The History of Yoga in a Nutshell

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According to an article in the Yoga Journal, Yoga's history has many places of obscurity and uncertainty due to its oral transmission of sacred texts and the secretive nature of its teachings. The early writings on yoga were transcribed on fragile palm leaves that were easily damaged, destroyed or lost. The development of yoga can be traced back to over 5,000 years ago and some guess may be at least 8000 years old.

Yoga techniques were developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India over 5,000 years ago. The word yoga was first mentioned in the oldest sacred texts, the Rig Veda. The Vedas were a collection of texts containing songs and rituals used by Brahmans, the Vedic priests. Yoga was slowly refined and developed by Vedic priests, who documented their practices and beliefs in the Upanishads, a huge work containing over 200 scriptures. The most renowned of these Yogic scriptures is the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, composed around 500 B.C.E. The Upanishads took the idea of ritual sacrifice from the Vedas and internalized it, teaching the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action (karma yoga) and wisdom (jnana yoga).
Yoga as we know it today is thus the result of a complex evolution. However, according to most scholars, Yoga can't be recognized as a complete and complex tradition before about 500 B.C.
The oldest written records of Indian culture and yogic activities are found in the Vedas, which is a compilation of hymns and rituals that are over 3000 years old. Vedic Yoga, also known as Archaic Yoga, revolves around the thought of reuniting the visible material world with the invisible spiritual world by sacrificing certain things. In order to practice these rather long rituals successfully it was necessary to be able to focus the mind to a very heightened level and frequency. The goal is to reach a Divine connection with our Creator known as the Ein Sof in Kabbalah located at the top of the Tree of Life or according to the Yogic tradition, in the Crown Chakra. This inner focus of the mind without thinking is the root of all Yoga.
The Vedic teachings were not reserved for the religious elite. They were transmitted to the people by Vedic prophets, called Rishis, who had gained insight in the origin of life and its existence through the connection to infinite consciousness. The hymns of these prophets witness of strong intuition, wisdom and knowledge about human beings that can inspire new levels of understanding even for the people of today.
Yoga's long rich history can be divided into four main periods of innovation and development: Vedic, Preclassical, Classical, and Post-Classical.
The first systematic presentation of yoga was Patanjali's Yoga-Sûtras. Written most likely in the second century, this text describes the path of Raja Yoga, often called "classical yoga". Patanjali organized the practice of yoga into an "eight limbed path" containing the steps and stages towards obtaining Samadhi or enlightenment. Patanjali is often considered the father of yoga and his Yoga-Sûtras still strongly influence all styles of modern yoga.
Patanjali thought that every individual consists of two parts - matter (prakiti) and soul (purusha), and that the goal of Yoga is to free the soul from the material world in order to take its original, pure form. This is often characterized as philosophical dualism, which is quite remarkable considering that most Indian philosophy is of a non-dualistic nature. The world as it is perceived is generally thought to be different aspects of the same pure, shapeless but conscious existence.
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra

