Yoga as a health practice and therapy
AI-drafted · awaiting admin review
Yoga is clearly Indian, but is it a medical therapy, a form of Western-style exercise, or both?
India first (well documented)Medicine & health
Indian claim
Yoga began in India, with roots in the Upanishads, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and later hatha yoga texts. Scientific study of yoga as therapy also began in India, when Swami Kuvalayananda started the Kaivalyadhama research centre at Lonavala and the journal Yoga Mimamsa in 1924.
Evidence for the Indian claim
- Yoga Mimamsa (1924) is described as the first journal devoted to the scientific study of yoga.
- The UN General Assembly, on India's proposal, declared 21 June the International Day of Yoga on 11 December 2014 (resolution 69/131), with 177 co-sponsors.
Commonly credited to
Some scholars, such as Mark Singleton in Yoga Body (2010), argue that much of today's posture-based yoga was shaped in the 20th century by Indian teachers blending hatha yoga with European gymnastics, and some studios present it as a Western fitness brand.
Evidence for the other claim
- Modern trials show benefits of yoga for stress, back pain and some other conditions, but claims that yoga cures diseases such as cancer or diabetes on its own are not supported by evidence.
What historians and scientists say
Yoga is an Indian discipline, and India also led the first scientific research on its health effects. Modern posture styles developed in the 20th century, mostly by Indian teachers. Yoga helps health alongside medicine, but it does not replace medical treatment.