About Yoga Yoga is an ancient art using asanas (poses), pranayama (breathing techniques) and six other disciplines to unite the physical, emotional and spiritual parts of ourselves.  The word “yoga” appears in the Vedas, which were written approximately 5,000 years ago.  The Sanskrit root of yoga, yuj, means “to yoke, join or attach.” Yoga is a philosophy—a search for understanding.  Yoga arises from the culture and religion in India, and as such it has spiritual foundations.  However, yoga is not a religion.  To practice the physical aspect of yoga—hatha yoga—it is not necessary to have knowledge or experience of yoga’s spiritual background. Nearly 2000 years ago, an Indian sage named Patanjali authored The Yoga Sutras, the earliest writings of this formerly oral tradition.  Patanjali defined yoga as, “the stilling of the restlessness of the mind.”  That continues to be a focus of yoga today. The asanas were originally developed to enable yogis to sit in meditation for long periods of time.  Today, many of us turn to yoga to counteract the stresses placed on our bodies from extended time sitting—at computers, in cars or on couches. Traditionally, yoga was taught one-on-one by a male teacher to his chosen male student.  The yogis stood or sat on the bare earth, and classes lasted as long as it took for the lesson.  That scenario has changed quite a bit in our modern world but yoga’s benefits remain the same. For more information about the roots and history of yoga, see: Yoga Journal