History of Yoga: the spiritual practice

A Brief Breakdown of Yoga Timelines 

To properly understand why yoga is desired and practiced all around the world, let us look back. The history of yoga is traced back to many different periods. During these phases, the yoga practice improved through further divisions and subdivisions.

The Vedas Phase

The origin and commencement of yoga belong to a divine literature known as Rig Veda. The Veda or Vedic period came between 1500 BCE to 500 BCE. This period was the initial development of ancient India and many of its new norms.

The oldest and most known records of yoga were found in the Vedic period. Yogis of that time develop Veda which has further four scriptures. All of these scriptures portray the story behind the knowledge related to yoga.

The Rigveda, Yajurveda, Samaveda, and Atharvaveda are the original parts of Veda transcriptions. These oldest sacred texts portray many rituals and mantras related to the ancient yoga practice.

The Vedic Priests used these transcriptions of the Veda and developed a more refined form of yoga. They believed that the mind, spirit, and body can be enlightened using the knowledge written in the form of poems and mantras.

If we broadly look at the four Veda divisions, the history of yoga goes beyond their subdivisions. The Samhitas were purely written as mantras and benedictions written more than 5000 years ago.

Similarly, researchers also found evidence of many rituals and sacrifices in the form of Aranyakas. The Brahmanas portray and shed further light on the rituals mentioned in Aranyakas. Whereas, Upanishad was based on the meditation and spirituality of the body.

The Pre-Classical Phase of Yoga

The pre-Classical Phase enlightens us with the further historical improvement in Yoga from 500 BCE to 200 BCE. The Brahmans and Rishis carefully studied the spiritual benefits and refined the already present documents and scriptures.

The Upanishad was their main focus and they did considerable effort studying and documenting it. This way, the priest yogis were able to compile more than 200 scriptures. Bhagavad-Gita is a well-known piece of writing from the pre-classical yoga period.

The knowledge, action, and wisdom of the pre-classical era quickly emerge. The Upanishads spent a considerable amount of time and devise the true meaning of yoga. That is, to sacrifice the ego and control the mind and body through ancient yoga teachings.

The Classical Phase of Yoga

The Vedic and pre-classical yoga periods have various mixed presentations regarding yoga practice. Many of these scriptures didn’t comply with each other resulting in mismatching of true meanings related to yoga.

Around 2000 years ago, many texts were written to understand and refine yoga. The classical period comprised the development of Patanjali’s yoga. This was the first truly made presentation and showed true insights into spiritual yoga practice.

The major portion of the classical phase happens around the second century in the form of Raja Yoga. The text in Raja Yoga and Patanjali shows eight different pathways to gaining true soul enlightenment.

This is why in today’s age, Patanjali is considered a sacred and authentic source of yoga. Patanjali is known as the father of ancient yoga with all the information influencing modern yoga techniques.

Post-Classical Phase of Yoga

Yoga is the pathway to control and coordinate the mind and body. The early yogis of the post-classical period step forward in creating authentic practices. Starting from the soul enlightenment and ego sacrifice, this phase comprises body and life rejuvenating practices.

The knowledge of Vedas was more focused on seeking enlightenment through the soul. On the other hand, these teachings are considered old and of no use in the post-classical period. Yogis of that time carefully concluded that true enlightenment is achieved by the body itself.

In believing and doing so, Tantra Yoga came into existence. Tantra Yoga also laid the foundation of Hatha Yoga which can truly cleanse the body and the soul. There is much evidence relating the connection of the spirit with the body and how it can be balanced.

Modern Phase of Yoga

After linking the physical-spiritual relation and how yoga can be a path to cleanse it, the era of modern yoga started. The yoga masters travel to multiple places in the world to teach in the early 1900s.

As Hatha Yoga was the gateway to the modern west, it was quickly promoted in India. Swami Vivekananda disperse the knowledge in 1893 with his divine lectures on pure yoga. In 1924, T. Krishnamacharya started to teach Hatha Yoga at a school in Mysore.

Final Words

As the yoga practice spread more and more, many people started to incline toward it. It was not so long since the yoga studio was inaugurated by Indra Devi in 1947. Hatha Yoga became the true yoga of the west and many new institutes are helping to converge more people to it.

Indeed, yoga has huge demand because of its numerous health benefits on the body and mind. Now, the yoga practice has gained an incredible amount of popularity. All of these effects are because of the gradual refining of yoga and connecting it to the soul, mind, and body.