Tantra Yoga

During the Medieval period, around 800-1000 C.E., Hatha Yoga and Tantra Yoga began to branch separately from their common trunk, whose roots extend back at least into the ancient Indus Valley Culture- which flourished along the Indus and (the now dry) Saraswati river basins, from c.2500 B.C.E. to c.1500 B.C.E. Hatha Yoga adopted a more ascetic stance, while Tantra Yoga chose a more sensual approach. Unlike Hatha Yoga, wherein one strives for self-integration through a solitary, ascetic, almost existentialist, practice- Tantra Yoga teaches that realization can be accomplished in the midst of a full rich life, including a form of sacred sexual union called a maithuna. These common roots are evident in some of the tiny seals discovered in the remains of ancient Indus Valley cities unearthed after World War I. Some of the most advanced practices of chakra and kundalini yoga are clearly depicted on seals over 4500 years old. The advanced nature of both the physical postures, and the spiritual attainments they represent, requires an even earlier period for the first germinations of the seeds of yoga.