yoga’s metamorphisis

triyoga pashupati blog

Ahead of this year’s International Yoga Day on the 21st June, we asked Yoga Manager Genny Wilkinson Priest about the history of yoga and how it’s evolved over the years. Read on for her thoughts, and then bring a friend for free to any triyoga class from 19 – 23 June to celebrate International Yoga Day.

How old is yoga? Not as old as you might think.

I bet you’ve heard that yoga is 5,000 years old. Sounds impressive, but in fact it’s a misrepresentation that began in the 1920s when archaeologist John Marshall declared the discovery of the Pasupati seal at the Mohenjo-daro archaeological site as evidence that yoga was practised in North India in 2,500 BCE.

Most modern-day yoga scholars politely scoff at this conclusion, saying an image of a man sitting cross-legged on a raised platform with a horned headdress is hardly clear-cut evidence of any kind of yoga or, indeed, religious practice.

So when did it all start?

In the absence of conclusive archaeological finds – Indiana Jones would be disappointed – we might go by ancient texts to trace the roots of yoga. The Ŗgveda (1,000 BCE) is the foundational text of Hinduism, out of which yoga slowly grew. But when it comes to the actual word “yoga”, it’s not mentioned until the 3rd Century BCE in the Kațha Upanișad:

 

When the five senses, along with the mind,

Remain still and the intellect is not active,

That is known as the highest state.

Yoga is the firm restraint of the senses.

Then one becomes undistracted,

For yoga is the arising and the passing away.

Kațha Upanișad 6.10-6.11

 

Yoga’s aims developed and became a means of liberation from the endless cycle of rebirth, and the acquisition of special powers like flying across great spaces or locating buried treasure. Today, it’s considered an effective way to reduce lower back pain and find a calm space in the head. I have to wonder if, in 1,000 years time, those goals will look as odd to future practitioners as the ability to find a pot of gold does to us.

Practising reverse warrior and camel pose was never a primary feature of any Indian yoga practice tradition. The practice of physical postures was first documented in the 12th Century in the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, and it wasn’t until the 17th Century that we see more complex postures like mayūrāsana (peacock pose).

Adaptation and evolution have always characterised yoga’s development – whether it was competing for followers of Buddhism before the turn of the Common Era, or drawing from chiropractic bodywork of the 20th Century. Truly, yoga has gone through a metamorphosis and, at the same time, achieved global status. This month’s International Day of Yoga is a sure testament to that.

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