Root
Sound change: u → o, j → g.
Literally: Yoking, as oxen to a cart.
Dimensions
What the usual translation loses
exercise
Postures are one small method. Yoga is the whole harness that turns scattered strength into direction.
How the meaning grew
- Ṛgveda
Yoking horses or oxen; harnessing for work or battle.
- Kaṭha Upaniṣad
The steady holding of the senses, like reining in horses.
- Bhagavad Gītā
Several definitions side by side: evenness of mind, skill in action, and separation from union with suffering.
- Patañjali
The stilling of the movements of the mind.
- Ordinary Sanskrit
A method, a combination, a conjunction of stars, a remedy.
- Today
Mostly the postures, which Patañjali covers in three short sutras.
In the texts' own words
“Evenness is called yoga”
“Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind”
“That steady holding of the senses they call yoga”
Word family
Cousins in English
“Yoke” is the same word; so are “join” and “junction” by way of Latin.
Easily confused
- Yoga is a state and a discipline; āsana (posture) is one limb of eight.