Yoga History and Ayurveda
The three types of yoga are: Karma, Bhakti, and Jnana. Karma is the path of action; bhakti is the path of devotion; and jnana is the path of knowledge.
As for the three founders of yoga, I did a little research online to see what I could find and found several, but for modern yoga, I found that the most influential was Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who really made yoga as we know it widespread. He had students: Indira Devi, BKS Iyengar, Sri Pattabhi Joi, and TKV Desikachar. I watched a short youtube video on Krishnamacharya, and learned that he was known for combining the spiritual practice of yoga alongside the physical healing of it. He was a practitioner of ayurveda and is known for the yoga vinyasa practice: combining movements and the breath.
I also watched the Ayurveda video and learned more about this “Art of Being.” The philosophy behind it is to treat the person, not the disease, and has been around for thousands of years, with manuscripts 500-600 years old that are still in use.
The three energies of the body, vata, pitta, and kapha, need balance, and when we are sick, they are out of balance. Each of the energies have diseases for them when out of balance. In ayurveda, everything in the universe is medicine and can supplement the body. There is even a way to take substances that are poisonous to humans and work with them so that they are no longer toxic and we can use the benefits, like mercury. I was skeptical of that, but while I was watching the video, I had to look it up to see if this was actually a legitimate thing we can do (it is). And now I wonder if the ayurvedic practitioners have been removing the poison from heavy metals like mercury for many many years, while westerners were rolling mercury around in their palms during science class in school.
I have to admit that I was mildly skeptical of ayurveda, and then my weekly reading called me out during samskara, not being open minded. I think modern medicine has really come a long way and is very useful. I trust science to do its job. But I also know that nutrition and the foods we eat can affect our health, so there is a way that we can combine them to create a better medicinal option for people. It was even said during the movie that we can combine them to create the best results for all. Finding the right balance of what we eat and how we treat our bodies can make a big difference.
One of the quotes in the movie that really struck me was from one of the ayurveda practitioners: “If science is only followed for money, it’s wasted.” That is so true of the US at this moment. When companies are charging insane amounts of money for insulin that people die without, it shows how greedy we’ve become as a capitalist society.
One thing I want to do is look up medical journals about how effective ayurveda is and how it works well with modern medicine. I did a brief google search while watching the movie and I know they exist, so I’d like to learn more.