From the legendary first yoga teacher Harang Yaga, to the founder of Buddhism, Buddha, from the father of yoga, Patanjali, to the first popularizer of Hada Yoga, Swata Mojuma, from Krishna Macha, the modern revivalist of yoga, to Swami Landfu, who combined breath control and Ayurvedic medicine to treat patients... Yoga was brought from as far away as India to the rest of the world, from a secret way of practicing to a means of public health. These masters illuminate the path of future generations with eternal brilliance, they are the stars that will never fall in the long river of yoga history!
Important early figures
1. The earliest propagator of HarangAga Yoga
Hiranyagarbha, also known as the "Golden Tire", is a legendary figure, although there is no way to know his identity or the time of his existence, but when it comes to the history of yoga, we must start with him. In the Vedas, the Upanishads, and other texts, different philosophers claim that Harangaga was the first to pioneer the practice of yoga, that he was the first teacher of yoga, and that he inspired all the philosophers who later preached or wrote about yoga. In India's most famous epic story, the Mahabharata, it is said that Halangaga is the oldest preacher of yoga.
The yoga legend of Hiranyagarbha is also called "golden tire".
2. The Buddha introduced the idea of Vipassana
In India in the 6th century BC, two great men were born. One is the well-known Buddha, and the other is Mahavira, the progenitor of the Jain tradition in India. The Buddha's teachings can be summarized as the "Four Noble Truths: Suffering, Collection, Annihilation, and the Tao." Both systems of the Buddha's teachings are widely known throughout the world. One is called Vipassana and the other is called Samapatti, which includes the famous Anapanasati. In addition to this, the Buddha established a basic framework of monasticism called the Noble Eightfold Path, in which the "right life" and "right effort" are somewhat similar to the precepts and perseverance in Shengwang Yoga.
Founder of Jainism in India: Nobita Mahavira
Ancient Buddhism was widely popular, and the meditation-based Buddhist practice spread to most of Asia, and Buddhist meditation was not limited to some monks and monks (Sadhus), but also practiced by many families. Due to the widespread spread of Buddhism, meditation became popular on the Indian continent, and later from the late 10th to the beginning of the 13th century, Turkic Muslims from Central Asia continued to invade India and settle there. They dealt a heavy blow to Buddhism and forced Indians to convert to Islam by violence and economic means. By the beginning of the 13th century, Buddhism was dying out in India. In China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, the Buddhist tradition of meditation has been preserved and developed.
Statue of Buddha in Bodh Gaya, India
In the primitive Buddhist system, in order to get rid of suffering and happiness, the highest level of the method taught by the Buddha is "Vipassana", that is, the contemplation of one's own body and mind phenomena as it is, as it is. In this way, we can gain insight into the law of dependent arising, thus extinguishing attachment to the five aggregates of the body and mind, attaining spiritual peace and joy, and liberating ourselves from defilements and sufferings. This unique way of "Vipassana" can be said to be his pioneering work. Buddhism believes that "silence" can be used as the basis for "Vipassana," and that through "stillness" the mind can become focused and powerful, thus providing better awareness of Vipassana.
In the Buddha's view, traditional Yoga in India is only the category of "silence", and through the practice of "silence", "magical powers" (special functions) will emerge, or "meditation pleasures" and "mystical consciousness" will be obtained. However, in the Buddha's view, these are not the ultimate goals, but the most important thing is to effectively end the painful state of mind and body. Therefore, Buddhist yoga is very closely related to today's psychological treatment.
<h1>Ten important figures in the later history of yoga</h1>
1. Patanjali: The founder of yoga
The Bhagavad-gita was the first yoga book, and the Yoga Sutra was another foundational work after the Bhagavad Gita, whose author, Pantajali, is known as the father of yoga for this work.
Patanga used the essential form to spread yoga through essentials, which had a huge impact on the widespread spread of yoga. The method he uses in yoga is to achieve a state of balance and harmony between body, mind and soul through spiritual purification. So his definition of yoga is: "Yoga is the cessation of thought fluctuations." ”
The Yoga Sutra, divided into four chapters: Samadhi, Practice, Achievement, and Liberation, has 196 proverbs and is the first actionable book for the daily practice of yoga. The book begins with the principle of man's conduct in society until he finally becomes enlightened. The Yoga Sutra sets the culmination of the idea of number theory and the yoga school of practice, stipulating that the "eight branches" (which collectively make up the "Ashtanga" yoga) are strictly observed to meditate, and the purpose of which is to achieve the liberation of "solitary existence" and return to the infinite + god and self. The eight branches are the eight ways of practicing yoga: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi.
