The history of yoga has shown that yoga exercises are effective in losing weight and keeping yourself healthy. Lots of celebrities, movies stars and sportsperson are into yoga to get rid of the extra pounds, as a form of relaxation and mediation, getting back to their old healthy self and improving their suppleness and nimbleness. It is currently the vogue that practically all fitness center island wide are including yoga as part of it routine and enticing every gym going public to make use of it. In the midst of all the hoopla about yoga, it is essential to realize the history of yoga, the past and it present. A full appreciation of the history of yoga is vital for those who intend to take it up.
The History of Yoga – Past
The history of yoga dated back eight thousand years ago and yoga exercises can be found deep into the people of Indus Valley Civilization and the Vedic Civilization. Even before that, traces of yoga practices and the history of yoga are known to exist much earlier than the formation of the Vedas in the Indian subcontinent. As such, the history of yoga could be more than eight thousand years whichever way historians would like to interpret the history of yoga and the Mohenjo-Daro seals.
Other historians choose to think that the history of yoga only form about four thousand year back, the main reason because that was the period of Vedic shastras or the text of Hindu religion which yoga evidently was based on. There are still some Vedic scholars who point out that the practice and history of yoga can be found in ancient Hindu text, known as Rig Veda and it plainly laid out on yoking the mind and provides a perspective into the Sun of Truth. All the known practitioners of yoga such as Vasishta, Yajnavalkya, and Jaigishavya were all eminent Vedic sages. The key principle to practicing yoga is to bring together the mind, body, and soul as one vast celestial and the history of yoga together with the observations existed in the relevant texts of Hinduism, Upanishads or Vedanta, and sayings on the Vedas.
The History of Yoga – Present
Presently, yoga is picking up and enjoyed by countries in the west but it is mainly the physical poses that are practiced, completely separated from the intended aims in which the history of yoga expounded. The rough figure is about thirty million yoga practitioners in United States of America, mainly focusing on hatha yoga, hugely popular practice which can be traced back to India in the fifteen century Practitioners in the west have abandoned the spiritual side and concentrate mainly on the physical aspects comprising poses and breathing. To other, yoga is a religion and history of yoga can testify to it but western followers keep apart the spiritual side and focus on the physical exercises to achieve physical, emotional and mental health.