The most famous proponent of the Samkhya world view was an enigmatic philosopher/writer known only as Patanjali. Nearly every yoga teacher today is familiar with his treatise, the Yoga Sutra, which is considered to be the first systematic presentation of yoga, and reveres its author as the father of modern yoga. Actually, no one really knows who Patanjali was, although speculation varies widely. Was he a simple grammarian, a teacher of Samkhya philosophy, or an incarnation of Shesha, the thousand-headed ruler of serpents? Whoever else he was and whatever else he did, Patanjali clearly succeeded in codifying the concepts of an ancient, oral tradition. His collection of 195 sutras (aphorisms or "terse statements") compiled most probably in the second century c.e., provides the first practical treatise on daily living, beginning with how to conduct oneself in society and culminating in the act of final liberation or enlightenment. Because Patanjali believed one could attain final liberation only with the help of a guru, these aphorisms are not really a self-help guide. They exist to assist the guru in his teachings.
Like the followers of Samkhya before him, Patanjali embraced a dualistic view of existence. On the one hand, he taught, there is purusha, the all-present, all-knowing ethereal consciousness, made up of countless Atmans, who watch as the cosmos unfolds before them. Male, formless and unmanifest, Purusha attaches to nothing; immobile yet pervasive, he simply sees all and knows all. Prakriti, on the other hand, is nature incarnate. Female, visible, and dynamic, prakriti constantly moves, creating and changing as she goes. She is all that is manifest in the world. Existing only to serve purusha, prakriti is unconscious and insentient. Nature exists, according to Patanjali and the Samkhyan philosophers, through a complex interplay among the three gunas—sattva, rajas, and tamas—which are visible aspects of her character. Much like in the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali aligned these gunas with specific characteristics in humans. When the element sattva presents itself, according to this philosophy, the energy is light, clear, and joyous; a predominance of rajas produces passionate feelings, desire, and even greed, as one becomes attached to worldly goods; when tamas gets the upper hand, it brings energy that is slow, heavy, and thick, and can bind a person to a life of sloth and despondency.
Like the Samkhya philosophers, Patanjali believed suffering resulted when humans become attached to external phenomena, when they hold on to the fruits of their actions or when their desires (all the shoulds, wants, and needs in life) pull them away from their connection to a higher consciousness. Patanjali thought that conflict among the three gunas, each vying for dominance, was at the heart of human suffering. Sattva may bring feelings of joyfulness, he reasoned, but being attached to those feelings is no better than holding on to the greed of rajas or being stuck in the despondency of tamas. Much like the Bhagavad Gita—and diametrically opposed to the renunciation espoused in Samkhya—Patanjali wrote that only hard work (karma yoga) and deep meditation (jnana yoga) could relieve human suffering and lead to liberation. In fact, only through strict adherence to his eight-limbed path of yoga (ashtanga yoga) could a yogi tame the gunas and bring them back into balance, as they existed in primordial nature. Ultimately, said Patanjali, by releasing attachments to the natural world, a yogi could allow the transcendental quality of purusha to shine through his true Self.

Although yogis eventually rejected Patanjali's dualism entirely, they continued to use and expand upon his eight-limbed yoga path. This combination of practices still serves as a blueprint for living in the world and as a means of attaining enlightenment, although modern-day teachers no longer believe students must master the limbs in succession.
Patanjali's Kriya Yoga

Although he is best known as the chronicler of the eight-limbed yoga path, Patanjali also presented a version of kriya yoga, the path of transmutative action (i.e., the act of changing into a higher form) in his Yoga Sutra. Kriya yoga can best be described as a form of internal karma yoga. That is, by perfecting the niyamas or self-disciplines of Patanjali's eight-limbed path, particularly tapas (austerity), svadhyaya (self-study), and isvara pranidhana (devotion to the Lord), a yogi erases samskara (subliminal activators) from his subconscious. Samskara are like karma scars that result from good or bad behavior. They are indelible memories, imprinted on the subconscious, that propel the conscious mind to act; they are what dictate a person's birth, life experiences, and death. These activators cause the constant chatter or fluctuations in the mind that separate a person from purusha and make it impossible for him to experience it. An individual has good kinds of samskara and bad kinds, according to the Yoga Sutra. The bad kind keep the conscious mind actively seeking experience outside itself, regardless of whether that experience is pleasurable or painful. The good kind stop the conscious mind from seeking and attaching itself to external objects and senses. The resultant cessation (nirodhah) of vritti (fluctuations) and samskara brings true liberation.

Post-Classical Period

A few centuries after Patanjali, yoga masters created a system of practices designed to rejuvenate the body and prolong life. They rejected the teachings of the ancient Vedas and embraced the physical body as the means to achieve enlightenment. They developed Tantra Yoga, with radical techniques to cleanse the body and mind to break the knots that bind us to our physical existence. This exploration of these physical-spiritual connections and body centered practices led to the creation of Hatha Yoga.
A few hundred years after Patanjali, the evolution of Yoga took an interesting turn - the potential of the human body became an interesting field of study. Yogis of the past had never paid very much attention to the (physical) body, as they focused all their energy on contemplation and meditation. Their goal was to leave their bodies and the world, in order to re-unite with the shapeless reality - the soul.
The new generation of Yogis however, developed a system where different exercises - in conjunction with deep breathing and meditation, would help keep the body young and prolong life. The human body was regarded as the temple of the immortal soul, and not just as a meaningless vessel to be abandoned at the first opportunity.
This paved the way for the creation of Hatha Yoga, and other branches and schools of Tantric Yoga.
The History of Tantra Yoga

