Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
Oxford Centre for
Hindu Studies Online
How did a tradition aimed at stilling the mind and liberating the self become the posture practice we know today?
This course traces yoga’s philosophy from its earliest sources to the modern world: the Upanishads and the Mahabharata, the Bhagavad Gita, Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, and the Tantric and Hatha traditions that reshaped practice toward the body.
The course runs over seven weeks and is tutored by Daniel Simpson, author of The Truth of Yoga, with video lectures, 194 pages of course notes, and our own translations of the Gita and the Yoga Sutras included. It counts toward Yoga Alliance continuing education. For other yoga courses, see the Yoga Studies pathway.
Yoga today is very different from early descriptions. Although no one knows for sure when it began, the practice has been evolving for at least 2,500 years. Traditional sources are clear about one thing: Yoga is a practice, and if correctly applied, will result in liberation. Apart from having faith that this is true, there is nothing practitioners need to believe.
So, do we need to study philosophy? After all, the most famous definition of Yoga, from Patanjali’s sutras, says that Yoga is about stilling mental activity, not stirring it up. However we do find many different systems, and their theories are mixed and matched in different ways at different times. This yields changes in priorities and techniques. In order to make sense of modern Yoga, and the ways it relates to – or departs from – earlier practice, it helps to know more about this history of ideas.
The course consists of seven sessions delivered on a weekly basis.
Where does Yoga fit within Indian thought? Here, we look at Vedanta and Samkhya and their influence on theory and practice. We also begin our exploration of early Yoga. Modern Yoga is derived from many different strands of Indian thought and we can trace a significant distinction between the Vedic and tantric influences. We also see how contemporary teachers have reworked and reshaped earlier teachings to a form more suitable for contemporary students.
We can’t be certain where Yoga comes from or how old it is. However, the earliest known written works to mention it are the Upanishads and the Mahabharata. We begin with the Upanishads, often mentioned as a source of Yoga teachings. We then move on to the extensive Yoga teachings within the Mahabharata and look at the practices these very early passages advocate.
tam yogam iti manyate sthiram indriya-dharanam
apramattas tada bhavati yogo hi prabhavapyayau
“This holding steady of the senses is what is considered to be Yoga. One is then properly
attentive, for Yoga can both arise and also cease to be.” (Katha Upanishad 6.11)
One of the best known sections of the Mahabharata is the Bhagavad-gita. Here, Krishna’s extensive teaching is threaded with Yogic concepts. In this session, we consider the most important ideas of the Bhagavad-gita and we focus on passages that define Yoga.
Click here to download our translation of the Gita in pdf format.
Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras is the foundational work on Yoga philosophy. It is the best known and least understood text on the subject. For all these reasons we give it a central place in this course. In this session we consider the theology and philosophy of Patañjali in the first two of his four chapters (On Concentration, and On Practice). And to do this properly, we delve into the essential context of Indian thought.
Click here to download our translation of the Yoga Sutras in pdf format.
We continue our study of Patañjali with chapters 3 and 4, the Vibhuti-pada and the Kaivalya-pada. We consider the ideas and practices advocated by the text. This is the conclusion of our discussion of classical Yoga. Our next sessions look at the teachings of a later period in which the emphasis moves from the mind to the body.
In modern Yoga you will find much that is not found in Patañjali, Vedanta, or Samkhya. In this session we explore the extent to which contemporary Indian religion is a combination of Vedic and Tantric ideas. This helps us see the influence of Tantra. Given the modern uses of the term “Tantra”, this may seem surprising and so we will begin with a brief overview of what Tantra actually is and, equally as important, what tantra is not.
In this session we examine three of the later Sanskrit texts that discuss the practice of hatha or bodily Yoga. We can see that the ideas and practices they refer to are much closer to current ideas and practices. We will compare this influence to that of Patañjali and other early sources. For this study we focus particularly on Svatmarama’s Hatha Pradipika and its spiritual and philosophical ideas. We will also look at the Shiva Samhita and the Gheranda Samhita.
Course Tutor
Daniel Simpson brings yoga history and philosophy to life. He’s the author of two books on these subjects – The Truth of Yoga (2021) and The Evolution of Modern Yoga (forthcoming) – as well as hosting the Ancient Futures podcast. Daniel has an M.A. in yoga studies from SOAS (University of London), where he subsequently taught. In a previous career, he was a foreign correspondent, which helps him to demystify complex topics and make them accessible. His website is: https://www.danielsimpson.info