ABB YOGA SCHOOL — A FREE TIMELINE
Is the Yoga We Practice Really 5,000 Years Old?
The short history of yoga postures — from a seat for meditation to the standing flows we practice today.
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A much shorter history than you might think.
The timeline traces yoga postures in three short chapters — from a seat for meditation, through a small set of hatha postures, to the standing flows we practice today.
1. The seat
Patanjali named no postures — only a steady, comfortable seat for meditation. In the earliest practice, yoga was a way to sit still, not a sequence of shapes.
2. The hatha expansion
Centuries later, hatha texts began to describe postures: 15 postures in the 1400s, and 32 by the 1600s. Tree was the first standing pose — until then, yoga had been practiced seated.
3. Modern yoga
Sun Salutation was popularized in 1928, and Warrior I appeared around 1940. The standing flows we practice today are about a century old at most — not 5,000 years.
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