wanaka yoga history
Brief Yoga History / Philosophie
The word yoga is a sanskrit word meaning to bind, join, attach or yoke. It also means union or communion.
Some people understand yoga as a form of physical exercise in which we control our body movements to gain flexibility, beauty and health. Others see it as a path to meditation, the inner worlds of the mind.
Neither of these views really express what yoga is about.
Yoga is about the synthesis of body and mind, and as a result we have the transformed self. Like any art, yoga is a discipline in need of constant renewal. Yoga has a complex history, in which historical conditions, intellectual and spiritual influences have shaped the way it is practiced and perceived to today.
Sage Patanjali lived around 200B.C. and he wrote the yoga sutras. They were the first scriptures to present the ancient tradition of yoga in a systematic way. The yoga sutras contain 196 aphorisms, clearly explaining what yoga is.
Patanjali defines an eight-limbed path (asthanga- 'astha' means eight, 'anga' means limbs or part) that forms the structural framework.
The eight limbs of yoga are:
1. Yama Yama refers to the universal commandments.
- Ahimsa -Non-violence
- Satya -Truth
- Asteya -Not stealing
- Brahmacharya -Self control
- Aparigraha -Unselfishness
2.Niyama Niyama refers to personal disciplines.
- Saucha -cleanliness
- Santosha -contentment
- Tapas -enthusiasm
- Svadhyaya -self study
- Ishvara Pranidhana -faith in god
3. Asana means posture, practice of yoga postures.
4. Pranayama means the practice of yoga breathing techniques.
5. Pratyahara means control of the senses- taste, touch, smell. sight and
hearing.
6. Dharana means concentration of the mind.
7. Dyana means meditation.
8. Samadhi or Kaivalya, is the goal of yoga, absorption in the infinite.
Pantanjali's Yoga Sutra is the authoritative text, recognized by all schools of Yoga and is the source for all subsequent works. Patanjali is a great Indian sage and benefactor of mankind. He is the author of classical treatises on medicine, grammar and yoga. These three sciences effect the purification of the human body, speech and mind.
Patanjali is said to be an incarnation of the serpent 'Ananta' on whom Lord Vishnu, the preserver of the world, rests before the beginning of creation. He was born to a saintly woman called 'Gonika' , he fell into her cupped hands in form of a little snake while she was offering water to the sun. She named him Patanjali ('pata' means snake or fallen, 'anjali' means 'hands folded in prayer'. Patanjali's statue shows him with a man's torso and the coiled tail of a Serpent. These days we find different commentaries, interpretations and translations of the yoga sutras.
BKS Iyengar is exceptional in having explored the various aspects of classical yoga. Following in the tradition of Patanjali he considers yoga as one unified subject.