WHERE DOES MODERN YOGA COME FROM?
by Oda Lindner
A short timeline of historical texts on yoga
When we practice, we may sometimes ask ourselves: where does our modern way of doing yoga come from? In recent years, more information on the history of yoga has become available[1]. This is a short review of some of that information.
Originally, yoga did not start out as a practice that was looking to create healthy, shiny and strong bodies — rather the opposite. Early sources seem to indicate that the origins of yoga were found in the ascetic body-negating practices of Indian hermits and “forest dwellers”. In the 5th century BCE, the Buddha was associated with these forest dwellers when he practiced a kind of yoga that was linked to the sect of the Shramanas, a group of ascetics who lived in small communities and engaged in severe deprivations of body and mind. The Shramanas practiced their austerities in order to raise “tapas” (heat), which would burn their attachments and erase their karma. The Buddha joined them for a while but then found their practices too extreme and developed his own famous “Middle Way”. The Shramanas still exist today. Their meditations and ascetic exercises can be seen as one possible source of the techniques and instructions that later became known as yoga.
The term “yoga”, itself, appeared first in the Mahabharata, the classical Hindu epic of the 3rd century BCE. The twelfth chapter of the Mahabharata — the moksha dharma — probably contains the oldest systematic exposition of yoga practice, but this chapter is still little known and/or translated in the West.
The Yoga Sutras
A better-know early expression of yoga were the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which were likely written down in the 2nd century CE[2]. The Sutras were officially called the “Patanjala-Yoga-Shastra Samkhya-Pravacana” but in the West are often simply known as the Yoga Sutras. The Sutras describes the practical means of escape from suffering and rebirth. Samadhi, the complete calming of the fluctuations of the mind, is envisioned as the main goal of the practice, and kaivalya (freedom) is seen as the final state. The Sutras contain 196 short statements and are divided into four chapters. The chapters address the refined cognitive states of “samadhi” (Chapter 1), the practical ways of attaining it —as outlined in the eight-fold path of ashtanga yoga (Chapter 2), the specific powers acquired through the practice, the “siddhis” (Chapter 3) and “kaivalya”, the final state of liberation (Chapter 4). The text became a foundational text for many later yoga traditions and, in the 12th century, the Sutras were included in the list of official Indian philosophical systems (darshanas).
For our contemporary context it is noteworthy that, while the Sutras give some room to pranayama, only two of them deal with asanas. The majority of the text centers on meditation, focus and absorption. The three components of focus, meditation and absorption were the central components of yoga at the time. The development of techniques that involved the body appeared only later on.
The first indications that greater attention was paid to the body came from the Tantric traditions (6th to 13th century CE). Tantra referred to an elaborate system of rituals, mantra repetition and worship and was closely associated with a chosen deity. It was less adverse to the physical dimension and our physical existence than the older, ascetic traditions. In fact, it dealt quite closely with the human anatomy and developed the intricate energy anatomies of the nadis, chakras and of Kundalini. The goal of Tantra was the attainment of either supernatural powers or the ascent of the practitioner through the many stages of consciousness to a state of non-differentiated union with the chosen deity.
The old ascetic traditions and the Tantric traditions were two separate strands, yet they both provided the base for a movement in the 10th and 11th century CE that led to the development of Hatha Yoga. The term “Hatha Yoga” appeared first in the Dattatreyayogashastra in the 13th century, but the Amritasiddhi from the 11th century already contained many of the principle and practices without calling them “Hatha”. Both texts added cleansing techniques, non-seated postures, complex methods of breath control and physical means of manipulating vital energy (mudras) to the older focus on meditation and absorption.
