The Sanskrit word yoga means "union, bringing together, connection and communion" and refers to the ever present union between the individual self (jiva) and the universal self (atman). You can think of this also as personal consciousness connecting with global consciousness. The yogi's think of this as self-realisation.

Yoga is not just a series of postures, but a way of living - an intergrated discipline.

History of Yoga

The practice of yoga dates back thousands of years to the dawn of civilisation in the Indian subcontinent. Indian society has always absorbed ideas and beliefs from many diverse sources and the history of yoga is linked in particulare to the development of Hinduism and Buddhism.
The earliest evidence of yoga practice can be traced to the highly organised civilization that flourished in the Indus Valley thousands of years before the birth of Christ. Knowledge of yoga is passed from teacher to pupil, resulting in a variety of different strands influenced by different customs, myths and cultural developments.

Quick Yoga Timeline

.

Pre-Classical Yoga

The first written references to yoga and meditiation are in the Upanishads:

"When the five senses and the mind are still, and reason itself rests in silence, then begins the path supreme. This calm steadiness of the senses is called yoga".

The creation of the Upanishads marks the Pre-Classical Yoga. The 200 scriptures of the Upanishads explain three subjects: the ultimate reality (Brahman), the transcendental self (atman), and the relationship between the two.

During the sixth century B.C., Buddha started teaching Buddhism, which stresses the importance of Meditation and the practice of physical postures. Siddharta Gautama, the first Buddhist to study Yoga, achieved enlightenment at the age of 35. Between the birth of Buddah (around 563BC) and the beginning of the Christian era many religions and philosophies developed. These included orthodox Hinduism (which accepted the teachings of the vedas) and Jainism and Buddhism (rejecting the Vedas). All contained elements of yoga within them. While India had been largely Buddhist, eventually a reformed hinduism was re-established and Buddhism spread to many other parts of Asia.

Around 500 B.C., the Bhagavad-Gita was created and this is currently the oldest known Yoga scripture. The central point to the Gita is that - to be alive means to be active and in order to avoid difficulties in our lives and in others, our actions have to benign and have to exceed our egos.
The Gita stresses the importance of opposing evil. In the story, the god Krishna tells Prince Arjuna of the different paths to god through devotion (Bhakti yoga), knowledge (Jnana yoga) and selfless action (karma yoga)

Classical Yoga and Patanjali's Sutras

Yoga's classical period is considered to be from 200-800BC and is marked by the creation of the Yoga Sutra. Written by the rishi Patanjali around the second century, it was an attempt to define and standardize Classical Yoga. It is composed of 195 aphorisms or sutras (from the Sanskrit word which means thread).

Yoga, as we know it today, consists of the eight limb path along the pathway to reach liberation and enlightenment (samadi). These eight limbs (astanga) are called the Yoga Sutras, and are the essential foundations of yoga as we know it.

1) Yamas - Five abstinences or moral restraints

2) Niyamas - Five observances

3) Asanas - Yoga postures

4) Pranayama - Breath control

5) Pratyahara - Sensory withdrawl, turning inward

6) Dharana - Concentration

7) Dhyana - Meditation

8) Samadi - Enlightenment

Patanjali believed that we are each a composite of matter (prakriti) and spirit (purusha), believing that the two must be separated in order to cleanse the spirit - a stark contrast to Vedic and Pre-Classical Yoga that signify the union of body and spirit.

Post-Classical Yoga

Post-classical Yoga differs from the first three since its focus is more on the present. It no longer strives to liberate a person from reality but rather teaches one to accept it and live at the moment.

Yoga was introduced in the West during the early 19th century. It was first studied as part of Eastern Philosophy and began as a movement for health and vegetarianism around the 1930's.