An overview of classical Yoga philosophy as a philosophy of embodied self-awareness

A common element in many classical Indian philosophies is the acceptance of a “yogic perception” as a direct and immediate means of knowledge. While the debate on this type of perception is relevant for the history of Indian epistemology, the purpose of this chapter is to show that there is a non-reductionist conception of embodiment and a multilayered process of self-awareness implicit in the possibility of a “yogic perception”, especially as those two elements were expressed during the initial stages of orthodox Yoga philosophy up to its classical formulation in Patañjali’s Yogasūtra.