Scholars classify yoga’s history into four general periods. In pre-classical yoga, the form’s beginnings were developed by the Indus-Sarasvati civilization in Northern India, where the oldest known mention was found in the sacred text Rig Veda. That collection of texts, songs, mantras and rituals were used by Vedic priests known as the Brahmans.
From those beginnings, the practice of yoga was developed by the Brahmins and Rishis, a group of mystic seers who memorialized yoga’s beliefs and practices in the Upanishads, a work that had more than 200 scriptures, including the Bhagavad Gita, the most famous scripture, composed around 500 B.C.E. The Upanishads focused yoga on self-knowledge, action and wisdom.
Yoga’s initial practices were refined during its classical period, which was highlighted by the Yoga Sutras, developed by Patanjali. This was the first systematic presentation of what was formerly a bit of a mish-mash of thoughts, beliefs and techniques.
Post-classical yoga arrived a few centuries after Patanjali as a reject of the ancient Vedic system. This reform embraced the physical body as the vehicle to achieve enlightenment, highlighted by the development of Tantra Yoga, which used techniques to cleanse the body and mind. This was the birth of yoga connected to the spiritual and physical, which is the form most practiced in the West today.
Yoga’s modern period marked its first appearances in the West, where it was introduced via religious gatherings as an exotic ancient teaching. The form really took off in the late 1940s with the opening of a yoga studio in Hollywood by Indra Devi.