Tantra emerged early in the post-classical period, around the fourth century c.e., but didn't reach its full flowering until 500 to 600 years later. This school represents a rather radical departure for yoga philosophy. In what could only have been understood as heresy, tantra rejected the Vedas (the most sacred texts of Hinduism since at least 1500 B.C.E.) as irrelevant. It refuted the notion that liberation could be attained only through rigorous asceticism and meditation, and it dismissed the Samkhyan precept that a yogi must renounce the world in order to free himself from it. Tantra also eschewed karma yoga (the path of action or service), choosing instead to focus on devotion (bhakti), most particularly worship of the Goddess.

In teaching about the causes of suffering and the path to liberation, tantra shares common ground with its ancestors. Like the nondualistic authors of the early Upanishads, tantric yogis believed that human suffering comes from the illusion of opposites, from the mistaken notion that the Self is somehow separate from the objects it desires. Being good nondualists, tantrikas (tantric yogis) see all possible sets of opposites, all dualities (good and evil, hot and cold, hard and soft, male and female) contained within the universal consciousness. The only way a yogi can liberate himself from suffering, according to tantra, is to unite all the opposites or dualities in his own body. Like Patanjali, tantrikas believe in the need to have a strong, pure physical body.
While Patanjali may have acknowledged the need to strengthen and purify the body, he ultimately believed that the body was defiled and that a truly liberated yogi would shun the company of others for fear of becoming contaminated. Tantrika, on the other hand, celebrated the physical body, which they considered to be a sacred temple of the Divine, as a means to conquer death. The body became the vehicle for attaining liberation. In tantric yoga, the universal consciousness, which earlier philosophers called purusha, became Shiva and resided within the body. The principle of nature or creation, called prakriti in earlier yogic thought, became shakti and lived at the base of the spine. The ultimate unity—the male energy of Shiva with the feminine principle shakti—took place internally and led to final liberation or samadhi. Unlike the more traditional nondualists, however, tantrikas believed that the whole world was not an illusion, but a manifestation of the Divine and that all experience brought the practitioner closer to his or her own divinity.

Most Westerners equate tantra with kinky sex practices, and in one particular school of tantra uniting the male energy of Shiva with the feminine principle of shakti actually does lead to unusual sexual positions and wild orgiastic practices. The vamamarga, or left-handed path of tantra, employed traditionally forbidden pleasures, including sexual intercourse, to achieve samadhi. After all, they reasoned, how can an individual know what to transcend if he doesn't experience it first? The more conservative, right-handed tantrikas, on the other hand, weren't quite so literal. In fact vamamarga practices horrified them.
Similarly, tantra's use of mantras (sacred sounds) is as old as the Rig Veda, but tantrikas employed these sounds in a very different way. Each letter of the mantra (given to the student by his guru) corresponded to a place in the body and each place in the body represented a force in the universe. By chanting the mantra, the yogi could awaken the body and its corresponding universal forces. In order to practice this form of mantra meditation, the body must be pure and strong and the mind clear and alert.

Tantric yogis liked to use visual aids, such as mandalas, in their meditations. Generally made of wood, paper, or cloth, tantric mandalas were drawings of circles and geometric designs. Regardless of how simple or complex these drawings were, they always contained a seed or bindu at the center, which represented the union of the cosmos and the mind; concentric circles, which represented the various levels of existence; and a square "fence" around the circles, with open gates, to protect the sacred space. Ultimately, by meditating and visualizing, the tantrika entered into the mandala and realized that the unity of all things resided in him and that there was no separation between him and the Divine.
Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga, out of which came the physical postures the Western world now embraces, first appeared in the ninth or tenth century. Despite its rather detailed and complex philosophic underpinnings, it was little more than a small and somewhat radical sect during the post-classical period. In fact, among some Hindus of the period, hatha yoga had the reputation of being nothing short of heretical in its focus on the physical and in its fascination with magical powers. Hatha yoga's principles arose from tantra, and incorporated elements of Buddhism, alchemy, and Shaivism (worship of the transcendental Shiva).