It may be useful to look at the two texts in more detail:
Amrtasiddhi
This 11th century text mentions, for the first time, terms like “mahabandha” (the great lock), “mahamudra” (the great seal) and “mahavedha” (the great piercing through). A central concept, which the Amrtasiddhi probably adopted from older practices, was the notion of “amrt” or “amrta”. Amrta is a life-supporting liquid that drops from the base of the skull, the “moon”, continually down into the “sun” of the belly where it burns away. The practices described in the text were designed to preserve this liquid. They incorporated elaborate ways of breathing such as directing the breath to the base of the spine where it “pierced” the central channel. The life-supporting liquid was then drawn back into the skull and life was thus prolonged. The text also incorporated bandhas and inversions which, in this context, were used to prevent the precious liquid from flowing downwards in the first place. The ultimate aim of the practices was to achieve immortality, the attainment of siddhis (powers) and the freeing of the person from rebirth.
It is assumed that the Amrtasiddhi was first written down by Tantric Buddhist yogis in the north of India, but that the practices were commonly used by other groups as well. Surprisingly, the Amritasiddhi also indicated that yoga was already open to lay people at this early stage.
Dattatreyayogashastra
This text, from the 13th century, mentioned the term “Hatha” explicitly for the first time. Like the Amrtasiddhi it listed mudras and bandhas and set out similar goals and aspirations. The Dattatreyayogashatra likely originated more from the ascetic tradition of the Shramanas. Despite this, the text indicated specifically that the practices were open to Buddhists, Jains, Hindu Brahmins and Tantrik Kapalikas alike.
The Dattatreyayogashatra described, in detail, practices such as the khecari mudra, vajroli, viparita karani and jalandhara, uddiyana and mula bandha. With regard to asanas, only one asana is named though, padmasana, the lotus pose. Among the pranayamas, nadishodhana (alternate nostril breathing) with retention after the in breath is specifically described. It is said to clean the nadis and bestow “a shiny and slim body”, while fanning the agni (fire) in the belly.
Other important yoga texts that appeared before the 15th century were the Vivekamartanda and the Gorakshashataka. Both were texts in which chakra and Kundalini were already a well-established part of the subtle anatomy of Hatha Yoga.[3]
On the subject of gender, it is interesting to note that, while most of the yoga texts refer to men, there are a few notable exceptions. The Arthashastra mentions female ascetics. The Yogayajnavalkya is a dialogue between a knowledgeable woman (Gargi) and a sage (Yajnavalkya). The Brahmayamala says that women are “well versed in samadhi, yoga and scriptural wisdom”. And the 14th century poet and wandering ascetic, Lalla, left songs that reveal a deep personal understanding of yoga practice and theory[4]
The Increase of Yoga Asanas
But to return to the timeline of classical texts — if we look at the yoga texts before the 15th century, we notice that few describe more than 5 asanas. A shift to more asana-oriented practices began with the Hathapradipika. Here 15 poses were mentioned. Then followed a steady increase of poses in the texts that were written down over the next three hundred years: Yogacintamani (35), Gherandasamhita (32), Hathabhyasapaddhati (112) and Sritattvanidhi (122).
This increase in poses signified a new trend. Hatha Yoga had adopted the Tantric understanding of substances and energies that flowed in the subtle system of nadis and chakras; but instead of using complex rituals and cults, it focused on increasingly physical means to control the flow of these energies. The texts envisioned an alchemy of the body that did not necessarily transcend one’s physical existence but instead made the body strong, invulnerable and sometimes immortal. Promises about freedom from illness and continual health existed in earlier texts but were mentioned only on the side.
In the Hathapradipika, these promises become a central argument. The older understandings of the flow of the life-supporting liquid (amrta) were still very important — bandhas, inversions and the kechari mudra were thought to prevent the flow of amrta/bindu into the fire in the belly — but the use of poses and the resulting health benefits become the central focus in the Hathapradipika. Verse 27 in Chapter 1, for example, points out that “this Matsyendrasana (twist) stimulates the appetite. It is a weapon which destroys a multitude of deadly diseases”.
The therapeutic effects are an innovation of Hatha Yoga. In addition, Hatha Yoga also invented the use of repetitive movement. Previously, only one or two (mostly seated) positions were held for a very long time. In the 18th century, the Hathatattvakaumudi (Moonlight on the Principles of Yoga) included, in its ninth chapter, repeated movements and pointed out that these repetitive movements are to be done prior to the practice of pranayama.
