Yoga: How it Began
There is no known written relic materials that would pinpoint the exact date of how and when yoga was created. It was a fact though that it dates back to the earliest ancient civilizations and it was verbally passed on from one generation to another. So the origin of yoga is hardly known among historians with its lack of evidence for support. Not until much later that those people who engage in the yoga discipline wrote its basic text on palm leaves. Naturally, since the material where the text is written cannot withstand the passage of time most of its writings were lost, damaged or even ruined, thereby making it hard to identify its exact historical beginnings.
Eight Thousand Years Old
Many historians believed that yoga started about eight thousand years ago, although some would argue that its true age dates back only for four thousand years old. Most of the records though will show that it dates back to about 3 thousand B.C. Indus Valley civilization had already prospered during this time where the yoga discipline was also practiced and continued to exist until 1500 BC. During this time the Vedic civilization also prospered where yoga was inherited and practiced.
There are different historians’ versions as to the exact date of yoga’s existence. Depending on whom you believe its date can be variously put between four thousand to eight thousand years ago. Its estimation can be interpreted based on the seals from Mojenjo-daro, an ancient city settlement from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. The so-called figure was named after Shiva Pashupati, the one who discovered these seals.
There was no doubt that during the Rig Veda yoga was being exercised. Between eight hundred to one hundred BC, where the Upanishads came into existence, yoga discipline was widely practiced. Based on the writings, yoga discipline dwells on the following aspects: the control of breath, union of the six limbs, meditation and sensory inhibitions, concentration and ecstasy, and examination.
Other philosophies, like Buddhist and Jain, also practiced yoga and even today its popularity extended not just in the oriental cultures but also in the west. Yoga in the modern times is slowly taking its influence around the world for the past five to six decades. Well, because yoga transcends almost any culture in the world, it’s not alarming to know that some modern forms are also created. One of the popular modern forms of its exercise regimen is called Bikram yoga named after the one who developed the said regimen.
The most popular form in the west is the one known as Hatha with its origin that dates back as old as the fifteenth century. For the past fifty years the form has been widely spread and popularized. It has also been shorn of its spiritual content to suit western tastes.
Here is a short video of how yoga came about. Credit to this video goes to the youtube user hinduwebsite. Enjoy!
Written by admin on August 12th, 2009 with
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