Like tantrikas, hatha yogis believed that creating polarities (male vs. female, hot vs. cold, happy vs. sad, good vs. bad, right vs. wrong) caused suffering and brought about disease, delusion, and pain. The very name hatha yoga, a combination of "ha," meaning sun, and "tha," meaning moon, denotes the union of opposites. Hatha also means a force or determined effort, and yoga, of course, translates as yoke or joining together. Therefore, hatha yoga implies that it takes a lot of strength, discipline, and effort to unify opposing forces and to bring together the body and the mind. The biggest obstacles to practice for the hatha yogi include indifference, greed, hatred, delusion, egoism, and attachment.

Interested less in the sexual union of opposites than tantrikas, hatha yogis strove to transform the physical body into the subtle, divine body and thereby attain enlightenment. The transformed body was said to be impervious to disease, void of any defects, eternally youthful, and the bearer of paranormal, magical powers. Before hatha yoga students could even hope to accomplish such transformation. However, they had to learn an intricate physiology of the body, including the muscles, organs, chakras (energy channels), and tissues, and the gods that govern each. Hatha yogis also had to perform intense purification rituals before they could begin asana and pranayama practices. As with all yoga practice at the time, yoga students received instruction from their gurus.

Even though hatha yoga remained a somewhat marginal sect during the post-classical period, it produced an impressive number of treatises and prescriptive manuals. The first and primary text was written by a yogi named Goraksha, the person most often deemed the father of hatha yoga. Like most early gurus, Goraksha was a rather elusive figure. Quite possibly a member of the weaver caste in the Punjab, he probably lived in the ninth or tenth century c.e., although later hatha yoga texts also place him in the twelfth or thirteenth century. Goraksha founded the Natha sect of yogis and was considered by some to be a miracle worker, saint, and revered teacher.
His earliest writing, the Siddha Siddhanta Paddhati, introduces several important elements of hatha yoga, including the idea that the physical body is only one level of embodiment. There are five others, moving from the grossest (garbha or physical) body to the subtlest (para or transcendental) body. He also delineates nine energy channels or chakras, three signs or lakshya (literally, visions), and 16 props or adhara, upon which a yogi focuses attention (the ankle, the thumb, the thighs, the navel, etc.).

Svatmarama Yogin, who called himself a disciple of Goraksha (even though he came a few centuries later), wrote a second treatise, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, probably during the mid-fourteenth century. This text describes sixteen postures, most of which are variations of Padmasana (the cross-legged Lotus pose), several purification rituals, eight pranayama techniques (primarily to retain the breath), and ten seals (mudras) with specific bandhas, or locks to constrict the flow of prana or life force. As Svatmarama explained, before the mind can even hope to control the senses, the breath must neutralize the mind. Steady, rhythmic breathing calms the mind, freeing it from external distractions; a calm mind in turn reins in the senses. Although decidedly nondualistic in nature, Svatmarama's six-limbed yoga path was exclusively for the attainment of samadhi through the practice of raja yoga (the yoga of Patanjali).
The Gheranda Samhita, a late-seventeenth-century manual based on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, offers seven niyamas, or disciplines necessary for yoga practice: cleanliness, firmness, stability, constancy, lightness, perception, and no defilement. The manual's author, the sage Gheranda, prescribes 32 asanas and 25 mudras. He also outlines an intricate purification system. But despite this emphasis on the physical body, Gheranda believed that a yogi attains liberation or ecstasy ultimately through the kindness of his guru.

Perhaps the most comprehensive—and the most democratic—treatise on hatha yoga, the Shiva Samhita may have been written toward the end of the post-classical period, as late as the early eighteenth century. It emphasizes that even a common householder (a common male householder, that is) can practice yoga and reap its benefits—a concept that would have startled earlier proponents of yoga. The Shiva Samhita outlines the intricacies of esoteric physiology, names 84 different asanas—the most wide-ranging list to date—and describes five specific types of prana (or life force), providing explicit techniques to regulate them. Unfortunately, only four of the asanas are described in detail. Just like all hatha yoga philosophy, the Shiva Samhita postulates that performing asanas will cure a yogi of all diseases and bestow upon him magical, superhuman powers.
Hatha Yoga is a gentle and slower paced form of yoga, although it can be quite challenging physically when you move deeper into the practice of it. The word Hatha, when split in to 'ha' and 'tha', means 'sun' and 'moon'. This style is ideal for those that are new to yoga, and haven't yet built up experience or confidence. Due to its' slower pace, it is easier for people to learn the principles, postures, and the breathing methods involved in yoga.

