History: Roots of Yoga
Researching yoga’s 5,000 year old history parallels yoga practice – dates are inexact, opinions vary, and it is difficult to pinpoint specifics. But just like yoga practice, the exterior surface of historical facts and figures is not as important as the overall sensation history reveals. Scholars and researchers have provided us with a feel for the creation and evolution of yoga – where its basic concepts may have originated and how those ideas developed into the many styles and techniques we call yoga today.
Timeline
| Animism | 4000 BCE |
| Indus Valley Civilization | 4000 – 2000 BCE |
| Vedic Period | 2000 – 200 BCE |
| Brahmanas | 900 – 700 BCE |
| Aranyakas | 700 – 600 BCE |
| Upanishads | 600 – 300 BCE |
BCE – Before Common Era (BC)
CE – Common Era (AD)