Michelle McKenney, age 16, of St. Augustine, Fla., for her question:
WHEN WAS YOGA FIRST PRACTICED?
Yoga is a term that has two meanings. It is both a school of thought in the Hindu religion and a system of mental and physical exercises developed by that school. An Indian scholar named Patanjaii, who lived in the second century B.C., is traditionally regarded as the founder of yoga.
The word "yoga" means "discipline" in Sanscrit, the classical language of India. Followers of the yoga school, who are called yogis or yogins, use yoga exercises to achieve their goal of isolation of the soul from the body and the mind.
According to the yoga school, every human being consists of "prakrti" and "purusha." Prakrti includes a person's body, mind and ego (conscious self). Purusha is pure, empty consciousness the soul.
The yoga school teaches that the soul is completely separate from the rest of a person, but that the person does not realize it. Man suffers because he wrongly believes that his soul is bound to his body and mind. The yoga school, through yoga exercise, aims to give man prajna (understanding) of the meaning of his soul. After a person has obtained this understanding, his soul will gain moksha (release) from Asmara (cycle of rebirth) in which Hindus believe. A yogi, under the guidance of a guru (teacher), goes through eight tages of training on his way to moksha. The yogi learns (1) discipline behavior, called yama; (2) self purification (niyama); (3) bodily postures, such as the lotus position (asana); (4) control of breathing (pranayama); (5) control of the senses (pratyahara); (6) fixing of the mind on a chosen object (dharana); and (7) meditation (dhyana).
The eighth stage, called samadhi, is a state of concentration in which the yogi realizes that his soul is pure and free and empty of all content.
A yogi who has completed the eight stages has reached kaivalya. Kaivalya is total isolation of the soul from the body, from all other souls and from all of nature.
In addition to the practices of the yoga school, other popular forms of yoga exist in the religious traditions of India. One form, called bhakti yoga, involves the dedication of all actions and thoughts to a chosen god.
Another form, karma yoga, involves doing one's duty without caring about reward.
A third form, hatha yoga stresses difficult bodily postures and breathing techniques, with better health as the main goal.
Various forms of yoga have become popular in the United States and Europe. One form, Transcendental Meditation, requires less mental concentration than does the yoga of Hinduism. Members of the Hare Krishna movement practice bhakti yoga by devoting themselves to the god Krishna. Hatha yoga has been called a method of gaining perfect health but medical research has shown that it provides little more than any other good athletic program.