In fact, his "eight branches" practice was the basis of Shengwang Yoga and also had a certain influence on Indian tantric yoga and Buddhist Vajrayana. The Eight Branches of Yoga is the blueprint for modern yoga, and later yogi practitioners continue to use and develop his eight branches of yoga, and still use the eight branches of yoga as a pathway to enlightenment.
Patanjali also founded karmic yoga, a more advanced practice in the Yoga Sutra. Patanjali believes that only arduous practice (karmic yoga) and deep meditation can liberate one from suffering and attain ultimate freedom.
2. Swata Majuma: The earliest propagator of Hatha Yoga
Swatamarama's contribution to the history of yoga has two main aspects: First, Hatha Yoga is the beginning of yoga asana exercise. Swarta Mojuma is widely regarded as the master of Hatha Yoga, and he began the widespread spread of Hatha Yoga. Second, Swata Mojuma pioneered the healing of yoga. He suggested that by combining yoga with Ayurveda ( the traditional Indian medicine system ) , some common diseases can be controlled and cured.
Swarta Moruma had a profound influence on the development of modern yoga. Outside of Indian culture, "yoga" is often narrowly understood as "Hatha Yoga." After the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutra, the most important yoga classics are arguably hatha Yoga Pradipika's Hatha Yoga Pradipika, which is familiar to today's yogis, with the main contents of posture, pranayama, conformity, and restraint that yoga practitioners are familiar with today. The work also had a profound impact on Kundalini Yoga and Nada Yoga.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Swatamarama
Swata Mojuma is a member of the Nada sect and worships Lord Shiva. The history books record that he spent his entire life traveling around the world to promote Hatha Yoga. Swata Mojuma was heavily influenced by Patanjali and Indian tantric thought. He believed that every life had two sides. The balance of these two energies is important for the smooth flow of life, which is why he named Hatha Yoga: "day" (ha), and "moon" (da), representing two opposing energies: hot and cold, male and female, positive and negative, yin and yang. Hatha Yoga seeks to balance the two opposing energies by physical movement and pranayama, and by calming the mind through relaxation meditation.
Swartamaruma's treatise on yoga scientifically balances the two energy streams of the human body through different stages of control— often referred to as the left (Ida) and right (Pingala), thereby elevating the middle chakra (Sushumna), opening different chakras (chakras) (the various energy centers from the base of the spine to the end of the head) until they reach the top of the head, triggering "supreme consciousness." The right chakra is likened to the "sun" and the left chakra is likened to the "moon", and the two meet in the middle chakra, which is "sun and moon yoga" (the combination of left and right energies). Hatha Yoga is actually a way of exercising the body and mind, effectively restraining and guiding the flow of body energy in the center of the body, and triggering divine consciousness.
Swata Mojuma is more pragmatic, and he uses simple and easy-to-understand methods and techniques to teach different postures, pranayama, fit and consequential methods. The practice of yoga pranayama and purifying the breath is a special contribution of Swata Maruma. He said that there are generally 8 variations of the breathing method, and he emphasizes the nostril alternating breathing method (the ninth type), believing that the practice of pranayama can cleanse the body and remove impurities, so it is also called cleaning the meridians and pranayama. Kriya, on the other hand, refers to a variety of different methods of purification. He mentioned 6 methods of purification, with more emphasis on pranayama (mind cleansing), and he said that other cleansing methods are the best way to prepare your body for pranayama.
No one had ever looked at yoga from a therapeutic point of view before Swarta Mojuma, and Swarta Mojuma Yoga Guru had pioneered in this regard. He suggested that yoga, in combination with and with the help of the application of Ayurveda (the traditional Indian medicine system), could control and further cure some common diseases.
3. Swami Vivlananda: The first person to bring yoga to the Western world
Swami Vivekananda was the first Indian philosopher to teach yoga outside india. A longtime american and British, he blended East and West, ancient mysticism and global politics, was the first Asian to have an impact on Western society, and was the first Asian thinker to assess the devastation and possibilities of Western imperialism in Asia. On the National Day of the United States in 1976, Prime Minister Garry called Swami Vivlananda "Out of America: Explorers of the New Nation" in Washington, D.C., paying tribute to this great man who had a profound impact on the American spirit.
