How Long Has Yoga Been Around?

Proponents of yoga claim the activity gives the person an understanding of the natural order of the cosmos and illustrates the person's path to become one with the divine maker. The origins of the practice date to prehistory and, although scholars classify various types and forms of practices, individuals use yoga in a number of ways that fail to include the religious intent of the original practitioners.

Origin

The exact origins of yoga remain unknown, but historical records from the Far East from 2,000 years ago mention yoga. The texts used by yoga teachers come from translated Sanskrit documents. Although their interpretation and practice differs between individual teachers, the focus of traditional yoga practice rests on transcending this life to evolve into a reality with a higher being.

Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras

The physician Patanjali, known as the father of yoga, lived sometime between 200 B.C. and 200 A.D. He collected the sutra postures to guide people in healthy living. Although his written guide fails to describe or provide sketches of the sutras, followers since Patanjali's time have developed a posture for each sutra. The Yoga Sutras contain 196 sutras or positions, to guide the practitioner in meditation. The purposes of the sutras focus on thoughts to remove obstacles, avoiding ignorance, improving your imagination and memory and achieving higher knowledge and enlightenment.

Yoga Types

Hinduism notes four main paths to reach the true nature of the cosmos. The yogas, or ways to that true nature, include Karma, Jnana, Bhakti and Raja. The Bhagavad Gita describes Jnana, Karma and Bhakti, while the Yoga Sutra provides the elements for the Raja yoga. Control of the body, known as Hatha yoga, involves the physical exercise that is the most familiar manifestation of yoga. The Janana focuses on knowledge and uses a yogi or teacher, to lead the person in discovery of how the person's soul combines with the creator of the universe. Bhakti yoga asks the practitioner to focus on an intimate love and worship of one god. Karma yoga asks the follower to live without making any imprint on the world by following the path of one god or gaining knowledge of the true self. Raja Yoga, the royal yoga, uses meditation to discover the ultimate reality of the cosmos.

American Popularity

The practice of yoga in the United States dates to the early 20th century, when cultural exchanges began between yoga proponents from the Far East and a group of healthy-living advocates in America. Ida C. Craddock, the best-known early practitioner, opened the Church of Yoga in Chicago in 1899. Her activities earned her a host of arrests by law enforcement for "blasphemous obscenity." Craddock's church came under the scrutiny of Anthony Comstock, the head of the New York Society for the Suppression of Vice. Despite the persecution by Comstock, yoga practice took hold. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Americans paid in excess of $2.95 billion for yoga equipment and classes, and the discipline attracted approximately 16.5 million practitioners in 2006.