How to access altered states of consciousness through yoga?
Yoga's origin is unclear, however the word appears approximately 1500 BC. The root "yuj" signifies to combine or put together.
Thus, in the 5th century BC, it is both a goal and a method, making it hard to define. Controlling the breath to calm the mind.
Between the 5th century BC and the 2nd century AD JC, diverse methods will become apparent and consideration will be given to learning books for spiritual knowledge (Inana Yoga), selflessness (karma yoga), and devotion.
In the 4th century, Patanjali's yoga, systematised in the Yoga Sutra, presented a worldview based on Samkya, a dualist and atheistic philosophy that opposes Purusha (the Self, Consciousness) and Prakriti (Nature, Energy).
From the 5th century, Cashmere and Bengali tantra envisioned a universe where everything is energy.
This notion links microcosm and macrocosm, body and universe. We seek deliverance through sadhana, asceticism. Tantra yoga (especially mantra recitation) and Kundalini yoga arise when this dormant energy in the body is awakened, releasing it.
These yogas would evolve until Hatha Yoga appears between the 12th and 15th centuries, which links postural approach to body energy through mantras, mudra, and bandha.
The first asana descriptions occurred after the 15th century, especially in the 18th.
Sri K. Patthabi Jois (1915–2009) taught yoga and studied Sanskrit and the Vedas for 70 years. After 25 years of study with Krischnamacharya, he created Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.
The first Europeans met André Van Lisbeth in the 1960s, and he brought yoga to the West, mainly the US, launching its global rise.
Yoga nidra, influenced by Cashmere Shaivism and Vedanta, represents "the sleep of Vishnu"—the source of creation—and dates back several thousand years. Goddess Shakti represents him.
Tantric scriptures first mention it in the 3rd century. Hinduism originally inspired it, but Indian epics, mediaeval hatha yoga texts, and 19th-century Western relaxation techniques influenced it. They called it a timeless state of pure consciousness or consciousness on the verge of sleep.
In 1952, Swami Satyananga formed his school in India and wrote Yoga Nidra in 1974, which popularised it in the 20th century. His apprentice founded a Danish school and recorded yoga nidra.
Yoga nidra, or sleep yoga, improves sleep. Yoga nidra relaxes the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. The ability to induce sleep is one of its sophrological properties.
Between wakefulness and sleep, the practitioner is relaxed but aware of his surroundings.
Most sessions begin with relaxation in Savasana, the "corpse" position where one lies on the back with the feet turned outwards slightly apart, the arms along the torso, and the palms of the hands facing upwards. The session begins with a “body scan” to relax each bodily component.
This state facilitates yoga teacher-directed work. The person is asked to utter a "sankalpa" before viewing a relaxing image to eradicate negative emotions or prior traumas to accomplish their ideal.