The History of Hatha Yoga

A Connect-the-Dots Short History of Yoga

by Eric Shaw, MA.RS, MA.SE, MA.AS, E-RYT-500

 The earliest evidence of yoga posture comes from a small steatite seal dated to 2900 BCE found in the ruins of northwest India’s Indus-Sarasvati Civilization. The seal seems to show a yogi in Mulabhandasana (seated, knees bent toes pointed down or backward). “He” Sits on a throne, as totem animals float about him. This is called the “Pashupati” (Lord of the Animals) seal and the kingly posture of the figure suggests that yoga may have had primal power and cultural resonance in that day.

 In India’s subsequent Aryan culture, the scriptural Rg Veda (c. 1200 BCE) gives a set of stanzas about the Kesins (long-hairs) who “ride on the wind” cavort with “heavenly girls” and hang out with Rudra (a forerunner of Shiva) and Kunamnama (a possible forerunner of Shakti). Many of the elements of the yogi and Tantrik traditions are found in these lines.

 In India’s Axial Age (beginning c. 700 BCE) the scriptural Upanishads redirected the knowledge of the Vedas and described the law of karma. This reflected a new existential condition for Indians living on the Gangetic plain where the mahajanapadas (a second set of cities that followed the Indus-Sarasvati cultures) rose up. Market forces and powerful kingships changed society, and Buddhism challenged the existing Brahmanic traditions. In the 13 primary Upanishads we witness the development of a New Brahmanical Synthesis—a fresh yoga tradition complete with individualized practices, an understanding of karma, and a re-visioned world.

 Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Bhagavad Gita (both c. 300 CE) summarized the Upanishadic tradition but in divergent ways. In a depersonalized voice, the Sutras outlined the anatomy of the mind, and yoga’s methods and rewards. The YS is little more than a yoga manual—albeit an elegant and powerful one that resonates through the centuries. The Gita is richer fare. It is framed by a heroic story and speaks specifically to the Indian householder by describing the yogas of jnana (study), raja (meditation), karma (action) and bhakti (devotion). The latter two yogas are given pride of place. The Gita opened up avenues to salvation for all castes and presented new options for householder sadhana (spiritual practice). Krishna’s powerful persona was highlighted and became the object of a personal puja (devotional ritual) tradition that continues to this day.

 Tantra (c. 450 CE onward) evolved the practice traditions the Gita and Sutras represented. Tantra developed themes of bhakti, freedom from caste, and variability in practice options. It was pushed forward by both Buddhism and the Saivite cults of Hinduism (i.e., the worshippers of Shiva). Tantra put key emphasis on guru-diksha (initiation), and mantra, and exalted the Goddess while introducing antinomian practices—behaviors and rituals that went against societal norms, i.e. sacred sex outside marriage, the consumption of taboo substances, and intentionally rude behavior. Changing the “social mind” was seen as a key to spiritual revelation.

 Tantra made both the world and the body divine. The energy of the goddess, Shakti or Shri, permeated everything and the possibility of jivanmukti (enlightenment in this lifetime) was emphasized. The subtle body was mapped and techniques for Kundalini arousal were advanced. In the final stage of the Tantrik period we get the systemization of asana and its attendant practices (e.g. pranayama, (breath control), shatkarma (internal cleansing), dristi (eye gazing), etc.) as parts of Hatha Yoga (a yoga of “force,” a yoga of powerful action in the body) through the foundational work of Gorakhnath, (c. 1300 CE) who is seen as the originator of the tradition.

 In the late Middle Ages and early modern period (c. 1000 onward) India was raided and then ruled by Muslim and European powers. The society went into an extended depression that many Indians still believe it is waking up from. In these years, Tantrik yoga thrived, utilized by kings and commoners for its supernatural possibilities (clairvoyance, martial magic, etc.) as well as for its path to liberation. Muslim rulers broke the institutional structures that had supported Tantra, and those formerly in power at court formed a religious diaspora that reverted to the social system of outcaste guru kulas—small guru-student groups. Scattered saints rise into prominence in these years and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, Siva Samhita and Gheranda Samhita and other Hatha Yoga practice manuals were composed.