By the 19th century, we find texts like the Sritattvanidhi (Glorious Abode of Truth) which, in its last chapters, has descriptions and illustrations of 122 asanas.
In the 19th and early 20th century, when yoga went through its modern Renaissance, teachers like Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and Swami Kuvalyanada drew on the older texts that still centered on focus and absorption, but they also made heavy use of the more modern understandings of yoga that included physical asanas, repetitive movement and therapeutic application. From their traditions then derived the different styles of yoga that we are practicing today in North America.
To sum up, we could say that when we engage in our poses today, some part of our practice goes back to the observances of the Shramanas at the time of the Buddha, other parts are based on the discoveries of ritual Tantric yogis and 11th century understandings of life-supporting liquids and yet other parts deal with the transformation of the body as it is described in texts like the Hathapradipika and the Hathatattvakaumudi. When we do our practice, it may occasionally be helpful to reflect on these sources that feed our modern yoga.
Oda Lindner
Oda Lindner (E-RYT 500, MA) is a senior yoga teacher and instructor of yoga teachers who lives and works in Niagara on the Lake in Ontario.
[1] This article is based on some of my own studies of classical texts, on a particularly good and thorough book Roots of Yoga by J. Mallison and M. Singleton and on a German review article about the historical roots of yoga by I. Dalmann and M. Soder in Viveka (No. 57, 2018, p. 7ff).
[2] Most of these texts may have been older. Usually, they were transmitted from teacher to student by word of mouth. We can, however, only chronologically date them by the dates in which they were first written down.
[3] In the 15th century, we also find meditative texts such as the Jain Yogapradipa, which has an eight-fold system (although slightly differently organized than Patanjali’s) and focuses on aspects such as absorption (laya) and no-mind-state (unmanibhava).
[4] Naked Song by Lalla, transl. by C. Barks. Maypop books, Athens GA, 1992
When we practice, we may sometimes ask ourselves: where does our modern way of doing yoga come from? In recent years, more information on the history of yoga has become available[1]. This is a short review of some of that information.
Originally, yoga did not start out as a practice that was looking to create healthy, shiny and strong bodies — rather the opposite. Early sources seem to indicate that the origins of yoga were found in the ascetic body-negating practices of Indian hermits and “forest dwellers”. In the 5th century BCE, the Buddha was associated with these forest dwellers when he practiced a kind of yoga that was linked to the sect of the Shramanas, a group of ascetics who lived in small communities and engaged in severe deprivations of body and mind. The Shramanas practiced their austerities in order to raise “tapas” (heat), which would burn their attachments and erase their karma. The Buddha joined them for a while but then found their practices too extreme and developed his own famous “Middle Way”. The Shramanas still exist today. Their meditations and ascetic exercises can be seen as one possible source of the techniques and instructions that later became known as yoga.
The term “yoga”, itself, appeared first in the Mahabharata, the classical Hindu epic of the 3rd century BCE. The twelfth chapter of the Mahabharata — the moksha dharma — probably contains the oldest systematic exposition of yoga practice, but this chapter is still little known and/or translated in the West.
The Yoga Sutras
A better-know early expression of yoga were the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which were likely written down in the 2nd century CE[2]. The Sutras were officially called the “Patanjala-Yoga-Shastra Samkhya-Pravacana” but in the West are often simply known as the Yoga Sutras. The Sutras describes the practical means of escape from suffering and rebirth. Samadhi, the complete calming of the fluctuations of the mind, is envisioned as the main goal of the practice, and kaivalya (freedom) is seen as the final state. The Sutras contain 196 short statements and are divided into four chapters. The chapters address the refined cognitive states of “samadhi” (Chapter 1), the practical ways of attaining it —as outlined in the eight-fold path of ashtanga yoga (Chapter 2), the specific powers acquired through the practice, the “siddhis” (Chapter 3) and “kaivalya”, the final state of liberation (Chapter 4). The text became a foundational text for many later yoga traditions and, in the 12th century, the Sutras were included in the list of official Indian philosophical systems (darshanas).
