Patanjali's Part in Yoga's History

by Rob Daniels

A man named Patanjali, is widely recognized for bringing yoga to the world. The fundamentals of Yoga were defined by Patanjali, who lived centuries ago.

Originally, yoga was taught as an oral tradition reaching back unknown thousands of years. Yoga techniques were passed down from teacher to student through word of mouth.

Patanjali was the first person to put into writing all the verbal teachings of yoga. Pantanjali is credited with Yoga Sutras which is considered to be the bible of yoga. This book proposes a four-fold typology of Modern Yoga comprising modern psychosomatic, modern meditational, modern postural and modern denominational forms.

A very influential person of his time, Patanjali is credited with having established the fact that Yoga is separated into 8 different parts.

As defined by Patanjali, classical yoga has an eight stages process of spiritual development known as th "eight limbs of yoga". The eight limbs of yoga, lead to the ultimate goal of enlightenment.

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is considered the authoritative text on classical yoga by all yoga schools and is also used by many contemporary yoga styles. The Yoga Sutra was meant to be memorized as a means of internalizing its wisdom. According to the Yoga Sutra, an individual has good kinds of samskara and bad kinds.

Patanjali is often considered the father of yoga and his Yoga Sutras still strongly influence all modern styles of yoga. The history of yoga would not have been completed without Patanjali.

About the Author

Rob Daniels is a long term practitioner of Yoga and Pilates additional articles available at Pilates Shop http://www.pilates-shop.net and Yoga Store http://www.yoga-store.net