India, the world’s capital of yoga, has started a surge of this ancient practice in the health and fitness space across geographies in a big way now.
Yoga finds its early roots in the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India over 5,000 years ago. The word yoga first finds mention in the Rig Veda. Over time, the practice was refined and developed by the Brahmans and Rishis; these practices were documented in the Upanishads. Composed around 500 BCE the Bhagavad-Gîtâ is the most notable of the Yogic scriptures. The Upanishads shed light on the sacrifice of the ego through self-knowledge, action (karma yoga) and wisdom (jnana yoga).
Yoga’s Classical period is defined by Patanjali’s Yoga-Sûtras; written over 2,000 years ago, it marked the first systematic presentation of yoga. Patanjali is referred to as the father of yoga and his Yoga-Sûtras play a deeply influential role in defining most styles of modern yoga.The post-Classical Yoga period saw the emergence of Tantra Yoga, featuring radical techniques to cleanse the body and mind to break the knots that bind us to our physical existence. A further development resulted in the Hatha Yoga, associated with the teachings of T. Krishnamacharya, Swami Sivananda and B.K.S. Iyengar.
Yoga today is ranked as one of the world’s Top Ten fitness trends. There’s a host of yoga forms one can choose from — Pranayama, Hatha Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gyan Yoga and Raja Yoga and even Laughing Yoga and Dancing Yoga.
The virtues of this holistic ancient Indian wellness tradition have been documented in ancient times. This is a wonderful opportunity to take away a lifelong ancient Indian healing tradition under the mentorship of a yoga expert. Not only will you become more familiar with the philosophy behind the yogic practice, you will learn all about the different asanas (postures), pranayamas (breathing practices) etc, you will also be shown how to learn how to do it right-the techniques to get the optimum results.