History Of Indian Yogis 2000 B.C. - 2000 A.D., course at Loyola College, CA
https://www.lmu.edu/extension/catalog.aspx?id=2641
From the course catalog:
"Most reconstructions of the history of yoga in India have focused on the term "yoga" as it is found in a selection of major religious and philosophical texts, including the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, the Bhagavad Gita of the Mahabharata, and the Hathayogapradipika of Svatmaraman. These reconstructions have tended to emphasize a body of ecstatic and meditative practice. When, however, one traces the history of the term "yogi," the presumed agent of yogic practice, the reconstruction changes radically. From the very earliest accounts of yogis, as found in narrative passages of the Mahabharata, and down through the Tantras and medieval and modern non-scriptural accounts, the image of the Indian yogi has been one of a phenomenally powerful, but also dangerous possessor of supernatural powers, who exits his own body, often to take over those of other people. Using archeological, iconographic, and textual data, this course will survey the image of the Indian yogi from the earliest times down to the present day. The conclusions it will draw will be most surprising."