Yoga History

Even though yoga has been gaining popularity in recent years, the practice is actually centuries old and has been providing its benefits to cultures around the world for possibly thousands of years. Yoga history is based in Hindu philosophy, and what we know as yoga today was first outlined in the Yoga Sutras, which are ancient Indian documents that have helped to build the earliest schools of yoga that we are familiar with today.

While the Yoga Sutras are considered to be the beginning of modern yoga history, the practice seems to have been around much longer than that. Since yoga focuses on the connection between body and mind, early practitioners of meditation may have used yoga-type techniques in their religious and medicinal practices long before the first schools of yoga were founded.

Some scholars believe that yoga history really begins between 3300-1700 BC in the Indus Valley Civilization of northern India. Steatite seals have been discovered in the region that shows people in yoga-like positions, and there are some indications that the practice was used in religious practices to become closer to the deities through meditation.

While these may by the first yoga history references, some researchers argue that the practice was founded during the Upanishadic period between 800-100BC. There are early references to meditation practices, which are believed to have included yoga.

No matter when yoga history actually began, it is a fact that the exercise is now more widely practiced than ever. With so many possible types of and benefits from yoga, it's no wonder people continue to practice it throughout the world in order to strengthen their mind and their bodies.