About This Workshop
What does it mean to say that yoga has Vedic roots? The Vedas are India's oldest sacred texts, but their earliest mantras don't mention yoga as we've come to know it. The first description of yoga as a meditative discipline is found in the Upaniṣads; these philosophical texts are also part of the Vedic tradition, but they share a new worldview. In this workshop, Daniel Simpson will explore this distinction and why it matters. In the process, you will learn:
- How yoga began outside the Vedic mainstream, yet drew on Vedic ideas
- Why early yoga was not about action, but focused instead on renunciation
- What links the liberating insights of early practitioners to modern forms yoga