Why is it worth looking at the word itself?
Anyone who wants to understand what yoga is cannot avoid its name. Unlike many modern terms, the Sanskrit word still carries its meaning openly within it: it does not name a form of exercise, but a process – the act of joining itself.
Before we come to techniques, schools and scriptures, it is worth looking at that one word from which everything else has grown. This article is part of our series on the history of yoga; you can explore how these roots live on in our practice on our page about Hatha and Kundalini Yoga.
'Yoga' literally means union and derives from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning "to tie, to join or to yoke".
The original use of this word refers to the union between the war chariot and its horses, which were bound to one another by the "yoke". This so-called yoga chariot was meant to carry fallen warriors to heaven.
What does the yoke join – soul and passion?
Yoga is not only the yoke – the connecting link itself – but also the rein that guides. Just as the yoke connects the chariot with the horse, yoga (the reins) connects the soul (the charioteer) with the passions (the horses).
When the wisdom of the soul can guide the passions through yoga, the goal can be reached. This image corresponds exactly to how we understand yoga today – the power that enables the individual to unite with the greater goal.
Where does the word "yoga" first appear?
The term 'yoga' first appears in hymn 5.81.1 of the Ṛgveda, where it refers to the magical power awakened through asceticism. While these early Vedic texts contain no yoga techniques as such, a strong ascetic tradition existed alongside them, using physical practices and meditation, developing in parallel with Buddhism and Jainism around 600 BCE.
An early indication of this ascetic culture (around 1000 BCE) is found in hymn 10:136 of the Ṛgveda, which describes a long-haired ascetic using visionary meditation practices.
How old is yoga really?
Yes, yoga is genuinely several thousand years old – but not in the form you see in a studio today. The Ṛgveda, from which the hymns above are taken, is among the oldest continuously transmitted texts of humankind: its verses were passed on orally for millennia, long before they were ever written down.
The distinction matters: the word yoga is ancient. The practice as we know it today is considerably younger, assembled over many centuries from very different currents – ascetic movements, the Upaniṣads, and later Tantra. Our series traces that path step by step.
Why does yoga begin with the breath of all things?
Because breath is the one bodily function that happens by itself and can be consciously directed. It stands precisely at the threshold between the involuntary and the willed – and is therefore, in yogic terms, the nearest gateway between body and consciousness.
That the earliest described yoga technique should be prāṇāyāma is therefore no coincidence, but entirely consistent. In our own practice the breath still holds this place – more about that on our page on Hatha and Kundalini Yoga. If you would like to explore the techniques yourself, our Downloads area holds freely available guides, including a detailed pranayama overview.
Which was the first yoga technique?
The first description of yoga techniques as we understand them today appears in the Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (from 900 BCE) and refers to prāṇāyāma.
The gods acknowledge this one law, that the sun rises and that it sets. It is true today and will be true tomorrow as well. The sun indeed rises out of the life force and sets within it too.
What those gods recognised is still true today. Therefore a person should acknowledge this one law as well – the functions of prāṇa and apāna; in this way the evil of death will not overcome them. And having recognised it, they should also fulfil it.
Through this they attain union with God, or dwell in the same world as He.
Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad (I:23)
Some three thousand years ago it was already recognised that breath is not merely a biological process, but a bridge between the everyday and something that points beyond it. In the next article we travel on into the pre-classical era – to the Śramaṇas, the Bhagavad Gītā and Yogācāra Buddhism.
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