Study Slides

Classifying Yoga:

Its Three Major Types

via Feuerstein’s studies in

Indian Religiosity

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The Big Three

BoughsHindu Yoga

Buddhist Yoga Jaina Yoga

(after India’s 3 major religions)

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The Seven Major Hindu Yoga Forms (Branches on the Hindu

Bough)Karma Yoga (Selfless Action Yoga)

Jnana Yoga (Wisdom Yoga)

Bhakti Yoga (Devotional Yoga)

Mantra Yoga (Sound Yoga)

Tantra Yoga (Continuity Yoga)

Raja Yoga (a.k.a. Classical Yoga or Patanjali Yoga)

Hatha Yoga (Forceful Yoga)

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Yoga History

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Where did it start? When? And how do we know?

Case #1:

Where: India’s Indus Valley Mohenjo-Daro peoples

when: 5,000 + years ago

evidence: archeological artifacts: yoga seal

Case #2:

Where? India’s Vedic peoples (NW India)

when: 3,500 + years ago

evidence: oral tradition>text: ‘yuj’

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Mohenjo-Daro and the Pashupati Seal

archeological evidence of yoga’s 5,000 plus year-old history: soapstone seal (2”x2”) of a yogic figure

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The Vedastextual evidence of

yoga’s 3,500 plus year-old history: the word ‘yoga’ appears as kin

word ‘yuj’

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Yoga HistoryPart I: Premodern Yoga History

Archaic/Vedic Epoch

Pre-Classical Epoch

Classical Epoch

Post-Classical (to 15th Century) Epoch

Part II: Modern Yoga History

Post-Classical (15th Century to Present) Epoch

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because much of yoga history starts in

literature…

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The Four Big Texts/Text Families Regarding Hindu Yoga

The Vedas: oldest world’s literature; enormous canon: songs, prayers, chants (Hinduism)

The Upanishads/part of the later Vedas: also enormous canon (Hinduism/Neo-Hinduism)

The Bhagavad Gita: “Song of the Lord”/part of poem cycle 10x longer than Homer’s Epics

The Sutras: 196 verses/stitches/aphorisms on yoga

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Part I: Premodern Yoga History

4500-1500 B.C.E.: Archaic Epoch (sometimes known as Vedic). Text: The Vedas

1500 B.C.E.-200 C.E: Pre-Classical Epoch. Texts: The Upanishads and The Gita

200-B.C.E.-200 C.E.: Classical Epoch. Text: The Sutras

200 C.E. to 15th Century: Post-Classical Epoch. Text: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika

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Premodern Yoga History: Archaic Epoch

4500-1500 B.C.E.

The Vedas/The Rig Veda: first evidence of ‘yoga’”

2900-1900 B.C.E. Mohenjo-Daro civilization

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Premodern Yoga History: Pre-Classical Epoch

1500 B.C.E.-200 B.C.E.

The Upanishads are created

‘Yoga’ appears in the Katha-Upanishad (possibly as old as 1500 B.C.E.).

The Bhagavad Gita, 1,500-1,200 B.C.E., a poetic epic, is a yoga tale

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Sanskrit

1500 B.C.

Premodern Yoga History: Classical Epoch

200-B.C.E.-200 C.E.

The Yoga Sutra by Patanjali

Buddha

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Premodern Yoga History: Post-Classical (to 15th C.) Epoch

200 C.E. to present

500 C.E.: The birth of Tantra/Hatha

15th Century: The Hatha Yoga Pradipika

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Yoga HistoryPart I: Premodern Yoga History

Archaic Pre-Classical

Classical

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Yoga Philosophy

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“Save the drowning and tie your shoestrings.”

–Henry David Thoreau

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India’s Six Systems of Philosophy

Yoga: refining self perceptions

Sankhya (a.k.a. Samkhya): realities that need merging

other four:

Vedanta: ‘the end of knowledge’ (informed by Upanishad {later Vedas} texts)

Nyaya: reason

Vaisheshika: object differentiation

Karma Mimansa: reflection, philosophy of language

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So Far, Philosophically

The three major types (boughs) of yoga and their many forms (branches) and those branches’ many yoga styles and systems (leaves—we haven’t even talked about them yet!) are ancient and rooted in language, scholasticism, literature, religion, and practice .

In addition to this vast yoga tree, yoga is a philosophical study in and of itself in a family of five more that informs and is informed by all that the yoga tree contains: Indian religious assimilation/affiliation, and of course the evolution of yoga.

One can be a student of yoga and never practice ‘yoga’ as we have come to know it.

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“If any country has considered {the} quest of {self and reality} to be the central purpose of

human life, it is India.”–Alistair Shearer

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Major Terms: Yoga Philosophy

The Jiva: the current physical state of the eternal soul. The Jiva has three bodies:

Gross Body—born and dies

Subtle Body—eternal (mind, energy, intellect)

Causal Body—eternal (bliss)

Koshas : five layers of the three Jiva bodies

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Close Up…

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The five koshas (layers) of the

jiva’s three bodies

Major Terms: Yoga Philosophy

Jiva: the current being with three bodies (gross, subtle, causal)

Koshas: five layers comprising the jiva’s three bodies

Moksha: Jiva’s liberated state from the five koshas

Maya: the physical world the jiva faces

Gunas: Rajas, Tamas, Sattva: the three physical states of the Maya

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Major Terms: Yoga Philosophy

Moksha: Jiva’s liberation from Maya

Maya: the physical world as experienced by the jiva

The qualities of maya are called gunas. There are three:

Rajas: activity

Tamas: inactivity

Sattva: the balance between Rajas and Tamas

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Major Terms: Yoga Philosophy

Kleshas: five sheaths or poisons that veil the light from us (Buddhism, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

Ashtanga: the eight limbs of yoga (The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali)

Dualism: one and the divine are separate

Non-Dualism: one and the divine are one.

2 pairings of one and the divine:

Atma: the current being and Brahma: the eternal/divine state

Prakriti: the ‘soup’ of matter, the mundane and Parusha: the eternal/divine state

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Yoga Philosophy in our Training

The Subtle Body: Yoga uses the physical body to awaken and keep awake in us our subtle bodies. From there transformation occurs

We have ancient mappings of the subtle body contained within the physical

Some believe the fascia and connective tissue is where consciousness/Self/divinity resides

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