Second urbanisa on

Systema c yoga concepts begin to emerge in texts da ng to c. 500–200 BCE, such as the early Buddhist
texts, the middle Upanishads, and the Mahabharata Bhagavad Gita and Shan Parva.

Buddhism and the śramaṇa movement

According to Geoffrey Samuel, the "best evidence to date" suggests that yogic prac ces "developed in
the same asce c circles as the early śramaṇa movements, probably in around the sixth and fi h
centuries BCE." This occurred during India's second urbanisa on period. According to Mallinson and
Singleton, these tradi ons were the first to use mind-body techniques but later described as yoga, to
strive for libera on from the round of rebirth.

Werner writes, "The Buddha was the founder of his system, even though, admi edly, he made use of
some of the experiences he had previously gained under various Yoga teachers of his me." He notes:

Early Buddhist texts describe yogic and medita ve prac ces, some of which the Buddha borrowed from
the śramaṇa tradi on. The Pāli Canon contains three passages in which the Buddha describes pressing
the tongue against the palate to control hunger or the mind, depending on the passage. There is no
men on of the tongue inserted into the nasopharynx, as in khecarī mudrā. The Buddha used a posture in
which pressure is put on the perineum with the heel, similar to modern postures used to evoke
Kundalini. Su as which discuss yogic prac ce include the Sa pa hana Su a and the Anapanasa Su a.

The chronology of these yoga-related early Buddhist texts, like the ancient Hindu texts, is unclear. Early
Buddhist sources such as the Majjhima Nikāya men on medita on; the Aṅgu ara Nikāya describes
jhāyins who resemble early Hindu descrip ons of muni, the Kesin and medita ng asce cs, but the
medita on prac ces are not called "yoga" in these texts. The earliest known discussions of yoga in
Buddhist literature, as understood in a modern context, are from the later Buddhist Yogācāra and
Theravada schools.

Jain medita on is a yoga system which predated the Buddhist school. Since Jain sources are later than
Buddhist ones, however, it is difficult to dis nguish between the early Jain school and elements derived
from other schools. Most of the other contemporary yoga systems alluded to in the Upanishads and
some Buddhist texts have been lost.

Upanishads

The Upanishads, composed in the late Vedic period, contain the first references to prac ces recognizable
as classical yoga. The first known appearance of the word "yoga" in the modern sense is in the Katha
Upanishad,

The Maitrayaniya Upanishad, probably composed later than the Katha and Shvetashvatara Upanishads
but before the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, men ons a sixfold yoga method: breath control, introspec ve
withdrawal of the senses, medita on, mental concentra on, logic and reasoning, and spiritual union. In
addi on to discussions in the Principal Upanishads, the twenty Yoga Upanishads and related texts
discuss yoga methods. Onesicritus says that the yogis were aloof and adopted "different postures –
standing or si ng or lying naked – and mo onless".
Onesicritus also men ons a empts by his colleague, Calanus, to meet them. Ini ally denied an
audience, he was later invited because he was sent by a "king curious of wisdom and philosophy".

The Gita consists of 18 chapters and 700 shlokas ; each chapter is named for a different form of yoga.
Some scholars divide the Gita into three sec ons; the first six chapters deal with karma yoga, the middle
six with bhak yoga, and the last six. The sutra asserts that yoga leads to an absence of sukha and
dukkha, describing medita ve steps in the journey towards spiritual libera on. Es mated as completed
in its surviving form between 450 BCE and 200 CE, its sutras assert that yoga is a means to a ain
"subtlety of body".—discusses yoga in sutras 4.2.38–50. It includes a discussion of yogic ethics, dhyana
and samadhi, no ng that debate and philosophy are also forms of yoga.

Classical era

The Indic tradi ons of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism were taking shape during the period between
the Mauryan and the Gupta eras, and systems of yoga began to emerge; a number of texts from these
tradi ons discussed and compiled yoga methods and prac ces. Key works of the era include the Yoga
Sūtras of Patañjali, the Yoga-Yājñavalkya, the Yogācārabhūmi-Śāstra, and the Visuddhimagga.

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

One of the best-known early expressions of Brahminical yoga thought is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali ;
some scholars believe that it included the sutras and a commentary. As the name suggests, the
metaphysical basis of the text is samkhya; the school is men oned in Kauṭilya's Arthashastra as one of
the three categories of anviksikis, with yoga and Cārvāka. Yoga and samkhya have some differences; yoga
accepted the concept of a personal god, and Samkhya was a ra onal, non-theis c system of Hindu
philosophy.

Baba Hari Dass writes that if yoga is understood as nirodha, its goal is "the unqualified state of niruddha
". "Yoga implies duality ; the result of yoga is the nondual state... as the union of the lower self and
higher Self. The nondual state is characterized by the absence of individuality; it can be described as
eternal peace, pure love, Self-realiza on, or libera on."