Music and Spirituality:

Religion, spirituality, and music have long been intertwined with one another: from Christian church gatherings with impassioned sing-a-longs to sacred chants performed in Buddhist temples by monks, it's natural to express faith through song and rhythm. Perhaps even more than other religions, Hinduism is deeply rooted in musical traditions. Devotional songs and mantras are sung in households and temples alike, intertwined with daily rituals of cooking, cleaning, and working; and Indian classical music as a whole is inspired by spirituality.

THE HISTORY OF YOGA-2

I can provide here only the merest thumbnail sketch and, if you wish to inform yourself more about the long history of Yoga, recommend that you study my book The Yoga Tradition. This is the most comprehensive historical overview available anywhere. But be prepared for challenging reading and a fairly large tome.

The history of Yoga can conveniently be divided into the following four broad categories:

Vedic Yoga
Preclassical Yoga
Classical Yoga
Postclassical Yoga

These categories are like static snapshots of something that is in actuality in continuous motion—the “march of history.”