all over Africa and the Middle East. They build up sewage systems and put up geometrical brick roads and constructed multistory buildings.

The Vedas are known as the oldest scripture in the world which were the ancient texts, was brought by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization. It was a compilation of hymns that commends a high power which included the oldest recorded teachings of Yoga. They have considered this the divine revelation. The intelligence of the Vedas was known as the Pre-classical Yoga or the Vedic. This was described by the ritualistic ceremonies that the Yoga practitioners have been required to perform in order to go beyond the limitations of the mind.

The history of yoga would not have been completed in the classical stage of yoga. After the turn of the millennium, yoga and its followers spread in different directions and different variations have been developed, the need for standardization arose. This was important if people were going to be made aware with it and how it could be used by them. Due to this, during the second century, C.E., Patanjali composed and collected the seminal text of yoga, which was known as the Yoga-Sutra and which defined Classical Yoga.

At the age of Postclassical Yoga, in the enormous history of Yoga, it gave rise to some productive literature which has included the Tantra and the Hatha which is famously known to this day. These were taught in schools for Yoga and practiced by many. Therefore, post classical Yoga is described as yoga's adaptation to our present state. It is the time when yoga evolved greatly and was introduced to large numbers of people. It has then been practiced in the United States since the 1800’s.

Now in the recent decades, yoga has greatly and swiftly evolved. Swami Sivananda was one of the prominent gurus ever to master yoga. He has served as a doctor and he has generously opened up schools in Europe and America.

Yoga has been a path to better health and longer life for centuries. Find out how this dynamic system can be utilized by even the busiest of families!

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