I have done yoga for 33 years, mostly Iyengar-based, but also Ashtanga, “Y” classes, gym classes, Yin yoga, Flow yoga, Vinyasa Krama yoga, Relax and Renew yoga and one Bikram class. I’ve read Yoga Journal, International Yoga and many books by various practitioners. Though I’ve heard many times about the ancient origins of yoga—some teachers even claiming it goes back three or five millennia—the skeptic in me wonders, often in the middle of a pose, “How old is this asana”? So, I looked for the earliest descriptions or illustrations of the asana (the Sanskrit word referring to a yoga posture). What follows are my most fruitful references.

 

1. The “Shiva Samhita,” written as early as 1300 CE, describes seven seated asanas and an inversion that would be familiar to American students, such as, “place the head on the ground and both feet in the air.” Is this Viparitakarani?

2. The “Hatha Yoga Pradipika,” written in the 1400s, describes 15 asanas—including cow face, bow, spinal twist, lion, bound angle, corpse, tortoise, hero, seated forward bend poses—and 10 mudras.  

3. The “Geheranda Samhita,” written in about 1700, describes 32 asanas, 16 of which I have seen in classes. It adds to our list of familiar asanas the boat, locust and tree poses.

4. “The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace” by N.E. Sjoman reproduces the illustrations from the Sritattvarsidhi manuscript from the Mysore Palace library, written somewhere between 1811 and 1868. It illustrates 121 asanas, many involving hanging from a rope attached overhead and which I do not include as familiar. I recognize 39 that might be taught in a yoga class here, including the headstand, inverted bow, archer, extended hand to big toe, plow and cobra. 

5. “Yoga Makaranada by Krishnamacharya,” published in 1934, illustrates 42 asanas and adds to our list the reclined big toe pose, crane, downward dog, shoulder stand, extended side angle and triangle. It is available online.

6. Movies of Krishnamacharya, Iyengar and others were made around 1934 as yoga asanas were being introduced more widely to the world. These show the capabilities of advanced practitioners. Several are available on You Tube.

7. The 1933-1934 Mysore Palace Report announced the opening of the yogasala under the guidance of Krishnamacharya. It is worth noting that gymnastics, military exercises, wrestling and western sports were part of the palace activities and classes. It has been suggested that Krishnamacharya might have been influenced by what he saw there. Certainly the culture of health and even body building was receiving attention in India at the time.

8. “The Ten Point Way to Health” by Shrimant Balasohib, Rajah of Aundh, published in 1928 and in an English language edition in 1938, was a treatise on what is now called the sun salutation. (It is available on the Internet.) In 1908, the Rajah had begun doing “old-style” Hindu exercises, in which the knees are bent when bending over and the foot is not brought forward to the palms. He modified these asanas and added regulated breathing and sounds; he recommended up to 300 repetitions of the exercise series daily for adults and ordered that it be included as group exercises in all schools in Aundh State. I have found no evidence that these sun salutations were included in yoga teachings until the 1940s.

9. “Asanas” by Dharma Mittra, published in 2003, shows photos of Mittra in 608 yoga poses. Very impressive, but many are minor variations on a theme.

10. “The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga” by Srivatsa Ramaswami was published in 2005, depicting 255 asanas and variations in photographs. Ramaswami studied with Krishnamacharya Iyengar for 30 years and claims this is be the full set of his teachings. It is interesting that neither the sun salutation series nor Warrior II are included.

 

So, what are my conclusions?

1. Asana began with seated meditation postures long ago, probably before the word “yoga” was first used in about the third century BCE.

2. The first descriptions of asanas were written between 1300 and 1700 CE and included asanas we see today in yoga classes—cow face, bow, spinal twist, lion, bound angle, corpse, tortoise, hero, seated forward bend, boat, locust and tree poses. 

 

3. In the 1800s, the headstand, inverted bow, archer, extended hand to big toe, and cobra are described.

4. We do not see downward dog, shoulder stand, Parsvakonasana, Trikonasana, Warrior poses or sun salutations described until the 1930s and 1940s. I believe these were absorbed into yoga at this time by Krishnamachyra and perhaps others, such as Ghosh, the younger brother of Yogananda.

5. Publications that show hundreds of different asanas illustrate the inventiveness of modern yoga teachers in expanding the range of the yoga-flavored asana.

6. What is left out of American yoga classes are the body purification rites, which include vomiting and enemas. Also left out are the strange and seemingly magical sexual practices. The medieval texts seem more concerned with these than with asana.

7. We in the West have taken some parts of medieval yoga and expanded the parts that fit our culture and left behind the parts that do not fit. We have moved present-day yoga in the directions of health, style, athleticism, relaxation and sometimes meditation, which are our modern cultural interests. 

 

Bob Kubik, whose primary yoga teacher is Ramanand Patel, is a retired engineer living in Inverness Park.