While you were down there you also heard something about cultural appropriation, but you were gasping for breath and couldnt quite make it out. Yoga, tantra and other forms of asian meditation are. They date from the vedic period, which began in 1500 bce. Roots of yoga is a book of commentary and translations from over 100 ancient and medieval yoga texts, mainly written in sanskrit but. He has authored two yoga books and has written over 500 articles on the practice and philosophy of yoga.
Despite the immense popularity of yoga today, there is surprisingly little knowledge of its roots among practitioners. The yoga has its roots in indian philosophy from ancient times. Mallinson, sir james, singleton, mark, mallinson, sir james, singleton, mark. I have read other books by ramesh bjonnes and have found them to be well researched, full of very useful information and in some ways life changing. Ancient origins articles related to yoga in the sections of history, archaeology, human origins, unexplained, artifacts, ancient places and myths and legends. Historians arent entirely sure when the notion or practice of yoga first appeared, and its often left to debate. Narendra modi, the prime minister of india, praises the gita as indias biggest gift to the world.
He even reveals the mystery behind the obscure yogic text, the yoga korunta, which is said to have been the origin of the ashtanga series taught by revelatory 20th century master, krishnamacharya, to pattabhi jois and other prominent students. The origins of yoga and tantra goodreads share book. This comprehensive history sets yoga in its global cultural context for the first. We see ample evidence of the vedic origin of yoga at the very beginning of the written tradition, in one of the oldest extant books, the ramayana, authored some 7,000 years ago. The origins of yoga have been speculated to date back to prevedic indian traditions. Roots of yoga penguin classics mallinson, james, singleton, mark isbn. The story of yoga by alistair shearer the story of yoga pushes the view that postural yoga was introduced by the british raj and that it had no real origins in india. The ramayana is an allegory for the principles of yogic living, with many yogic lessons presented throughout this epic masterpiece.
Despite yogas huge global popularity, relatively little of its roots is known among practitioners. The term yoga, however, is found in ancient indias earliest known scripts the vedas. Hinduism is a compilation of many traditions and philosophies and is considered by many scholars to be the worlds oldest religion, dating back more than 4,000 years. Gary kraftsow, the founder of viniyoga, may be remembered as the author of yoga for wellness, a seminal book about applying the tools of yoga in a therapeutic context. Though many including me would like to believe the story that krishnamacharya learned the text from his guru and passed it on to his own students, we must make room for the very real possibility that even luminaries like krishnamacharya were. Estimated conirmed yoga is hugely popular around the world today, yet until now little has been known of its roots. The origins of modern posture practice is an outstanding scholarly work which brings so much insight and clarity to the historic and cultural background of modern hatha yoga. The development of yoga can be traced back to over 5,000 years ago, but some researchers think that yoga may be up to 10,000 years old old.
The origins of modern posture practice caused a minor maelstrom, sucking you down into the possibility that everything youd come to believe about yoga through its modern advertising might be a myth. I highly recommend this book, especially for all sincere students of yoga. Ancient teachings and practices for healing the body, mind, and heart by gary kraftsow. Forget everything you thought you knew about yoga history. Shearers remarkable book is a wideranging and rather sobering discussion on. The science of yoga has its origin thousands of years ago, long before the first religions or belief systems were born. Excellent book for us as occidentals who were raised in a judeochristian society to understand the philosophy and history of indian thought. Yoga s long rich history can be divided into four main periods of innovation, practice and development. It was a text describing an early 20thcentury danish system of dynamic exercise called primitive gymnastics. The practice of yoga is believed to have started with the very dawn of civilization.
But one might argue that yoga for transformation, which makes profound practices and abstruse ideas readily available to readers, is an even greater work. In 2010 they handed it off to mark singleton, whose publication of yoga body. The origins of modern posture practice, singleton concludes that krishnamacharyas method was a synthesis of several extant methods of. This book explains the chronology of the history of yoga. In the yogic lore, shiva is seen as the first yogi or adiyogi, and the first guru or adi guru.