The Sanskrit language provides great depth of meaning behind each word. The word “yoga” is no exception. With over 31 different meanings, its growth in popularity has triggered countless new forms and understandings.
The sixth edition of the Columbia Encyclopedia defines “yoga” as “a general term for spiritual disciplines in Hinduism, Buddhism, and throughout South Asia that are directed toward attaining higher consciousness and liberation from ignorance, suffering, and rebirth.”

The word “yoga” is from the Sanskrit root yuj - which means to unite, to join, harness, contact, connect. English words that share this root are join, jugular, zygote and syzygy.
The English word “yoke” also shares this linguistic root. Often sited as the meaning of the word “yoga”, “yoke” carries a connotation of oppression or subjugation, which is not inherent in the Sanskrit meaning.
In fact, it’s quite the opposite! Enlightenment or the state of constant union with the divine that students seek in the practice of yoga would be the freest of conditions, true liberation.

Etymologically speaking, the closest Latin-based translation of the word “yoga” would be the English word “religion”, from the Latin religare “to bind fast”, “to tie” or “to fasten”. Though most practitioners of yoga would consider it a practical tool for spiritual growth, rather than a religious practice in the traditional sense. It tends to transcend and include the modern concept of faith.