Yoga

A family of disciplines of body and mind aimed at restraint, integration, and liberation — far broader than the modern exercise sense.

interpretation. Interpretation — one way of reading the material among several.
Tradition: hinduism Tradition: vedanta Theme: discipline Theme: meditation Theme: liberation

Yoga is a word almost everyone recognises and almost everyone misunderstands. In global usage it has come to mean a system of physical postures. In the traditions this archive covers, it names something far broader: a family of disciplines of mind and body aimed at restraint, integration, and ultimately liberation.

A word with many uses

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Sources & further reading

Related in the archive

Text

The Bhagavad Gita

A 700-verse philosophical dialogue set within the Mahabharata, addressing duty, action, and the nature of the self.

Concept

Moksha

Liberation or release, framed as the ultimate aim in several Indian traditions — with each defining what it means differently.

Concept

Atman

A term for the innermost self explored in the Upanishads — its nature, and its relation to ultimate reality, are debated across traditions.

Concept

Dharma

A cluster of ideas around duty, order, and right conduct that is understood differently across Indian traditions.

Tradition

Vedanta

A family of interpretive schools centered on the Upanishads, the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita.

Note

Self and Not-Self

A comparative note on the deepest fault line in Indian philosophy — traditions that affirm an innermost self against the Buddhist analysis that questions it.

← Back to Concepts

Next → Nirvana The Buddhist term for liberation — the "blowing out" of the fires of craving — distinct from, though often confused with, moksha.