Yoga

Yoga is an old discipline from India. It is both spiritual and physical. Yoga uses breathing techniques, exercise and meditation. It helps to improve health and happiness. Yoga is the Sanskrit word for union. Patanjali was a pioneer of classical yoga. He defined yoga as "the cessation of the modification of the mind". (stopping changing the mind). A person doing yoga will move from one posture (called asana) to another. For example, the "sun-salutation" contains 12 poses of asanas, one after the other, and is said to help balance body and soul. The "sun-salutation" is popularly known as "Suryanamaskar".

History

Yoga was introduced by Indian Ascetic . Ascetic practices (tapas) are referenced in the Brāhmaṇas (900 to 500 BC), early commentaries on the Vedas. Several seals discovered at Indus Valley Civilization (~3300–1700 B.C.) sites in Pakistan depict figures in positions resembling a common yoga or meditation pose. The pose shows "a form of ritual discipline, suggesting a precursor of yoga", according to archaeologist Gregory Possehl. Scholars think there must be some type of connection between the Indus Valley seals and later yoga and meditation practices, though there is no conclusive evidence.

• Jonathan Mark Kenoyer describes one figure as "seated in yogic position".
• Karel Werner writes that " Archeological discoveries allow us therefore to speculate with some justification that a wide range of Yoga activities was already known to the people of pre-Aryan India".

Hatha yoga 

Hatha yoga is a branch of Yoga, one of the six schools of Hinduism. The Sanskrit word haṭha literally means "force" and thus alludes to a system of physical techniques. In India hatha yoga is associated in popular tradition with the 'Yogis' of the Natha Sampradaya through its mythical founder Matsyendranath. Matsyendranath, also known as Minanath or Minapa in Tibet, is celebrated as a saint in both Buddhist and Hindu tantric and hatha yoga schools. However, James Mallinson associates hatha yoga with the Dashanami Sampradaya and the mystical figure of Dattatreya. According to the Dattatreya Yoga Śastra, there are two forms of hatha yoga: one practiced by Yajñavalkya consisting of the eight limbs of ashtanga yoga and another practiced by Kapila consisting of eight mudras. Currently, the oldest dated text to describe hatha yoga, the 11th century CE Amṛtasiddhi, comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the actual verbiage of hatha are also Vajrayana Buddhist. In the 20th century, hatha yoga, particularly asanas (the physical postures), became popular throughout the world as a form of physical exercise, and is now colloquially termed simply as "yoga."