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Yoga: Thousands of Years of Stillness
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Yoga: Thousands of Years of Stillness is a 3D virtual gallery on MyGallery3D, a walkable online exhibition of 12 works. Step inside and explore it in your browser: no app, no headset.
Welcome to a 3D virtual gallery you can walk through in your browser, exploring yoga across thousands of years of stillness and transformation.
Patanjali defined yoga as "the stilling of the movements of the mind." The word itself comes from the Sanskrit root meaning "to yoke," a cognate of the English word yoke, from the same Indo-European root. The earliest yoga practices may date to around 900 BCE in the Jain tradition. By the 20th century, this meditative discipline had been reshaped into a global physical practice almost unrecognisable to its founders.
Traditional yoga focuses on meditation and release from worldly attachments, not exercise. Patanjali listed asana as just one of eight limbs, alongside breath work, concentration, and samadhi. Much Western yoga is a modern blend of hatha yoga and European gymnastics, shaped by pioneers like Krishnamacharya, whose system drew on Scandinavian exercise traditions and Indian physical culture responding to colonialism.
The 10th century Goraksha Sataka names 84 asanas but describes only two: Siddhasana and Padmasana. Both are seated. The first non-seated pose recorded, Mayurasana, appears in the 11th century. By 1966, Iyengar's Light on Yoga described 200. In 1984, Dharma Mittra compiled roughly 1,300. Many "traditional" poses, including Warrior Pose, were created after 1940.
There is no consensus on yoga's origins. Two broad theories compete: the linear model traces yoga to the Vedas, while the synthesis model sees it as a blend of indigenous and Vedic practices from the eastern Ganges plain. Yoga-like references appear in the Rigveda, but systematic concepts emerged in the fifth and sixth centuries BCE alongside Jainism and Buddhism, rooted in ascetic Śramaṇa movements.
A woman stands in the tree pose on grass, her body grounded yet balanced. The photograph explores yoga as a dialogue with the natural world.
Photograph by Zulfugar Karimov, via Pexels.
A silhouette of a woman in a yoga pose against a twilight sky, showcasing tranquility and balance.
Photograph by Tima Miroshnichenko, via Pexels.
A woman's form becomes silhouette against the fading sky. The image suggests how yoga practice dissolves the boundary between body and landscape.
Photograph by GaJJu M, via Pexels.
A woman moves through a yoga pose on a bridge, her body finding ease within the natural landscape. The image captures how practice can create moments of relaxation anywhere.
Photograph by RAY LEI, via Pexels.
A woman arcs her body into a wheel pose within a peaceful park. The pose demonstrates balance between strength and the quietness of natural surroundings.
Photograph by RAY LEI, via Pexels.
Three people find stillness together in a park surrounded by fall foliage. Shared practice in nature speaks to yoga as both personal and communal.
Photograph by Vitaly Gariev, via Pexels.
A man holds a balancing pose on his mat, framed by palm trees and sunlight. The photograph captures the physical precision underlying yoga's meditative aim.
Photograph by RDNE Stock project, via Pexels.
A person sits in meditation as the sun sets over a rocky beach. The photograph holds a quiet moment of calm reflected in both body and environment.
Photograph by Manish Jangid, via Pexels.
A man balances in a headstand beneath open sky, the city visible in the distance. Yoga meets the vertical world of the city, offering counterpoint to urban stillness.
Photograph by Marian Sol Miranda, via Pexels.
A woman in athletic wear holds a yoga pose on a rooftop, the city skyline behind her. She finds stillness above the urban landscape, suspended between sky and city.
Photograph by Critical Smith, via Pexels.
A woman practices yoga deep within trees, her mat a small island of mindfulness. The photograph shows how natural settings support the inward journey of wellness.
Photograph by KoolShooters, via Pexels.
Four women practice yoga together in a park on a sunny fall day. The image shows how stillness and mindfulness can be shared experiences, grounded in community.
Photograph by Vitaly Gariev, via Pexels.
