Yoga (Sanskrit: Category: :wikt - :???|???, IAST: yóga, ) refers to traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India, to the goal achieved by those disciplines, and to one of the six orthodox (?stika) schools of Hindu philosophy."Yoga has five principal meanings: 1) yoga as a disciplined method for attaining a goal; 2) yoga as techniques of controlling the body and the mind; 3) yoga as a name of one of the schools or systems of philosophy (''); 4) yoga in connection with other words, such as hatha-, mantra-, and laya-, referring to traditions specialising in particular techniques of yoga; 5) yoga as the goal of yoga practice." Jacobsen, p. 4.Monier-Williams includes "it is the second of the two S??khya systems," and "mental abstraction practised as a system (as taught by Patañjali and called the Yoga philosophy)" in his definitions of "yoga".

Major branches of a yoga include Raja Yoga, Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, and Hatha Yoga.Pandit Usharbudh Arya (1985). The philosophy of hatha yoga. Himalayan Institute Press; 2nd ed.Sri Swami Rama (2008) The royal path: Practical lessons on yoga. Himalayan Institute Press; New Ed edition.Swami Prabhavananda (Translator), Christopher Isherwood (Translator), Patanjali (Author). (1996). Vedanta Press; How to know god: The yoga aphorisms of Patanjali. New Ed edition. Raja Yoga, compiled in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, and known simply as yoga in the context of Hindu philosophy, is part of the Samkhya tradition.Jacobsen, p. 4. Many other Hindu texts discuss aspects of yoga, including the Vedas, Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, the Shiva Samhita and various Tantras.

The Sanskrit word yoga has many meaningsFor a list of 38 meanings of the word "yoga" see: Apte, p. 788., and is derived from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to control, to yoke or to unite.For "yoga" as derived from the Sanskrit root "yuj" with meanings of "to control", "to yoke, or "to unite" see: Flood (1996), p. 94. Translations include joining, uniting, union, conjunction, and means.For meaning 1. joining, uniting, and 2., union, junction, combination see: Apte, p. 788.For "mode, manner, means", see: Apte, p. 788, definition 5.For "expedient, means in general", see: Apte, p. 788, definition 13. Outside India, the term yoga'' is typically associated with Hatha Yoga and its asanas (postures) or as a form of exercise. A practitioner of Yoga is called a Yogi (unisex term) or Yogini (for female).