Yoga

Essay by EssaySwap ContributorCollege, Undergraduate February 2008

download word file, 3 pages 0.0

Downloaded 14 times

The Art of Yoga When looking at the statistics of stress as a health related illness the American Health Association states that one out of every three people will suffer from stress and one time or other in their lives. More startling than that 2 out of twenty people seek medication as a means to release their stress.

These statistics could be prevented if we were to make people more aware of the alternative destressors. Looking at one of these in particular, Yoga. This has been practiced in India for over two Million Years. The book 'Illustrated Light on Yoga' explains that, "Stories and legends from ancient times all testify to the existence of yoga, and to the practitioners and divinities associated with it".

The word yoga comes from the Sanskrit root "yuj" meaning to join or yoke, implying the integration of every aspect of the human being from the innermost to the external.

When researching I discovered that yoga was split up in to sections for example; Vedas - scriptural knowledge, Upanisads - philosophical speculations, Puranas - ancient cosmologies, and the two epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata. Each individual form of yoga is used in many different ways; they can be used as a separate entity or in a combined form so it is capable to answering all of human's needs. Yoga is considered to be a philosophy, a science and an art. However, it has always been, and still is, used as a basis of other activities and disciplines.

The first semi-historical, semi mythological figure in yoga is that of the sage Patanjali who lived some time in the pre-Christian era - one estimate suggests about 220 BC. He is traditionally said to be the author of works such works on medicine, grammer and yoga. Together these cover the...