Yoga emerged from the Vedic spiritual traditions of the largest urban civilization in the world of its time—India’s Vedic civilization that lasted from roughly 3100 to 1900 BC. Vedic literature provides us with the foundation for yogic and other traditions designed to transcend the limitations of the mind and body through meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga postures. It was the Vedic culture that created India’s medical tradition known as Ayurveda.
Budhhism, a distant offshoot of Vedic tradition, stressed the importance of meditation over physical postures. The original Yoga sages wrote that humans can experience mind and body mastery purification processes that include proper food, exercise, and meditation.
