Exploring the 5,000-Year-Old Path to Physical and Mental Harmony
Yoga, this long-standing practice of physical and mental cultivation, has spread from ancient India to every corner of the globe. Whether it's the stretching poses in a park at dawn or the even breaths in a yoga studio, this ancient tradition continues to radiate vibrant vitality in modern society.
Today, let's travel through time to explore the 5,000-year evolution of yoga and understand how it transformed from the esoteric wisdom of a few practitioners into a lifestyle pursued by hundreds of millions worldwide for health and peace.
The Origin of Yoga: The Germination of Millennial Wisdom
Yoga originated in India and boasts a history and culture of over 5,000 years, renowned as a "treasure of the world." When the earliest yoga practitioners cultivated their minds and bodies in nature, they accidentally discovered that various animals and plants inherently possessed methods for healing, relaxing, sleeping, or staying awake, and could recover from illnesses naturally without any treatment.
Thus, ancient Indian yoga practitioners observed, imitated, and personally experienced postures based on animals, creating a series of exercise systems beneficial to body and mind, known as Asanas.
The word "Yoga" comes from the Indian Sanskrit "yug" or "yuj", meaning "unity", "connection", or "harmony". Yoga originated in ancient India and is one of the six major schools of ancient Indian philosophy, exploring the principle and methods of "union with the Supreme Being".
The Evolution of Yoga in the River of History
According to search results, scholars typically divide yoga history into the following periods:
| Historical Period | Â Time Range | Main Characteristics |
| Pre-classical Period | 5000 BCE - 1500 BCE | Primitive development of yoga, a period lacking written records, with meditation and asceticism at the center of yoga practice. |
| Classical Period | 1500 BCE - 200 CE | Emergence of the Vedas, Upanishads, and Bhagavad Gita; Patanjali composes the Yoga Sutras, where yoga practices are formally established as the complete eight-limbed system. |
| Post-classical Period | 200 CE - 1900 CE | Development of "Yoga Upanishads", Tantra and Hatha Yoga, featuring dietary control, abstinence, asanas, the seven chakras, etc. |
| Modern Period | 1900 CE - Present | Yoga evolves from a secretive practice to a popular fitness method, spreading from India to Europe, America, Asia-Pacific, Africa, and other regions. |
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The Classical Period: The Birth of the Yoga Sutras
Around 300 BCE, the great Indian sage Patanjali, the father of yoga, composed the Yoga Sutras, upon which Indian yoga truly took form. Patanjali is revered as the founder of yoga, formally establishing the yoga method as the complete eight-limbed system.
In the Yoga Sutras he authored, Patanjali endowed yoga with all its theory and knowledge. In this work, he expounded on the definition of yoga, the content of yoga, the internal changes yoga brings to the body, etc.
Before Patanjali, yoga had a long period of practice, but no one had given yoga a systematic explanation. Patanjali created a holistic yoga system.
The Post-classical Period: The Rise of Hatha Yoga
During the post-classical period, yoga gradually developed the important school of Hatha Yoga. Swatamarama is widely recognized as the master of Hatha Yoga. He initiated the widespread dissemination of Hatha Yoga and pioneered the precedent of yoga therapy.
He authored the "Hatha Yoga Pradipika", whose main content includes the postures, pranayama, mudras, and bandhas familiar to today's yoga students. When explaining the term "Hatha", Swatamarama said: "Ha" (sun) and "Tha" (moon) represent two opposing energies, such as hot and cold, male and female, positive and negative, yin and yang.
Hatha Yoga attempts to balance these two relative energies through physical movement, pranayama, and calming the mind through relaxation meditation.
The Philosophical Foundation of Yoga: Two Paths from Separation to Unity
Yoga philosophy is primarily based on two major traditions:
The Patanjali Yoga tradition, whose philosophical foundation is Samkhya philosophy, with its classic being the Yoga Sutras. Samkhya philosophy is essentially dualistic, believing that Purusha (the true Self) and Prakriti (Nature) are essentially separate.
The Vedanta Yoga tradition, based on Advaita Vedanta philosophy. According to the mainstream Advaita Vedanta philosophy of Shankara, the individual self is the universal Atman - Brahman, and Brahman is everything.
Through the path of yoga, people understand the truth of the individual self, enabling the individual self and the universal Atman (Brahman) to unite, i.e., the union of Brahman and Atman.
Historically, this understanding of yoga as "union" gained dominance because Vedanta philosophy held sway in Indian history.
The Globalization of Modern Yoga
Key Figures in Spreading Yoga Worldwide
The global spread of modern yoga is inseparable from the contributions of several important figures:
1. Swami Vivekananda: His journey to America in 1893 transmitted the Indian yoga tradition to the Western world. He was the first Indian philosopher to teach and spread yoga outside India.
2. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya: A figure with a fundamental influence on modern Hatha Yoga. He produced four very famous yoga masters: Pattabhi Jois (founder of Ashtanga Yoga), B.K.S. Iyengar (founder of Iyengar Yoga), Indra Devi, and T.K.V. Desikachar.
3. Swami Kuvalayananda: A pioneer of scientific yoga. He brought yoga into the laboratory, being the first to study the physical effects of yoga practice on people.
The Development of Yoga in China
Yoga was first disseminated in China during the Western Han Dynasty in the form of Buddhism. At that time, discussions about yoga were scattered in some Buddhist scriptures, such as the "Yogachara Bhumi Shastra" translated by Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty.
In the 1980s, yoga spread in China in the form of Qigong, and at that time, some people referred to yoga as Indian Qigong. Entering the 21st century, with the popularization of national fitness activities, yoga further became popular in China in the form of fitness.
Most of the world's yoga schools have appeared in China one after another. Yoga fitness venues are located in major cities, many colleges and universities have added yoga courses to their physical education teaching, and some sports colleges and universities have begun to train professional yoga instructors, and the yoga craze continues to heat up.
The Diversified Development of Modern Yoga
Having developed to this day, yoga has become a widely spread physical and mental exercise practice around the world. Simultaneously, it has continuously evolved into various branches and methods, such as:
- Hot Yoga (Bikram Yoga)
- Hatha Yoga
- Wellness Yoga
- Ashtanga Yoga
- Iyengar Yoga
- Vinyasa Yoga
- Prenatal Yoga
- Aerial Yoga, etc.
The Establishment of International Yoga Day
On December 11, 2014, the UN General Assembly proclaimed June 21 as the International Day of Yoga, with the first International Day of Yoga held in 2015.
The resolution to establish the International Day of Yoga was proposed by India and supported by 175 member states. The proposal was initially made by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly, where he stated: "Yoga is an invaluable gift of our ancient tradition. Yoga embodies unity of mind and body, thought and action ... a holistic approach [that] is valuable to our health and our well-being. Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and nature."
Conclusion
Yoga, this ancient and profound system of physical and mental cultivation, has undergone over five thousand years of refinement and development, evolving from a secret practice in ancient India to a contemporary global lifestyle pursued by hundreds of millions for health, peace, and self-awareness.
It is not merely a set of postural exercises but also a philosophy, a life attitude, a path to harmony and unity of body, mind, and spirit.
As Indian Prime Minister Modi said, "Yoga is not just about exercise; it is a way to discover the sense of oneness with yourself, the world and nature." In today's fast-paced modern society, yoga provides us with a haven for seeking inner peace and harmony, allowing us to rediscover inner balance and strength in a complex world.