Swami Vivekananda
The prevailing view is that it was the trip to the United States in 1893 that allowed the Indian tradition of yoga to spread to the Western world. Discernment is a forerunner and an important figure in the history of human culture, which has played a key role in the exchange of Eastern and Western cultures. In 1899, he founded the New York Vedanta Society in the United States, which remains a dynamic organization dedicated to the four aspects of yoga practice: devotion, service, knowledge, and meditation. Discernment was the first to incorporate the spiritual insights of the ancient sages into the linguistic logical framework of modern thought. In the process, he reconciled science and religion, or at least science and Vedanta. Discernment redefines man as "potential divinity," thus removing the barriers between man and God. Discernment is opposed to various forms of negative thoughts, which are often manifested in the form of depression, suicide, etc. He advocated a positive outlook on life, emphasizing that strength is the primary virtue.
4. Swami Sivananda: Combining Ayurveda with Yoga
Swami Sivananda is one of the greatest yoga teachers and yogic communicators of the 20th century, the author of more than 200 highly passionate and insightful yoga books.
As a physician, Swami Sivananda believed that it was necessary to serve people with Ayurveda (ancient Indian medicine). So he founded the Sivananda Ayurvedic Pharmaceutical Company in 1945, a drug derived from scarce Himalayan herbs, and now the company's products are in short supply.
Swami Sivananda
Swami Sivananda was so energetic that in 1936 he sowed the seeds of the "Holy Society" on the banks of the Holy River Ganges and founded the "Holy Society" in a deserted cowshed, which has now spread all over the world. On December 28, 1945, he also organized the "World Religious Association", and on February 29, 1947, he formed the "World Association of Practitioners". Swami Sivananda established the Yoga-Vedanta Forest Academy in 1948 to provide systematic spiritual training to the local population and to benefit outsider seekers. Sivananda's devout disciples came from all religious denominations around the world, and his tome spread his lofty beliefs in divinity throughout the world: service, meditation, and understanding of God. Now his disciples have spread yoga all over the world.
Swami Kuvalayananda
5. Swami Kuvalejananda: Pioneer of scientific yoga
It was Swami Kuvalayananda's exploration and research in the science of yoga that made yoga widely spread around the world, he made the ancient teachings of yoga more acceptable to modern thought, and yoga could be trained in a scientifically rational way. Because of his scientific work, yoga has become more widely accepted and applied to the field of health therapy.
Swami Kuvalyananda was born in a time when the spirit of traditional Indian culture was gradually awakened. Growing up, he was in close contact with the physically and mentally tortured Indian masses. He realized that the great role of education was to awaken them. With the help of Rajaratna Manikrao, a great pioneer of India's material culture, he realized that there was a natural connection between various cultures, including yoga. The exploration of yoga opened up a new horizon for him. His keen and sensitive thinking on the material and spiritual levels of yoga set him on the path of spiritual exploration.
Under the guidance of the great yogi Madhavdasji, he gained a deeper understanding of the essentials of yoga and brought about a great transformation in his career, allowing him to enter a whole new realm. Between 1920 and 1921, he experimented with the physical effects of yoga practice. He was the first to give a scientific explanation of yoga. The combination of his objective research and the results of excellent scientific experiments led him to believe that if it were feasible to study yoga with modern scientific experiments, the ancient yoga system would greatly help human society in the spiritual and material recovery.
Later in his life, Kuvarejananda carried out this mission, and in 1924 he established the Kaivalyadham Yoga Institute, dedicated to the scientificization of yoga. He said: "If nothing is achieved, I don't care, but yoga should not be taken lightly." In the mid-1950s, he founded the Yoga University Training Institute to spread yoga around the world, which began as a two-year training and was later changed to a one-year period. Since 1957, the institution has been conducting short and long-term training, all of which have a scientific basis.
T. Krishnamacharya
6. Krishnamaksha: Reviver of modern Hatha Yoga
T. Krishnamacharya is the most important person in the revival of modern Hatha Yoga and the development and study of modern Hatha Yoga. He used his experience to extend a lot of yoga asanas. It has become the undisputed father of modern Hatha Yoga.
In the early 1930s, Krishnamachal challenged the perfection and benefits of yoga asanas. Combining his experience and literature study, he created a series of sequences of different asanas. He fully combined the traditional yoga asanas, breathing, Indian wrestling and British fitness to form his own Hatha Yoga system, breaking the traditional practice methods of yoga since the Upanishads.