For our contemporary context it is noteworthy that, while the Sutras give some room to pranayama, only two of them deal with asanas. The majority of the text centers on meditation, focus and absorption. The three components of focus, meditation and absorption were the central components of yoga at the time. The development of techniques that involved the body appeared only later on.
The first indications that greater attention was paid to the body came from the Tantric traditions (6th to 13th century CE). Tantra referred to an elaborate system of rituals, mantra repetition and worship and was closely associated with a chosen deity. It was less adverse to the physical dimension and our physical existence than the older, ascetic traditions. In fact, it dealt quite closely with the human anatomy and developed the intricate energy anatomies of the nadis, chakras and of Kundalini. The goal of Tantra was the attainment of either supernatural powers or the ascent of the practitioner through the many stages of consciousness to a state of non-differentiated union with the chosen deity.
The old ascetic traditions and the Tantric traditions were two separate strands, yet they both provided the base for a movement in the 10th and 11th century CE that led to the development of Hatha Yoga. The term “Hatha Yoga” appeared first in the Dattatreyayogashastra in the 13th century, but the Amritasiddhi from the 11th century already contained many of the principle and practices without calling them “Hatha”. Both texts added cleansing techniques, non-seated postures, complex methods of breath control and physical means of manipulating vital energy (mudras) to the older focus on meditation and absorption.
It may be useful to look at the two texts in more detail:
Amrtasiddhi
This 11th century text mentions, for the first time, terms like “mahabandha” (the great lock), “mahamudra” (the great seal) and “mahavedha” (the great piercing through). A central concept, which the Amrtasiddhi probably adopted from older practices, was the notion of “amrt” or “amrta”. Amrta is a life-supporting liquid that drops from the base of the skull, the “moon”, continually down into the “sun” of the belly where it burns away. The practices described in the text were designed to preserve this liquid. They incorporated elaborate ways of breathing such as directing the breath to the base of the spine where it “pierced” the central channel. The life-supporting liquid was then drawn back into the skull and life was thus prolonged. The text also incorporated bandhas and inversions which, in this context, were used to prevent the precious liquid from flowing downwards in the first place. The ultimate aim of the practices was to achieve immortality, the attainment of siddhis (powers) and the freeing of the person from rebirth.
It is assumed that the Amrtasiddhi was first written down by Tantric Buddhist yogis in the north of India, but that the practices were commonly used by other groups as well. Surprisingly, the Amritasiddhi also indicated that yoga was already open to lay people at this early stage.
Dattatreyayogashastra
This text, from the 13th century, mentioned the term “Hatha” explicitly for the first time. Like the Amrtasiddhi it listed mudras and bandhas and set out similar goals and aspirations. The Dattatreyayogashatra likely originated more from the ascetic tradition of the Shramanas. Despite this, the text indicated specifically that the practices were open to Buddhists, Jains, Hindu Brahmins and Tantrik Kapalikas alike.
The Dattatreyayogashatra described, in detail, practices such as the khecari mudra, vajroli, viparita karani and jalandhara, uddiyana and mula bandha. With regard to asanas, only one asana is named though, padmasana, the lotus pose. Among the pranayamas, nadishodhana (alternate nostril breathing) with retention after the in breath is specifically described. It is said to clean the nadis and bestow “a shiny and slim body”, while fanning the agni (fire) in the belly.
