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History Of Yoga Print E-mail
Yoga has a 5000 year old history. People from all civilizations have gained immense health benefits by practicing yoga from thousands of years. Let's delve further into the history of yoga. Yoga is said to be as old as civilization. However there has not been sufficient proof unearthed to guarantee this claim. Some signs of yoga can be found in the old stone seals from ancient civilizations. The stone seals suggest that yoga was practiced around 3000 B.C. Many scholars believe that yoga existed long before 3000 B.C. and they have traced its beginning in Stone Age Shamanism. Shamanism and yoga have similar characteristics and hence the theory of the scholars follows. Shamanism like yoga helps to improve the overall health of people. The history of yoga can be divided into four periods namely: Vedic Period - The Vedas which are a collection of hymns to praise the almighty symbolize the Vedic period. The Vedas are said to contain the oldest Yogic teachings and so the teachings are also called as Vedic Yoga. During the Vedic period the common man relied on Vedic gurus to teach them yoga. It was during this period that the yogic living in total seclusion were recorded. Pre Classical Yoga - The presence of the Upanishads symbolizes Pre-Classical Yoga. Yoga shares some characteristics not only with Hinduism but also Buddhism as well. Siddharta Gautama was the first Buddhist to study yoga and he achieved enlightenment at the age of just 35 years. Classical Period - The Classical period is marked by the Yoga Sutra. It was written by Patanjali around the second century and it was an attempt to define Classical Yoga. Classical Yoga is composed of 195 sutras that stress more on Raja Yoga and Patanjali's eight fold path of yoga. The eight limbs of Classical Yoga are Yama, Niyama, Asanas, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi. Post-Classical yoga - Post-classical yoga differs from the first three forms of yoga since its focus is more on present yoga. It teaches the person to accept life as it is and live for the moment. Sivananda has contributed a lot to present day yoga. He was a doctor in Malaysia and he later opened yoga schools in Europe and America. His five priniciples of yoga are Sayasana, Asanas, Pranayama, Proper Diet and Dhyana. Hence we see that yoga has evolved over thousands of years and helped millions of people from across different religions and cultures to gain healthful benefits from it.


 
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