Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/;^[1] Sanskrit: योग; pronunciation) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India. Yoga is one of the six Āstika (orthodox) schools of Hindu philosophical traditions.^[2]

There is a broad variety of yoga schools, practices, and goals^[3] in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism.^[4][5][6] The term “Yoga” in the Western world often denotes a modern form of hatha yoga and yoga as exercise, consisting largely of the postures or asanas.

The practice of yoga has been thought to date back to pre-vedic Indian traditions; possibly in the Indus valley civilization around 3000 BCE. Yoga is mentioned in the Rigveda,^{[note 1]} and also referenced in the Upanishads,.^[8] Although, yoga most likely developed as a systematic study around the 5th and 6th centuries BCE, in ancient India’s ascetic and Śramaṇa movements.^{[9][note 2]} The chronology of earliest texts describing yoga-practices is unclear, varyingly credited to the Upanishads.^[10] The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali date from the 2nd century BCE,^[11][12] and gained prominence in the west in the 20th century after being first introduced by Swami Vivekananda.^[13] Hatha yoga texts began to emerge sometime between the 9th and 11th century with origins in tantra.^[14][15]

Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the West,^[16] following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century with his adaptation of yoga tradition, excluding asanas.^[16] Outside India, it has developed into a posture-based physical fitness, stress-relief and relaxation technique.^[17] Yoga in Indian traditions, however, is more than physical exercise; it has a meditative and spiritual core.^[17][18] One of the six major orthodox schools of Hinduism is also called Yoga, which has its own epistemology, ontology and metaphysics, and is closely related to Hindu Samkhya philosophy.^[19]

Source – Wikipedia