Yoga

Large outdoor concrete statue; see caption
Statue of Shiva performing yoga in the lotus position

Yoga[a] (/ˈjɡə/;[1] Sanskrit: योग, Sanskrit pronunciation: [joːɡɐ] , lit. "yoke" or "union") is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines that originated in ancient India, aimed at controlling body and mind to attain various salvation goals,[2][3][4][b] as practiced in the Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist traditions.[5][6]

Yoga may have pre-Vedic origins,[c] but is first attested in the early first millennium BCE. It developed as various traditions in the eastern Ganges basin drew from a common body of practices, including Vedic elements.[7][8] Yoga-like practices are mentioned in the Rigveda[9] and a number of early Upanishads,[10][11][12][d] but systematic yoga concepts emerge during the fifth and sixth centuries BCE in ancient India's ascetic and Śramaṇa movements, including Jainism and Buddhism.[13] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the classical text on Hindu yoga, samkhya-based but influenced by Buddhism, dates to the early centuries of the Common Era.[14][15][e] Hatha yoga texts began to emerge between the ninth and 11th centuries, originating in tantra.[f]

Yoga is practiced worldwide,[16] but "yoga" in the Western world often entails a modern form of Hatha yoga and a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique,[17] consisting largely of asanas;[18] this differs from traditional yoga, which focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments.[19][17][20][a] It was introduced by gurus from India after the success of Swami Vivekananda's adaptation of yoga without asanas in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[21] Vivekananda introduced the Yoga Sutras to the West, and they became prominent after the 20th-century success of hatha yoga.[22]


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  1. ^ OED 0000.
  2. ^ Bowker 2000, p. entry "Yoga".
  3. ^ Keown 2004, p. entry "Yoga".
  4. ^ Johnson 2009, p. entry "Yoga".
  5. ^ Carmody & Carmody 1996, p. 68.
  6. ^ Sarbacker 2005, pp. 1–2.
  7. ^ Crangle 1994, pp. 1–6.
  8. ^ Crangle 1994, pp. 103–138.
  9. ^ Werner 1977.
  10. ^ Deussen 1997, p. 556.
  11. ^ Ayyangar 1938, p. 2.
  12. ^ Ruff 2011, pp. 97–112.
  13. ^ Samuel 2008, p. 8.
  14. ^ Bryant 2009, p. xxxiv.
  15. ^ Desmarais 2008, p. 16–17.
  16. ^ BBC 2017.
  17. ^ a b Burley 2000, pp. 1–2.
  18. ^ History 2019.
  19. ^ King 1999, p. 67.
  20. ^ Jantos 2012, pp. 362–363.
  21. ^ White 2011, p. xvi–xvii, 2.
  22. ^ White 2014, pp. xvi–xvii.

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