By Adrija Sen
Yoga has an ancient history, going back to the Vedic Age. Back then, yogis used grass or animal skin as a mat for performing their postures.
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Patanjali, a saint who is believed to have lived in the 2nd century BCE, wrote his treatise on Yoga titled ‘Patanjali Yoga Sutra.’ His work has become one of the most widely read texts on Yoga worldwide.
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There are more than 100 styles of yoga, 84 classic Yoga asanas and 196 Yoga sutras (scriptures).
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First appearing in the Katha Upanishad, an ancient religious text composed between the fifth and third century BC, the word ‘yoga’ comes from the Sanskrit for ‘union.’
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The word Yoga is also found in one of the oldest texts in the world, the Rig Veda, written approximately around 1500 BCE.
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Ashtanga Yoga means ‘eight limbs’ of Yoga with different Asanas. The eight limbs are yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi.
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Yogis believed that each human has a limited amount of breaths allotted to them. They practised Yoga to increase their lifespan by focusing on the breath and learning to control it to an acute degree, thus prolonging their life.
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According to Hindu myth, Lord Shiva is deemed to be the ultimate practitioner of yoga and is called the Adiyogi or the ‘first yogi.’ It refers to the one who showed the path to move beyond one's limitations to mankind.
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'Yogi', 'Yogini', and 'Yogin' are all terms used to describe those who follow the spiritual path of yoga sadhana.
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Yoga was originally practised as a form of healing and introduced in many places and medical centres across the world as a complementary or alternative therapy. It’s also actively promoted as a sport!
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Swami Vivekananda is credited for being the greatest proponent of Yoga in the West, and it is considered to be one of the most successful products of globalisation.
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