The Psychedelic Origins of Yoga
Before Yoga, There were Mushrooms
It’s difficult to imagine modern yoga, with its instagram-glamorization of half-naked western models performing artistically-crafted body postures on mountain tops, to have psychedelic roots. It’s honestly kind of comical to imagine today’s modernized exercise frenzy as beginning with India sadhus drinking psychoactive blends, conversing with Indra and mentally journeying to dimensions beyond. How times have changed!
Though commonly associated with exercise and the philosophical connection to source or “oneness”, could yoga be in fact founded through the use of psychedelics? Some theorists think so. Among other scholars that have similar theories, Wendy Doniger writes about sacrificial soma rituals, common in Vedic times[1].
The Vedic sutras and Ayurvedic texts, describe a sacred drink called soma rasa, said to beget eternal life. Soma rasa, also called…