Other important yoga texts that appeared before the 15th century were the Vivekamartanda and the Gorakshashataka. Both were texts in which chakra and Kundalini were already a well-established part of the subtle anatomy of Hatha Yoga.[3]
On the subject of gender, it is interesting to note that, while most of the yoga texts refer to men, there are a few notable exceptions. The Arthashastra mentions female ascetics. The Yogayajnavalkya is a dialogue between a knowledgeable woman (Gargi) and a sage (Yajnavalkya). The Brahmayamala says that women are “well versed in samadhi, yoga and scriptural wisdom”. And the 14th century poet and wandering ascetic, Lalla, left songs that reveal a deep personal understanding of yoga practice and theory[4]
The Increase of Yoga Asanas
But to return to the timeline of classical texts — if we look at the yoga texts before the 15th century, we notice that few describe more than 5 asanas. A shift to more asana-oriented practices began with the Hathapradipika. Here 15 poses were mentioned. Then followed a steady increase of poses in the texts that were written down over the next three hundred years: Yogacintamani (35), Gherandasamhita (32), Hathabhyasapaddhati (112) and Sritattvanidhi (122).
This increase in poses signified a new trend. Hatha Yoga had adopted the Tantric understanding of substances and energies that flowed in the subtle system of nadis and chakras; but instead of using complex rituals and cults, it focused on increasingly physical means to control the flow of these energies. The texts envisioned an alchemy of the body that did not necessarily transcend one’s physical existence but instead made the body strong, invulnerable and sometimes immortal. Promises about freedom from illness and continual health existed in earlier texts but were mentioned only on the side.
In the Hathapradipika, these promises become a central argument. The older understandings of the flow of the life-supporting liquid (amrta) were still very important — bandhas, inversions and the kechari mudra were thought to prevent the flow of amrta/bindu into the fire in the belly — but the use of poses and the resulting health benefits become the central focus in the Hathapradipika. Verse 27 in Chapter 1, for example, points out that “this Matsyendrasana (twist) stimulates the appetite. It is a weapon which destroys a multitude of deadly diseases”.
The therapeutic effects are an innovation of Hatha Yoga. In addition, Hatha Yoga also invented the use of repetitive movement. Previously, only one or two (mostly seated) positions were held for a very long time. In the 18th century, the Hathatattvakaumudi (Moonlight on the Principles of Yoga) included, in its ninth chapter, repeated movements and pointed out that these repetitive movements are to be done prior to the practice of pranayama.
By the 19th century, we find texts like the Sritattvanidhi (Glorious Abode of Truth) which, in its last chapters, has descriptions and illustrations of 122 asanas.
In the 19th and early 20th century, when yoga went through its modern Renaissance, teachers like Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and Swami Kuvalyanada drew on the older texts that still centered on focus and absorption, but they also made heavy use of the more modern understandings of yoga that included physical asanas, repetitive movement and therapeutic application. From their traditions then derived the different styles of yoga that we are practicing today in North America.
To sum up, we could say that when we engage in our poses today, some part of our practice goes back to the observances of the Shramanas at the time of the Buddha, other parts are based on the discoveries of ritual Tantric yogis and 11th century understandings of life-supporting liquids and yet other parts deal with the transformation of the body as it is described in texts like the Hathapradipika and the Hathatattvakaumudi. When we do our practice, it may occasionally be helpful to reflect on these sources that feed our modern yoga.
Oda Lindner
Oda Lindner (E-RYT 500, MA) is a senior yoga teacher and instructor of yoga teachers who lives and works in Niagara on the Lake in Ontario.
[1] This article is based on some of my own studies of classical texts, on a particularly good and thorough book Roots of Yoga by J. Mallison and M. Singleton and on a German review article about the historical roots of yoga by I. Dalmann and M. Soder in Viveka (No. 57, 2018, p. 7ff).
[2] Most of these texts may have been older. Usually, they were transmitted from teacher to student by word of mouth. We can, however, only chronologically date them by the dates in which they were first written down.
[3] In the 15th century, we also find meditative texts such as the Jain Yogapradipa, which has an eight-fold system (although slightly differently organized than Patanjali’s) and focuses on aspects such as absorption (laya) and no-mind-state (unmanibhava).
[4] Naked Song by Lalla, transl. by C. Barks. Maypop books, Athens GA, 1992