The sage Patanjali propounded Yoga in India in the 4th century BC as a 'System of Philosophy'. Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word 'Yog' meaning 'Union', presumably with the divine being. Yoga in India is the scientific principles of experience and integration of the mind, body and spirit through a balanced practice of Ashtanga or the Eight Limbs of Yoga.

The branches of Ashtanga Yoga are:

Yama - It is practiced to achieve universal disciplines of truth, self-control, non-violence, non-stealing and non-greed.

Niyama - It promotes human values of contentment, self-study, penance, cleanliness and absolute surrender to God.

Asana - It is about performing various Yogic postures to keep the body healthy and agile.

Pranayama - It teaches about the management of the breath.

Pratayahara - It helps in attaining body composure alienate oneself from the five senses.

Dharna - It teaches the art of concentration.

Dhyan - It teaches the art of meditation.

Samadhi - It refers to the ultimate state of union with the God.

The most popular forms of Yoga in India are:

Karma Yoga - It is the way of right action for selfless serving without the motivation of obtaining results of labor.

Bhakti Yoga - It is the way of thorough devotion to the Supreme Being to overwhelm emotion and self in pure love.

Jnana Yoga - It is the way of knowledge through studying divinity and learn to attain the power to discriminate between illusion and reality.

Hatha Yoga - It is the physical form to trains the body to control the mind and senses through asana and pranayama.

Tantric Yoga - It worships the goddess of energy and sees the body as the temple of the divine.

Kundalini Yoga - It is the path that arouses the energy stored in the chakras through breathing and movement.

Raja Yoga - It is the path of meditation that controls the mind from wandering and helps to obtain control over thought.

Yoga in India works by utilizing the energy present within the human being to provides long lasting results and works as a preventive measure for the development of any further disease without the help of any orally administered medicine. Yoga in India detoxifies the body through purification of bowel, cleansing of the nasal passage and eyes and also retard the ageing process.