We usually translate yoga as “union”. It’s a good translation, but the word’s original meaning offers more clues.
To yoke, to join
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to join, harness, yoke. It was used for harnessing horses to a chariot. Applied to practice, it means “taming” and directing the mind and senses so they stop pulling in different directions. Later, some schools added the sense of union between the individual soul and universal consciousness.
A path, not a destination
Over the centuries yoga has absorbed many physical, mental and spiritual techniques. But they all pursue the same thing: purifying body and mind to know who we really are. Yoga’s goal is not only wellbeing, a precious gift along the way, but self-knowledge.
What yoga means to us
- A healthy, strong, flexible body.
- Recognising and accepting our emotions.
- Observing what happens to us and our thoughts.
- Cultivating concentration and will.
- Acting freely instead of reacting out of habit.
- Opening the heart and developing compassion for all beings.
- A path you begin and never finish.
