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Yoga has become one of the hottest trends in the fitness industry. More and more people are taking up yoga practice on a regular basis and to meet this increasing demand, more and more yoga classes and workshops are opening up in every city across the country. More and more people can be seen carrying their yoga mats or yoga mat bags in transit and you hear about more people taking up yoga teacher training as it is becoming a very lucrative career. But, what is the big deal about yoga that everyone seems to want a piece of the pie? Read on to find out more about yoga, its origin, its philosophy and its many benefits.

Yoga started out as a spiritual practice in the Indus Valley way back in 3000 B.C. It was the means to attain spiritual enlightenment used by rishis and yogis across the plains. Since then, yoga has evolved into a science and an art and one of the healthiest ways of life. Although it has its roots in spiritual enlightenment, yoga soon developed into a science and art that addressed the well being of the body and mind as well. The reason for this was that if the body and mind are not perfectly healthy and well they will interfere with the process of spiritual enlightenment.

So, over a period of time, yoga asanas were developed and perfected to help the body stay as healthy as possible. On the other hand, pranayama was developed to an art of being able to control one’s mind. So overall, yoga ensures the complete health of the body and mind in order to ready a person for his spiritual quest.

In the second century, Patanjali compiled all the texts on yoga and created Yoga Sutras so that all the information and knowledge on yoga can be found in one place. He created the Eight-Fold Path of Yoga as well as 195 sutras. Since then, this has been the most authoritative text on Yoga.

Yoga has evolved tremendously over its history of over 5000 years. It reflects the times and needs of the people throughout its evolution. It also takes on the form of social science defining ideal behavior and ways of being for people.

Yoga is practiced even today across India. There are also many yoga ashrams in the country that serve as a community place for yogis who have renounced the world to pursue spiritual awakening through yoga. Yoga was introduced to the west about 60 years ago by some yogis who travelled to the west. Since then, it has been spreading throughout the west. As more and more yoga benefits are being verified by western research, more and more people are getting interested in yoga practice.

Why don’t you also give yoga a shot? Many yoga classes offer free introductory lessons. Attend one of them to get an idea of what yoga practice is like. If you like your experience of yoga, you can follow the yoga path to a healthy body, mind and spirit.