Importance of Lineage and Tradition in Yoga

My first yoga TTC was from a modern yoga school. There was no lineage or tradition that the program followed, and I learnt the aspects of power yoga with the TTC program. After 2 more TTC's I ended up doing my TTC program with Sivananda Yoga & Vedanta Ashrams, India which is a classical Yoga gurukul with decades of experiential teachings & a lineage associated with it. The teachings at the ashram are backed by that of Siddha gurus Swami Sivananda & Swami Vishnu Devananda. Over years, the Sivananda community has brought together a community of like-minded people who learnt these teachings based on a set of Yogic & Vedantic principles. The tradition of Yoga followed at the ashrams is that of bringing to life the four paths Yoga including Raja Yoga, Gyan Yoga, Karma Yoga & Bhakti Yoga, and learning to live Yoga as a way of life deeply rooted in spiritual essence of its being for harmony in body, mind and spirit. This side of Yoga I had not learnt in my previous programs.

However, as the field of Yoga has seen global transformation with new perspectives coming in joining the depths of scientific understanding, Yoga has gradually emerged as a science in last few years. Today Yoga is seen as a traditional art & most potent science of health and self-transformation, and there are enough researches to prove how Yoga is the most potential art form to bring about physiological, neurological, biochemical and physical changes in body & mind.

Amidst this growth of Yoga in the modern era, lineage still holds its importance and being associated with a lineage is the best approach to grow this art form into a potential science of health for the following reasons:

-??????Tradition of Yoga is not a new science, it has more than 2000-year-old history, way before modern science came into being. Back then even without science being in picture, the saints and great seers devised this art form that was so precise in its practice that science today is proving the efficacy of these asanas & Yoga practices. It is with deep sense of dedication & practice of ancient teachings that these lineages came up and thus hold the subtle secrets to practicing Yoga the best way using body as a tool to walk the path of spiritual journey. Such traditions and lineages are the core of modern day yoga and cannot be separated from its origin.

-??????Lineage comes with the traditional way of passing on knowledge directly from the guru to shishya. This guru-shishya Parampara is considered an important methodology to learn the intricate techniques of subtle yoga practices which cannot be directly learnt by simply reading books or following the scientific principles of anatomy, physiology or biomechanics. However, when this traditional knowledge from a lineage is co-joined with scientific methodology, the art & science of Yoga emerges as a powerful tool for human health.

-??????Yoga, one of the greatest treasures of our Indian culture has always thrived on guru-shishya Parampara where these valuable teachings have been passed down over generations from teacher to student. In the process many experiences, perspectives, approaches, methodologies and learnings have emerged which is the treasure of valuable knowledge with real-life value associated to it. Such experiences of an ongoing Yoga lineage cannot be underestimated.

-??????Most yoga lineages have a strong focus on manipulating the life-force and raising the level of consciousness with all the Yogic practices that form a part of that specific lineage. Life-force is the subtle force that fuels our mental and emotional sheath, which means through physical postures, the teachings emphasize on harmonizing the mental & emotional body, which is a missing aspect in modern Yogic concepts. However, the precision of understanding the science of movement is where modern Yoga science has done wonders. Again, when lineage and science joins, it becomes a perfect form for body & mind health.

Yoga traditions evolved as a result of sadhna or spiritual training performed by the saints/gurus and the lineage comes as a living testimony of experiences experienced by the practitioners. What gets passed on by a lineage is the living proof of a practice that has evolved on the basis of experiential learning.?