Vrittis: A 5000 year old precursor to brain waves?
When we hear the term yoga, the first image that springs to mind is usually that of an athletic, flexible woman pulling off impossible poses that make us feel extremely insecure about our own struggle to touch our toes. While this concept of yoga as a kind of mystic practice promising everything from a slender body to healthy kidneys is glorified in our media, many of us would be surprised to find out that yoga is much more than contorting our body into extremely inhuman shapes, it is a vast philosophical system in and of itself. Yoga is one of the Shad Darshans established by Maharishi Patanjali. So what exactly are Darshanas and how does yoga fit into them? Darshanas are the schools of philosophies that in a gist try to give an explanation of reality. Each Darshana offers a unique perspective about the nature of the world, the Self, and the Absolute in their own different ways. The metaphysical explanations and nuances offered by the different Darshanas are truly fascinat...
