A brief history of yoga — part one
We are in an age of tik tok, of sound bites, our attention spans limited to minutes. So perhaps a (relatively) brief history, and an equally truncated introduction to the philosophy that underpins the 3000 or so year old roots of yoga is, in fact, the most appropriate way to communicate the most essential aspects of this fascinating tradition.
Before I begin, I need to acknowledge some of the main works and authors who have influenced my own understanding. They include Alistair Shearer’s book, The Story of Yoga, Edwin Bryant’s commentary on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and Eknath Easwaran’s translation and introduction to both the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. The brilliant Georg Feuerstein’s research and writings influenced me early on, and James Malinson’s work on mediaeval yoga is unsurpassed. Mark Singleton’s The Yoga Body, along with recent books like Carrerre’s Yoga and Jason Birch’s paper on ‘The meaning of Hatha in early Hatha Yoga” have all helped me see how postural work took over the meaning of yoga for most of the modern era, something I am setting out here to challenge …
Devdutt Pattanaik writes about Indian mythology and the importance of myth and since we’re all storytellers, engaged in telling ourselves the story of who we are and what is going on, understanding the myths and metaphors that yoga abounds in is very important to how we tell…