 The subcontinent of India has been subdivided into regional powers for most of its history. During Muslim rule, this didn’t change much, as diverse Sultans contended with persistent Hindu kings, European powers or one another. The instability of regional governments and the persistence of inter-state warfare created a market for a vagabond soldiery that was filled by yogis. Enlightened saints like Tukaramm, Ramananda and others still made important contributions to society, but garden variety yogis—hardened by austerities, celibacy and mental training—made ideal soldiers. Bands of ascetics roamed the countryside in the centuries before and during early British rule, sometimes lead by dreadlocked warlords. They exacted tribute from traders and citizens and fought as mercenaries in the lucrative martial labor market of the era.

 In 1893 Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902) refreshed the yogik tradition and conveyed it to the West. He had limited respect for the postures of Hatha Yoga, but he taught them—as well as pranayama, meditation, mantra and yoga philosophy. Significantly, Vivekananda brought the Yoga Sutras to wide audiences in his translation, Raja Yoga of 1896. From his example, and the raised confidence of Indians in the midst of their push for political independence, many swamis travelled west to teach yoga, adapting their practices to their new setting. In the early 20th century, such Indians as Sri Krishnamacharya, Sri Yogendra and Swami Kuvalayananda helped spark a Hatha Yoga Renaissance in their own land. They made popular forms of Hatha designed for health and exercise. Surya Namaskara was added to the practice, and yoga struggled toward legitimacy in an age dominated by the worldwide departure from both feudal thinking and religious formulas for living.

 Krishnamacarya emerged from this large pack of Yoga Renaissance teachers to leave a lasting legacy—mainly through the work of his brother-in-law BKS Iyengar. Iyengar made a previously specious practice agreeable. He presented yoga as beautiful, healthful and scientific. His brilliant teaching raised a cadre of inspired Indian and non-Indian teachers. After his stunning Light on Yoga (pub. 1966 in the US) showed the world the deeper possibilities of yoga asana, budding yogis flocked to his classrooms in Pune, India and the wider world. Asana became king in the 20th century and Hatha’s other, more esoteric practices were de-emphasized.

 In 1975, Nancy Gilgoff and David Williams brought K. Pattabhi Jois to Encinitas, California, sparking the vinyasa yoga revolution. Tim Miller—following a cue from Roger Cole—famously “free-associated” the yoga flows, and athletic, free-style vinyasa practices soon dominated the expanding yoga culture of the the go-go ‘80s. Bikram Choudhury’s punishing hot yoga also bloomed in these years. Suddenly, yoga had become sweaty and manly—it gained a more yang, American style. Both men and women flocked to it, and yoga became a workout option in gyms and specialized studios worldwide.

 In the 1990s, increased incomes and the rise of superstar teachers served to glamorize yoga and expand its appeal. John Friend re-codified Iyengar’s arguably geometric alignment method to follow more organic shapes in nature and threaded this system into a worldwide yoga movement that emphasized positivity, openness, and community. As a new millennium dawned, Yoga Journal became the flagship magazine of the tradition, publishing worldwide. It also hosted high-energy yoga conferences that entwined yoga with popular culture and these became a model for yoga gatherings around the globe. The tradition directed itself toward new exoteric forms of yoga practice that integrated wisdom from dance, martial arts, allopathic medicine and alternative arts for healing.

 In the new millennium, these forces have continued to take hold, as yoga’s legitimacy has made it commonplace in corporate workout rooms, allowed open- minded doctors to prescribe it and encouraged Madison Avenue to apply it as a meme to sell cars, clothes, medicines and foods. At the same time, commodities from socks to specialty mats, to funky straps, to designer bolsters have birthed a Yoga Industry whose trade fairs are found in a the year-round yoga convention circuit winding through the developed nations. Certification programs in yoga teaching have proliferated and elaborated themselves since 2000, and yoga certificate programs are now common and even yielding to MA degrees in yoga. The practice has hybridized with acrobatics, watersports and weightlifting and become a mainstay of prisons, parochial schools and recovery programs. The elites of the world’s advancing economies are flocking to studios in Shanghai, Dubai and Singapore or escaping the cities for yoga retreats in places such as Chiang Mai, Bali, or the Greek Islands. Every year, yoga claims more acreage in the paradigm of Postmodern culture. With its ethics, holism and emphasis on activism, it is a new international demi-religion. It has threaded itself into world society and—in its own way—is re-wiring it.

 Rooted in profound traditions and continually adapting to social change, yoga has affirmed its value across geography, demography and history. With its welter of philosophies, innumerable innovators, and hundreds of new applications, it’s future, like its past, looks very bright indeed.