In the 1930s, in order to introduce the power of yoga to as many students as possible, he held classes in the gymnasium of Sanskrit University. But, like many yoga students today, Krishnamachal's students are mostly young, physically fit, who are more interested in getting stronger and more body-shaping, and more inclined to try nearly impossible techniques than spiritually high practices. Krishnamachal has created a series of movements that will focus on movement. These movements control breathing and meditation in a series of dynamic postures called Vinyasa, using all the pillars and rules of his teachings. In order to make his students feel challenged and focused, Krishnamachalcha developed increasingly difficult movements, allowing his students to learn the next level only after mastering the previous one. Once he developed and perfected his movements, he performed on the road. He and his students demonstrated yoga asanas to please audiences throughout India and to promote yoga exercises to the Indian public. Krishna Macha, knowing that his audience came from a variety of backgrounds, made his yoga suitable for all beliefs and lifestyles, just as yoga teachers in the West do today. The appearance of four of Krishnamacha's most famous students were Pataby Joyce, who continued to develop the Ashtanga Yoga system while living in Mysore, Intila Defi, known as the "First Lady of Yoga", and B. Defi, who was known for her use of the body and a wide range of tools, and B. K· S. Iyengar. In his later years, he devoted himself to the study and exploration of Viniyoga, which was inherited and developed by his son, TKV Desikachar, and is now the most widely used method of yoga in yoga healing.
Krishna Macha presents a complete picture of the rich and natural evolution of traditional yoga in the 20th century. Sriritattvanidhi was recently discovered in a private library in India with a book referenced by Krishnamachal, where Krishnamacha used to live and teach. This book from the early 19th century was the first to fully introduce the aspects of yoga physical exercise, with notes and nomenclatures for 122 postures, Sritattvanidhi fleshed out many yoga asanas, including the handstands, arm balances, foot wrap-around backs, and even rope suspension exercises that we've always loved... This proves that a well-developed asana practice that yogis are looking for has begun to emerge and flourish before the 20th century. These well-developed exercises are a further development of traditional asanas.
Pattabhi Jois and T. Krishnamacharya
7. Pataby Joyce: Astanga Yoga lineage and major promoter
Pattabhi Jois was a young boy when he met Krishnamacha during a yoga demonstration. Joyce studied with Krishnamachra for many years, beginning as a university student at the Sanskrit University in Maiso, where he was a loyal follower of Krishna macha's practice methods. Joyce's contribution was to perfect, according to him, the Ashtanga Yoga system from the classics Yoga Sutra, the Bhagavad Gita, the Light of Hatha Yoga, and other texts.
As Krishnamachar did in Maiso, Pattaby Joyce and his teachings impart a series of postures (connected with breath) to generate heat and purify the body, thus achieving the purpose of cleansing and detoxification. Many American and European teachers were inspired and guided by Joyce and often went to India to learn from him further.
Each series of the Astanga type of courses is very different, the first series is the level just practiced, mainly focusing on forward flexion, to level 2, 3, 4 courses, there will be gradually increasing difficult back flexion, standing three-dimensional, torsion and arm balance. All sequences include the connection of surya Namaskar tandem asana (Vinyasa). In this tandem asana method, students jump from one position to another and use their breath to connect the different postures. Just as the practice of patanjali's Yoga Sutra combines body movements with a focus on the breath, it makes the mind more aware and the heart more open.
8. Eyyanger: The modern pioneer of auxiliary yoga
"Iron Man" is the title given to him by Westerners, B. K· S.lyengar's Hatha Yoga teaching style is widely loved in Western countries, and how to use different equipment, enhance energy, and reduce energy consumption is the main style of this school, which is particularly helpful for those who are extremely stiff and want to quickly benefit from yoga exercise. Eyyanger developed modern assisted yoga.
Although he has always revered his mentor, unlike Joyce and Indira and Defi, to be precise, Eyyanger did not honor Krishnamamacha as a teacher, nor did he look back on his student days with affection. As a brother-in-law, Eyyanger lived in krishnamamacha's home for several years and was a frail child, and the possibility of becoming a yogi was very small. Instead, his duties at the time were to take care of the garden and to take care of the chores arranged for him by Krishnamamacha. When Krishna macha's favorite student suddenly disappears before an important asana performance, Krishna Macha has no choice but to teach his weak brother-in-law and hope that he will be able to cope with the scene. He did! Eyyanger not only performed the difficult asanas admirably in the show, but also continued to assist in teaching in Krishnamamacha's classroom and performed in various regions. He finished his chores when Eyyanger accepted Krishnamamacha's request to teach a course in the northern provinces that only local women attended.
