YOGA: BODY-MIND-SOUL

Yoga is a collection of physical, mental, and spiritual exercises that have their roots in ancient India. They are meant to regulate (yoke) and rest the mind while acknowledging an objective witness awareness that is unaffected by the mind (Chitta) and everyday suffering (Dukha).

- Dr.Lakshmikanth Harthikote

According to author Edward Fitzpatrick Cringle, this model is primarily backed by Hindu scholars. The linear model contends that yoga was first practised during the Vedic period and had an influence on Buddhism. This idea is supported by the Vedic textual corpus.

The synthesis paradigm, which is favored in Western academic circles, contends that yoga is a fusion of non-Vedic and Vedic elements.

Numerous Upanishads make reference to yoga.

The Katha Upanishad, which was presumably written between the fifth and third centuries BCE, is where the word "yoga" first appears with the same meaning as the current term. During the fifth and sixth century BCE, yoga continued to advance as a disciplined study and practice in the ascetic and ramaa movements of ancient India. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the most complete work on the subject, were written in the first centuries of the Common Era. Tantra gave rise to the first hatha yoga literature, which appeared between the ninth and the eleventh century.