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The oldest archaeological evidence of yoga are stone seals showing figures in yoga positions, excavated from northern India and dated about 3000 B.C.E.  Yoga is first mentioned in sacred texts about 1500 B.C.E.

Some yoga poses are intended for prolonged sitting in meditation.  Most are designed to regulate the life force in the body in order to balance, strengthen, and heal it.

The poses, or asanas, are, however, only part of yogic practice.  The Eight Limbs of yoga, compiled about the third century B.C.E. by the sage Patanjali, are a progressive series of steps that purify the body and mind, ultimately leading to enlightenment.  These steps are: yama (restraint), niyama (observance), asana (posture), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (total absorption). 

The yamas and niyamas channel the energies of action and the senses of perception in the correct direction. Asanas result in balance, stillness of mind, and power to penetrate the intelligence. Pranayama and pratyahara help practitioners explore their hidden facets, enabling them to penetrate the core of their being. Dharana, dhyana, and samadhi are the fulfillment of yogic discipline.

Many Westerners focus on the poses, or asanas, for stronger, more flexible, healthier bodies; there is nothing wrong with that approach yet there is much more to yoga than that!  As B.K.S. Iyengar explains in Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, “The body is the temple of the soul.  It can truly become so if it is kept healthy, clean and pure through the practice of asana.  Asanas act as bridges to unite the body with the mind, and the mind with the soul.  They lift the [practitioner] from the clutches of afflictions and lead him towards disciplined freedom.  Through asana, the [practitioner] comes to know and fully realize the finite body, and merge it with the infinite – the soul.” 

Why do we do yoga?  John Friend, founder of Anusara Yoga, explains, “We want to be free from our suffering and our pain. We want to be free from the things that don’t feel so good.  We want to celebrate life more fully. There’s that urge to just keep unfolding.”

There are many excellent books on yoga, I would especially recommend the following:

• B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on Yoga
• Erich Schiffmann, Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness
• Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden, The Women’s Book of Health and Yoga
• Silva, Mira and Shyam Mehta, Yoga: The Iyengar Way
• Suza Francina, The New Yoga for People Over 50
• Doug Keller, Yoga as Therapy
• B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
• Swami Shantananda, The Splendor of Recognition
• Stephen Mitchell, tr., Bhagavad Gita