As a young man, Eyyinger (B. K· S.lyengar）
Since then, Eyyanger has been hundreds of kilometers away from his mentor. Partly because of this distance, Eyengar did not receive much direct guidance from his teachers during his life, and he had to explore Krishnamamacha's asanas on his own. Using his body as a laboratory, focusing on the precision of the inner and outer positions, he tried to figure out how an asana affects muscles, internal organs, and skeletal systems. Once Eyengar understood the principles of one of the asanas, he modified the pose to suit his student's body and health. Just as Krishnamachalcha modified his asanas for his young and strong students, Eyyanger tailored his asanas, even providing methods and tools for older, physically inflexible students.
As the elderly and frail among the students began to seek help for their own ailments, Eayengar raised his standards of challenge and began to create positions for healing and healing. The focus on the body became characteristic of Eyengar Yoga. He sees the body as a well-coordinated and sensitive instrument whose fluctuations "express inner harmony or disharmony." He believed that asanas helped the body create and recreate the body's original harmony. Correct asana practice harmonizes the rhythms of the body's physical, physiological, mental, and spiritual factors. Unlike Krishna macha Pattaby Joyce and Indira Delphi, Eyyanger has practitioners master asanas before combining breath control exercises. He also doesn't connect asanas in the same way, he'll focus on how they get balanced physically rather than how they connect together.
Eyyanger, along with his daughter Geeta and son Prasant, had been teaching yoga at his teaching center in Pune, India, and his followers spread Eyinger Yoga all over the world, creating the most well-known style in the world. Even those who teach other schools of yoga recognize the Eyengar method instilled in them an understanding of the body, the sculpting of asanas, and the way to adjust them when necessary.
9. Swami Rama: Pioneered the combination of yoga practice and modern scientific experimentation
Swami Rama is undoubtedly the best messenger of the Himalayan tradition of yoga to modern people, because he was born in the Himalayas and practiced with many masters in the caves of the mountains for many years. He has studied Western psychology and philosophy at several European universities, taught at major universities in India, spent his family life with his wife and children, and demonstrated the wonders of yoga to modern scientists.
Swami Rama pioneered the combination of yoga practice and modern science. He had studied Western psychology and philosophy at several European universities, and in 1969 in the Laboratory in the United States, he demonstrated precise control of the autonomic nervous system and brain (such as stopping the heartbeat at will, cooling a finger, etc.), and the findings of this study greatly increased the scientific community's understanding of human control of the body and obtained a previously unprecedented level of consciousness. As a result, he also pioneered the combination of yoga practice and modern science, which provided a strong basis for scientific research on yoga.
Swami Rama used his own experience to prove that a fruitful yoga guru could combine all science and art: he was a philosopher who wrote 45 books; he was a poet who translated epics in 3 months; he was a scientist who did human experiments at the American Foundation in the '70s; he was a medical expert and a samurai. Swami Rama worked in the United States for 23 years, during which time he founded himself as an international himalayan institution, and his model of preventive medicine, holistic health, and stress management has become mainstream in Western medicine.
10. Swami Landford: Pioneer of breath yoga therapy
Using the breath to create a "disease-free society, a drug-free world" is swami Ramdev's ambition and goal. Don't be surprised if you see a person on a plane or train doing light pranayama or cleaning up the meridians. This awareness gained through yoga originated with Swami Landford. Landford will become an important figure in the history of world health, he advocated the use of oxygen at his fingertips as a drug, and thus cured thousands of patients with diabetes, laryngitis, arteriosclerosis, obesity, asthma, bronchitis and other diseases, even in some modern medicine is still challenging diseases, such as depression, Parkinson's disease, cancer, AIDS and other fields, Swami Landford's experiments have also confirmed the effectiveness of this ancient science for these.
Swami Landford is a master of yoga and Ayurveda, proficient in Sanskrit, Ayurveda and Vedic philosophy, his pragmatic approach to yoga has won millions of followers throughout India, in 1995 began to promote yoga, the establishment of Divya Yoga Mandir and other institutions, his tireless efforts to promote the value of oxygen as medicine, will bring new horizons to the modern medical community.
After millions of Indians' proof of treatment and more than a decade of research, Swami Landford declared that yoga pranayama can cure many diseases without allergic therapies or surgery. Breath yoga is the complete ancient Indian therapy and life science, which is a self-healing science that cures physical and mental diseases without any side effects, he said, confirming: "Breath yoga is the natural remedy for all physical and mental diseases." ”
His Holiness is recognized not only by Indians but also by Western countries, and when Swami Landford arrived in London in July 2006, Queen Elizabeth II invited him to a tea party to listen to him explain how yoga breathing regimens help everyone stay healthy. Most recently, Swami Landford was also awarded the Yoga Guru Award from the Uk Government. Swami Landford is said to currently have the largest following in the world.