Early Samhitas also contain references to other group ascetics such as munis, the keśin, and vratyas. Techniques for controlling breath and vital energies are mentioned in the Brahmanas (texts of the Vedic corpus, c. one thousand–800 BCE) and the Atharvaveda. Nasadiya Sukta of the Rig Veda suggests the presence of an early contemplative custom. The Rigveda, nonetheless, does not describe yoga, and there may be little proof as to what the practices had been. Early references to practices that later grew to become part of yoga, are made in Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, the earliest Hindu Upanishad. The Jaiminiya Upanishad Brahmana teaches mantra repetition and control of the breath.
Onesicritus claims these Indian yogins practiced aloofness and “different postures – standing or sitting or lying bare – and immobile”. Alexander Wynne observes that formless meditation and elemental meditation might have originated in the Upanishadic custom. The earliest reference to meditation is in …
