What is yoga? The word योग and what the texts say

Ask ten teachers what yoga is and you will hear ten answers: postures, breath, union, meditation, a way of life. The Sanskrit texts are more precise. They define yoga again and again, and their definitions all point the same way: towards a mind that is steady, even and clear.

The word योग

Yoga is a noun formed from the verbal root yuj. Its first, concrete meaning is to yoke: in the Vedic hymns horses are yoked to a chariot. From there the word came to mean harnessing, joining, applying oneself, a method, a discipline.

The Sanskrit grammatical tradition is subtler still. The Dhātupāṭha, the list of verbal roots of Pāṇini's school, records three roots yuj: one "in the sense of samādhi" (yuja samādhau, 4.68), one "in the sense of joining" (yujir yoge, 7.7) and one "in the sense of restraint" (saṃyamane, 10.264). The Indologist Dominik Wujastyk notes that yoga commentators such as Bhoja derive the yoga of the Yoga Sutras from the first one, absorption, rather than from "union".

The oldest commentary on the Yoga Sutras, attributed to Vyāsa, says it in two words at the very first sutra: yogaḥ samādhiḥ, "yoga is samādhi", absorption. So "union" is a fair translation, but not the only one, and not the one Patañjali's tradition preferred.

Four classic definitions

Kaṭha Upaniṣad: holding the senses steady

One of the earliest texts to define yoga is the Kaṭha Upaniṣad, where Death teaches the boy Naciketas. It describes the highest state, when the five senses and the mind are still and the intellect does not stir, then adds:

तां योगमिति मन्यन्ते स्थिरामिन्द्रियधारणाम् । अप्रमत्तस्तदा भवति योगो हि प्रभवाप्ययौ ॥

tāṃ yogam iti manyante sthirām indriya-dhāraṇām | apramattas tadā bhavati yogo hi prabhavāpyayau ||

This steady holding of the senses is what they call yoga. Then one becomes vigilant, for yoga is both arising and passing away.

The same Upanishad gives the famous image of the chariot: the body is the chariot, the senses the horses, the mind the reins, the intellect the driver and the Self the master riding in it (1.3.3-4). Yoga here is literally the art of holding the reins. Read more on the Upanishads.

Bhagavad Gita: evenness and skill in action

In the second chapter of the Gita, Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna how to act in the middle of a battle without being bound by his actions:

योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि सङ्गं त्यक्त्वा धनंजय । सिद्ध्यसिद्ध्योः समो भूत्वा समत्वं योग उच्यते ॥

yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi saṅgaṃ tyaktvā dhanaṃjaya | siddhy-asiddhyoḥ samo bhūtvā samatvaṃ yoga ucyate ||

Established in yoga, do your actions, Dhanaṃjaya, giving up attachment, the same in success and failure. Evenness is called yoga.

Two verses later comes the most quoted definition in India, the motto of many institutions:

बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते । तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥

buddhi-yukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛta-duṣkṛte | tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||

One whose understanding is yoked leaves behind here both good and bad deeds. So yoke yourself to yoga: yoga is skill in action.

Note the play on words: yujyasva yogāya, "yoke yourself to yoga". This is the seed of karma yoga. The Gita also gives a third, quieter definition: yoga is "the unyoking from union with suffering" (duḥkha-saṃyoga-viyogam, 6.23).

Patañjali: the stilling of the mind

योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥

yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ ||

Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind.

The next sutra says what happens then: "the seer abides in its own nature" (1.3). This definition opens the most systematic yoga text of the Brahmanical tradition, the Yoga Sutras, and its method is the eight limbs.

The hatha texts: the same goal by the body

Hatha yoga, from about the eleventh century, does not change the definition. Its manual, the Haṭhapradīpikā, opens by saying that it teaches hatha "only for the sake of rāja yoga", the stilled mind (1.2). See hatha yoga and rāja yoga.

A short history of yoga

The full story, with dates and sources, is on the history of yoga.

So what is yoga, in practice?

Put the definitions together and yoga is a discipline that gathers the scattered mind, through ethics, posture, breath, sound, devotion, understanding or selfless action, until it rests. That is why there are several paths of yoga: they are different handles on the same yoke.

If you are starting today:

1. Read the four definitions above slowly and choose the one that speaks to you.
2. Sit for five minutes, upright and still. Steadiness is already yoga, says the Kaṭha.
3. Try a gentle practice of postures and breath: yoga at home.
4. Take the quiz: which path of yoga is yours?

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Kaṭha Upaniṣad, Sanskrit text (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 17, 2026
2. Bhagavadgītā, critical edition (Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute), Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 17, 2026
3. Patañjali, Yogasūtra with the Yogabhāṣya attributed to Vyāsa, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 17, 2026
4. Dominik Wujastyk, the three roots yuj of the Pāṇinian Dhātupāṭha, INDOLOGY list, 8 March 2011 checked October 17, 2026
5. United Nations, International Day of Yoga, 21 June (resolution 69/131, 11 December 2014) checked October 17, 2026
6. UNESCO, Yoga, Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity (2016) checked October 17, 2026

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