hi all! I don't mind discussing the history of yoga and hope to find out more from your perspectives, using historical documentation, to discuss what exactly yoga is and where it came from.

I believe that yoga is a great physical exercise, and when paired with mindfulness of the postures, an excellent low impact exercise that can be used to gently instruct and rehabilitate with.

here's my research. If you wish to use any of this research please make sure to credit teresa buckman.


The history of yoga, major teachers, theories, chronology by Yogini Teresa Buckman

The earliest documentation of yoga
In the practice of Indian yoga, teachers passed down meditations based loosely on sitting postures (asanas) and breathing exercises documented to the 2nd C. Clearly, five sitting postures (asanas) are listed. Yoga Sutra poetry, the basis for meditation in Hindu spiritual meditation, instructs students on the use of breathing, chanting the poetry, while in a seated asana.# This is clearly not the yoga of the Modern age.

Yoga in the Middle Ages
Pradipika created a 14th C. Hatha yoga manual, documenting some simple asanas in a seated position. Fifteen seated variations expanded on the 2nd Century poetry of the Yoga Sutra. # This was the same time that Hindu temple dancing became a popular form of entertainment in Indian courts, later outlawed once the British ruled due to the deteriorated state of such “spiritual“ practices.# This method of merging the physical and the mental exercises to control the “five impulses” of the body are the closest thing to modern day yoga I can document. The temple dancers, devadasis, practiced postures (karanas) to express their worship to their gods and their own urges. The karanas were gracefully complex and required years of practice to expertly flow into and out of. Originally, the karanas were simple, but modern day dancers who revitalized Indian dance culture created extremely large range of motion balances and postures that yoga for exercise adopted by the late 20th C. Such practice is known as Natyam yoga. #

Earliest documentation of Modern day yoga postures
The Chinese martial arts of the Wutang Kung fu system (and later Zen Buddhist systems) have clearly been documented to 4000 years ago using physical and meditative exercises to increase strength and range of motion, unlike Indian yoga which is documented to the 20th C.# Kung fu postures expand and included postures no yoga master from India ever performed until the 20th C. Splits, backbends, large and powerful stances were commonly trained and were the height of a master of Ch'i Kung's repetoire, something kungfu training demanded for health to round out the high impact training of the martial art. Funny enough, 11th C. kung fu has stances, postures and circle walking footwork eerily similar to 11th C. Hindu temple dancers. #

It is clearly documented that Modern yoga stems from 700 year old Hatha yoga sitting asanas and breathing meditations that were altered in the 20th C. to include influences of kung fu, British acrobatics, and Hindu dance postures (karanas).

With the new India ruling itself independent of its colonial oppressor, a revitalization of its native arts blossomed. Yoga lineages of hatha, ashtanga, and natyam were further divided as masters appeared out of nowhere. In order to promote the yoga, schools and competitions were encouraged. The top lineages suddenly created postures and exercises never before documented in order to compete and win at these new sport yoga competitions.

Yogi Bikram believes that the best way to train the body for large postures is to practice in an environment that is as hot as the body. Suppleness and strength with bodily control is his goal for his disciples, and he created a primary and secondary series that all practitioners world wide follow to this day. # Bikram won many yoga competitions in the middle of the 20th C. and greatly influenced Modern yoga practice with extreme range of motion postures that go far beyond functional range of motion needs. He does encourage complete control and a good foundation of strength in all aspects of his students' practice.

Ashtanga vinyasa yoga was created by Pattabi Jois, a young man who was educated by a British gymnastics coach which played a huge role in the creation of the first, second and third series in Ashtanga practice. Similar to the focus of mental exercise in natyam yoga, ashtanga also focuses on intense upper body strength and dynamic flow to generate strength and fitness.# This school of yoga is the first lineage to incorporate backward bending and rolling in the flow of the vinyasas.

Devoid of locking and strenuous tensions in the body, Hatha yoga focuses on emptying the mind while breathing and releasing muscle tension. The basic asanas concentrate on opening up the pelvic region while sitting or laying down. This yoga is documented to the 11th C. Buddhist text Vimalaprabha, and Indian Yogi Swatmarama made it popular in the 15th C. # As the oldest and most "Indian" yoga, Hatha has developed into many lineages and styles, yet the main focus of traditional Hatha yoga is to always passively stretch, never actively stretch.


# http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/466

http://www.ashtangayoga.info/philosophy/

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qigong_history

#http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devadasi#Ancient_and_medieval_history

Sifu I-Shih, lineage disciple of of orthodox wutang pa kua chang - Chinese Wutang kung fu and ch’I kung

Dan Miller of Plum Flower Press and the pa kua chang journal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baduanjin_qigong

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apsara

# http://www.yogajournal.com/wisdom/2208

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devadasi

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bharata_Natyam

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bikram_Yoga

http://bikramyoga.com/

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtanga_Vinyasa_Yoga

http://www.ashtanga-yoga-canada.com/ashtanga-yoga-postures.html

# http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatha_yoga

http://www.abc-of-yoga.com/styles-of-yoga/hatha-yoga.asp