Yoga is a science as well an art of healthy living physically, mentally, morally and spiritually. Beginners of yoga may find it intresting that yoga is a  systematic growth from  animal level to human level and from there ultimately to the divinity. It’s in no way limited by race, age, sex, religion, cast or creed and can be practiced by those who seek an education on better living and those who wants to have a more meaningful life.

History Of Yoga 

The origins of yoga are shrouded in a mist of time - for yoga is regarded as a divine science of life, revealed to enlightened sages in Meditation.

The oldest archaeological evidence of its existence is provided by a number of stone seals showing figures in yoga postures, excavated from the Indus valley and thought to date from around 3000BC.According to mythical tradition, Shiva is said to be the founder of yoga and Paravati(his wife) his first disciple. Yoga is first mentioned in the vast collection of scriptures called the Vedas, portions of which date from at least 2500 BC, but it is the Upanishads - which form the later part of the Vedas - that provide the main foundation of yoga basics.

According to the Indian mythology, Lord Vishnu incarnated as Krishna, instructs the warrior Arjuna in Yoga to help him to achieve liberation by fulfilling one's duties in Life. In the 6th century BC, Lord Buddha's influence brought the ideals of meditation, ethics and morality to the fore and the preparatory practices of yoga were ignored. However Indian thinkers soon realized the limitations of the view. Yogi Matsyendranath taught that before taking to the practices of meditation, the body and its elements need purifying, and this is what yoga was designed for. It helps us in living a cleaner, happier, healthier and more fulfilled life.

Meaning of Yoga 

Swami Vivekananda defines Yoga as "It’s a means of compressing one’s evolution into a single life or a few months or even a few hours of one’s bodily existence". By Yoga, Sri Aurobindo, meant a methodological effort towards self-pefection by the development of potentialities latent in the individual. Yoga is not a religion; it’s a philosophy of life based on certain psychological facts and its aim at the development of a perfect balance between the body and the mind that permits union with the divine i.e. a perfect harmony between the individual and the cosmos. Different interpretations of the word Yoga have been handed down over the centuries. One of the classic definitions of Yoga is "to be one with divine."