Vinyasa Yoga, on the other hand, is a far faster paced, and more advanced form of yoga. Instead of simply doing individual exercises on the mat, with pauses in between, the asanas are linked together in synchronization with the in-flow and out-flow of breath. This produces a very dynamic effect, and it allows heat to build up in the body. An increased body temperature helps loosen the muscles, and people find they can go deeper into a stretch than if they were doing the posture in a more traditional way.

Both Hatha and Vinyasa yoga offers a range of health benefits. There is certainly no reason why you cannot start off using the slower paces Hatha Yoga, and once more experienced and flexible, move on to practice the more challenging form of yoga, Vinyasa. Both offer a great way to increase mobility in the joints, tone up your body, and find a sense of peace and stillness often lacking in daily activity.

In forms such as Ashtanga and Hatha, this flowing style was originally developed.
What Is Flow?
Flow yoga, also called Vinyasa flow, has become one of the most popular forms of Hatha Yoga practice in the world today.

Flow Yoga is a practice in which our movements are linked fluidly together with focused awareness on breathing. Postures are connected and sequenced in a way that intelligently opens the body in stages (in Sanskrit, “karmas”) and sets of postures, or sequences always build from the most basic to the complex.

Flow yoga can be practiced in a very vigorous, stimulating and dynamic way as well as a softer, slower, and gentle manner.

Most people tend to think of flow as a practice that is constantly moving, with very little regard for form or structure. While constant movement may be used during class, individual postures will be held for longer periods of time during a flow practice. A flow class also emphasizes alignment and sound structure, which helps us move in a very mindful, healing and graceful manner.

Flow Yoga is a well-balanced yoga practice that will stretch every muscle, move every joint, build strength, flexibility, endurance. Its greatest lesson is that it teaches us how to stay fresh and alive, present with the moment so that we may experience how to move through our lives with more joy, grace, and ease.

This type of practice literally puts us into a state of flow. It is a state of being where we feel totally non-judgmental, conflict-free, self-loving and free. Ultimately, when we are in this “zone,” we experience our potential more fully and we tap a source of strength, joy, openness and presence that we do not often experience in our daily grind.
History of Vinyasa Flow
Our lineage is through the great teacher Krishnamacharya whose brilliant knowledge of the healing power of yoga inspired most of the popular branches of yoga we know today in the West. Krishnamacharya, Desikachar, BKS Iyengar, Patthabi and Indra Devi, the first western female to receive instruction and blessings to teach yoga, all derived from this great tree. Our intention is to maintain the highest standard, integrity and adherence to the quality of the lineage from which we flower.
Key Qualities of a Flow Class
• A breath-focused practice. Attention to the breath continues UNINTERRUPTED throughout the entire class and in every posture.
• Utilizes proper body alignment, body mechanics and structural integrity of muscles, joints and bones.
• Is designed to build strength, flexibility, endurance and balance.
• Contains all classes of Asanas (standing postures; twists; forward bends; backbends; inversions; balancing postures and movement sequences)
• A well-rounded practice that includes a full complement of postures that are accessible to most students and sequenced to incorporate the most important postures and their counter poses.
• Structure of class is creative, dynamic and ever-evolving. Each class you experience is fresh, unscripted and born of the moment.
• Facilitates a deep meditative state within all movement or moments of stillness.
• Gets you in touch with your body’s natural rhythm.
• A holistic practice that is based on the viewpoint that there is a relationship between body, mind and spirit and that the physical and the spiritual reflect and affect each other.
• Cultivates intuition by teaching practitioners how to determine their own pace and move to the tempo of their own breath. Encourages personal expression and freedom.
The Benefits of Yoga
• Build strength & stamina
• Correct poor posture
• Improve your flexibility
• Improve muscle tone/create longer, leaner muscles
• Speed up your metabolism
• Lose weight
• Enhance your balance
• Rehabilitate an injury or recover from chronic pain
• Reduce stress
• Feel more focused and positive
• Have more energy, passion, and creativity
• Experience a new level of emotional calm and mental clarity
• Enjoy life more
• Live Longer
• Look and feel younger