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animals. The exact origins of yoga may remain unknown and lost in antiquity. What is known is that these teachings have been preserved, expanded upon, and handed down through the ages from teacher to student because of their cherished value and benefits, as well as for the power thus assured for the teacher.
    In Hindu mythology the domain of yoga, especially Hatha yoga, is often given to Siva, who is known as the destroyer in the Hindu trinity of gods that also includes Brahma, the creator, and Vishnu, the preserver. The concept of Siva as destroyer actually points toward the process of transformation because energy changes form—it is transformed, but is not destroyed. So Siva’s destructive power can also be understood as a release of creative energy. In this role, then, Siva is the god of transformation, and because yoga is the art and science of transformation, Siva is also called the lord of yoga. Yoga seeks to transform the lower into the higher, ignorance to wisdom, and sickness to health.
    There is a great origin myth for Hatha yoga. In one variation of this myth, Siva was visiting Earth with his wife or consort, Shakti. By the banks of a lake he decided to give her a demonstration of yoga asanas. It is said there are 840,000 different yoga postures and since Siva, the creator of this yoga, would certainly know them all, this performance must have taken a good bit of time. Shakti became bored after awhile with his long display and fell asleep. When Siva noticed her inattention he was angry that his fabulous spectacle was being wasted on his wife. Then he noticed that a fish was near the lake’s surface intently watching everything. Siva thought, “This fish has better concentration and is more interested in yoga than my sleeping wife. I will make him a great yogi.” The fish was turned into a man, called Matsyendranath, which means lord or king of the fish, and Matsyendranath became the first yogi. There may have historically been a man named Matsyendranath who lived during the tenth century and who actually was one of the earliest originators of Hatha yoga.
    In much of modern belief and folklore, East and West, Hatha yoga is said to be thousands of years old. Scientific and academic research has found no validation for this claim. The broader philosophical and spiritual dimensions of yoga and other branches do go back millennia, but Hatha is probably much younger, originating around the first millennium CE (of the Common Era, or Christian Era). Modern folklore and many traditional yogis tend to idealize Hatha yoga’s past and feel that very early on it was a highly perfected form of physical and spiritual development with practices for health, well-being, and mental clarity. On the contrary, academicians have asserted that the earliest forms of Hatha were oriented toward the attainment of supernatural and magical powers or physical immortality. The teachings and definition of Hatha yoga have grown and expanded enormously in modern times, incorporating many new discoveries and innovations, and integrating much from science. These changes and developments do not devalue the practice but, on the contrary, have strengthened and builtit far beyond its humble origins. They further emphasize the evolutionary nature of yoga and the importance of constant questioning, vigilance, and feedback in the process.

The Ten Body-Mind Systems
    Hatha yoga, intelligently practiced, has extraordinary, beneficial effects on many levels, physically, mentally, and spiritually. As it has been handed down and expanded through the centuries, it has evolved, continually, into the most complete and sophisticated system of physical culture, health, and well-being ever known to humanity. Yoga practices work with and balance many interrelationships within body and mind. In order to have a more holistic understanding of how yoga works, ten body-mind systems can be taken into account. The spectrum of the ten systems, from the dense, physical