who were the first people to invent yoga or do yoga or be yoga. can we really be sure it was the hindus? maybe they have the earliest written records of yoga but does that mean it came from there? was it passed down by word of mouth from before, and if so for how long? also, levitation and transporting are supposed to be possible, who knows maybe some dude was meditating on a mountain in the antartic by himself and once she understood some of lifes secrets decided to transport to another place because there were only ten people in her village. maybe yoga came from outer space. could some dude have been on a planet galaxies away and knew how to do stuff similar to fire walking so he rode a comet like a skateboard and steered it into earth? maybe a talking fish invented it. maybe it was a tree and the first yoga posture was standing tree pose.
i dont know, just some thoughts
brother Neil
We can never be absolutely certain of anything can we? Is this all an illusion? Is this the Matrix?
Love your point! Gave me a chuckle this early in the morning! Like laughter yoga!
glad you liked it lotus , it was fun to write oooooooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Dear Br Neil,
For me it doesn’t really matter where it comes from or who brought it to us. I cannot care whether somebody brought yoga to us two thousand years, two hundred years or two years ago out of the Indus Valley, the USA or out of the hall of the Theosophical Society in Pretoria. For me it is the essence of the teaching that is important and how meaningful it is to me NOW!
My own teacher was very particular about history and tradition and origins, I am less inclined to be concerned about these things. But, I do not say studying the origins is not important, I think there are enough people concerned with that and I’ll leave it to them. For me I’ll enjoy practicing what they discover. 
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;34224]who were the first people to invent yoga?
maybe they have the earliest written records of yoga but does that mean it came from there?
was it passed down by word of mouth from before, and if so for how long?
also, levitation and transporting are supposed to be possible?
maybe yoga came from outer space?
[/QUOTE]
Brother Neil,
No one can say for sure. History is always full of controversy. History is based on documents and artifacts which can be easily falsified and facts can be lined up with ones current needs.
Have you tried Wikipedia? It can answer some of your questions and it is up to you to believe it of not.
In my yoga lecture I give listeners few facts and tell them that it is doesnot really matters how old yoga science is, but something that is not good would not stick around for so long:))
brother pandara, thanks for sharing your insightful middle of the road perspective, it helps me to see more of my truest beliefs.
Beautifully said Pandara! You are right on!
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;34224]… maybe yoga came from outer space. could some dude have been on a planet galaxies away and knew how to do stuff similar to fire walking so he rode a comet like a skateboard and steered it into earth? …[/QUOTE]
Where did [I]that[/I] come from? Quite an image, Brother Neil, and my personal favorite theory.
Who was the first person to invent the steam engine? Maybe it was aliens from out of space or maybe it was the Native Americans! This is why we wiped out their historical records to hide the fact that it was the Native Americans that invented the steam engine 
[QUOTE=Asuri;34271]Where did [I]that[/I] come from? Quite an image, Brother Neil, and my personal favorite theory.[/QUOTE]
to be honest asuri, im not sure where it came from, glad you liked it.
if I am not mistaken the native Americans consider AUM the divine sound, which if I am not mistaken the Hindus do too. When did the native Americans discover this, anyone know?
Yoga comes from God just like all other things.
I think it is quite clear why I brought the steam engine conspiracy theory up to mock an equally ridicuous point made by Brother Neil.
We know where the steam engine was invented. The first prototype was invented by Heron of Alexandria, but the modern steam engine was invented in Europe. Likewise, we know where Yoga was invented. It was invented in India by the Hindus as a religious practice.
if I am not mistaken the native Americans consider AUM the divine sound, which if I am not mistaken the Hindus do too. When did the native Americans discover this, anyone know?
No, they do not.
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;34389]I think it is quite clear why I brought the steam engine conspiracy theory up to mock an equally ridicuous point made by Brother Neil.
We know where the steam engine was invented. The first prototype was invented by Heron of Alexandria, but the modern steam engine was invented in Europe. Likewise, we know where Yoga was invented. It was invented in India by the Hindus as a religious practice.
No, they do not.[/QUOTE]
so who was the first person to invent yoga?? as you state the steam engine was invented by a person and you gave the name but when referring to yoga you just say the hindus which is vague, who invented yoga? what was there name
[QUOTE=Surya Deva;34389]No, they do not.[/QUOTE]
http://www.aum.info/ fourth paragraph down "The sound of aum also figures into the shamanic lore of Native Americans. It is easy to recognize it in the Oglala Sioux medicine tale of “Jumping Mouse,” in which the sound is likened to a rushing river. "
also, I have been to sweat lodge retreats where the lady was native american and she talked about and we used AUM as well, she is also one who has traced back and studied her heritage. I realize this may not be sufficient enough proof for you and I am ok with that
also, Supposedly the energy on the earth chagnes every 5000 years some would say we are going through that now. supposedly the kundahlini has shifted on the planet untill it finally settles. , does that mean the teachings go with it? Is this why the practice of yoga has spread throughout the globe?
I also looked at the same link after reading the posts. Was about to post and yours appeared like you read my mind! Whoa!
I believe this thread should have been closed after Pandara’s beautiful thoughts. I guess practicing is more important than discussing on who, what, where. Probably these are not the right questions unless we are research scholars. I respect everyone’s comments though.
[QUOTE=Brother Neil;34401]http://www.aum.info/ fourth paragraph down "The sound of aum also figures into the shamanic lore of Native Americans. It is easy to recognize it in the Oglala Sioux medicine tale of “Jumping Mouse,” in which the sound is likened to a rushing river. "
also, I have been to sweat lodge retreats where the lady was native american and she talked about and we used AUM as well, she is also one who has traced back and studied her heritage. I realize this may not be sufficient enough proof for you and I am ok with that[/QUOTE]
I was skeptical from the very moment you mentioned it suspecting it was more new-age nonsense of trying to read Yoga into non-Western traditions, and I was right.
http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/TheStoryofJumpingMouse-Unknown.html
It does not mention AUM at all. It is a story of a mouse who hears a roaring sound and then discovers a river nearby where there is a frog floating on a lilly pad which tells it to jump and it sees “the sacred mountains” It goes back and tells its fellow mice of its experience and they don’t believe him and so on and so forth. At best this an allegory for a wonderful mystical experience of discovering something magical. This is most probably the case as the Native American shamans are a very magical and mystical culture.
The link you provided only proved one thing that AUM is a Hindu concept and only belongs in Hindu derived religions. No other culture in the world has an equivalent to the concept of Aum: which is a cosmic vibration which vibrates at the very substratum of reality and can be heard(nada Brahman) in meditation.
I really must surmise from these deperate attempts to attribute Yoga to anything but Hindus an agenda. Why are there no similar attempts being made to attribute Western discoveries to others? We are very umambigious on who discovered the laws of motion, who discovered dna, who discovered the motor, but for some reason we want to be ambigious about things coming from Hinduism and India. It is clear this is born out of anxieties of Westerners not wanting to be associated with Hinduism or wanting to accept Yoga, meditation and its spiritual stuff belongs to it. I bet you most of them are Christians.
SD- Really read what Brother Neil wrote. He never once…NOT ONE TIME did he say the Native Americans claim Aum originated with them. He said"it figures into shamanic lore". That is a far cry from how you interpreted it. Listen again…HE DID NOT SAY IT ORIGINATED WITH THE NATIVE AMERICANS. Did you hear this time.
That "New age Club " is really growing. Wow. Must be something to it.
And please play nice with your fellow Yogi’s. They all deserve it.