Introduction:

The following is a generalized history of yoga that focuses primarily upon its physical orientation; and I fully acknowledge that yoga's actual history involves a complex spiritual evolution that has taken place over thousands of years. There is a more in-depth exploration of yoga's spiritual development and components in subsequent pages.

Throughout this website, I refer to yoga as a system primarily of physical exercises along with appropriate breath management that is designed to bring the practitioner toward a balance of body, mind, and spirit.

The word, yoga, is derived from Sanskrit, one of the world's most ancient languages. In its simplicity, yoga means: "a bringing together of the parts in order to create a union or balance of a person's body, mind, and spirit."

Our contemporary western concept of yoga has little, if anything, to do with anyone's religion or belief system. However, it must be said that our contemporary western approach to yoga is but a small part of the original "yoga" that developed thousands of years ago in India, and is still being taught throughout the world.

It is said that many thousands of years ago in India, various orders of high Hindu priests developed parallel concepts of yoga. They were ascetics, living a strict and disciplined lifestyle. Through the millennia and particularly in the south of India, the "yogis" as they were known, were vegetarians, wore minimal clothing, and lived literally close to the earth learning directly from nature.

In addition to their many other disciplined and spiritual practices, these spiritual ancients observed that in nature, the bodies of animals were almost always perfectly balanced. They exhibited profound flexibility, strength and endurance and were always living in balance with their environment. 

When hungry, animals ate. When tired, they rested. And when injured, animals sought refuge in a quiet place and stayed until they healed, or died. Animals, the yogis observed, showed little fear or anxiety; but when they did, it didn't last long because animals, they surmised, did not appear to worry about the past or future.

From generation to generation, for thousands of years, and in concert with a deeply involved system of spiritual practices, "exercising the body in order to center the mind," was only a small component of the yogis' practice and teaching.

Through millennia, however, various yogis developed and codified a system of physical practices that emulated the perfection of nature. Their ancient yoga texts described how their intense practices both enhanced health and spirituality, thereby allowing them to merge with Universal Consciousness.

Historically, these ancient people lived in totally protected religious environments spending virtually all of their time in devotional prayer that included the exercises. It is important to note that until the beginning of the twentieth century, all yogis were devout practicing Hindu "priests"; which is not true today. Modern evolutionary approaches to yoga have created clear delineations between the Hindu religion and the practice of yoga.

Therefore, throughout the remainder of this website, I shall define yoga to mean simply, "a movement toward union or balance." So, let's repeat and make it very clear that my use of the term yoga in and of itself, has absolutely nothing to do with Hinduism or with anyone's religion.

OK, getting back to that ancient priest class in India: Because of their highly protected life-style and because most of them were devout vegetarians living in a tropical environment, their bodies were extraordinarily supple. Kind of like Gumby, which is to say, their bodies were not at all like today's often uptight, often injured, and usually stressed-out-to-the-max western bodies.

As previously stated, through the eons many forms and approaches to yoga had developed, but only a few became popular in the West. Historically, most approaches to yoga focused upon various forms of devotional prayer while only some focused upon physical exercises and breath management.

Let's now fast forward to the beginning of the twentieth century. History records that several Hindu yoga-masters traveled to the west in order to share their religious and cultural beliefs. Having their faith and thousands of years of yogic practices behind them, these yoga disciples, or Swamis as they were called, began to lecture and teach. 

The Swamis initiated a number of different approaches to yoga; most were Hindu based spiritual practices with many of them incorporating the physical components of yoga. In actuality, the physical components of yoga were but a small part of their overall teachings, yet there were a few Swamis who more or less specialized in the physically-oriented approach to yoga. Thus, yoga came to the west and again, because its original proponents were Hindu based, it is understandable why yoga had become associated with the Hindu religion.

In our western youth-oriented society, the most popular forms of yoga being taught today are combinations of yoga exercises and breath management known as Hatha Yoga, or simply, yoga. Although there are many popular styles of yoga ranging from the restorative and quiet, all the way to extreme forms of physically challenging yoga; all are based upon ancient exercises and all incorporate some aspects of breath management. When yoga exercises are appropriately practiced in combination with breath management,  enhanced physical, emotional and spiritual health results.

And herein lies yoga's potential problem and the reason for this entire website. Because hatha yoga was originally but a small component of the entire system and because hatha yoga was practiced by people living a totally different lifestyle within a totally different culture from westerners today, the more traditional or classical approach to hatha yoga and breathing exercises offers a potential liability to a western body. 

On the other hand, the entire purpose of this website is to understand and to adapt yoga exercise and breath management in accordance with known physiological principles and laws in order to maximize yoga's potential and minimize its liability.

Let's begin by looking at what I believe is the one most important concept in yoga:

The Operative Word of Yoga is "Toward."