Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Yoga |
YogaNoun1. A Hindu theistic philosophy; union of self and the Supreme Being is sought through a state of complete awareness and tranquillity attained by certain physical exercises. 2. A course of related exercises and postures intended to promote control of the body and mind and to attain physical and spiritual wellbeing. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "Yoga" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1902. (references) |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Yoga (Sanskrit: "union" or "yoke") is one of the six darshanas (schools) of Vedic philosophy. The history of yoga goes back at least five thousand years, but yogic philosophy was codified some time between the 2nd century BC and the 3rd century by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra, which prescribes adherence to "eight limbs" (the sum of which constitute "Ashtanga Yoga") to quiet one's mind and merge with the infinite:
States the Shvetashvatara Upanishad (2.8-15), "Holding his body stead with the three [parts] erect, and causing the senses with the mind to enter the heart, a wise man with the Brahma-boat will cross, all the fear-bringing streams...One who practices Yoga beholds here the nature of Brahma."
- Yama (moral codes)
- Niyama (self-purification and study)
- Asana (posture)
- Pranayama (breath control)
- Pratyahara (sense control)
- Dharana (concentration)
- Dhyana (meditation)
- Samadhi (absorption)
There are many separate paths of yoga which "yogis" (practitioners) follow in the pursuit of spiritual fulfillment (union of the individual with the infinite). Some are quite recent inventions (one, Bikram yoga, is even trademarked!), but here are a few of the more ancient branches:
Outside of Hindu culture, "yoga" is usually understood to refer to hatha yoga. Hatha is a Sanskrit word meaning 'sun' (ha) and 'moon' (tha), representing opposing energies: hot and cold, male and female, positive and negative, yin and yang. Hatha yoga attempts to balance mind and body via physical exercises, or "asanas", controlled breathing, and the calming of the mind through relaxation and meditation. Asanas teach teach poise, balance & strength were originally practiced to improve the body's physical health and clear the mind in preparation for meditation in the pursuit of enlightenment.
- bhakti yoga (devotional love)
- karma yoga (to be mindful of one's own actions)
- hatha yoga (physical body/energy)
- jnana yoga (contemplation)
- raja yoga (psychic ritual)
In The West, hatha yoga has become wildly popular as a purely physical exercise regimen divorced of its original purpose. Currently, it is estimated that about 30 million Americans practice hatha yoga.
Many modern schools of Hatha Yoga derive from the school of Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who taught in Mysore, India from 1931 until his death in 1993. Among his students prominent in popularising Yoga in the West were Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, Indra Devi and Krishnamacharya's son T.K.V. Desikachar. Desikachar founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in Madras (now Chennai), with the aim of making available the heritage of yoga as taught by Krishnamacharya.
Some modern schools and styles of Yoga:
See Also: tantra
- Bikram Yoga - pioneered by Bikram Choudhury
- Ashtanga Yoga - an ancient term (see above) that's been adopted by a modern school
- Iyengar Yoga - pioneered by BKS Iyengar
- Viniyoga
- Kundalini Yoga - channeling and transforming energy
- Kriya Yoga
- Nada Yoga - yoga of sound
- Indra Devi
- Paramhansa Yogananda
External Link
- Yoga Research and Education Center
- Brahman-Atman Yoga
- International Yoga Dictionary
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Yoga."
Crosswords: Yoga |
| English words defined with "Yoga": asana ♦ lotus position ♦ sign up ♦ Yogi, yogic, yogistic. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "Yoga": Saivas. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Yoga" is also a word in the following languages with English translations in parentheses. Dutch (yoga), French (yoga), German (yoga), Indonesian (meditation), Italian (yoga), Papiamen (yoga), Spanish (yoga), Swedish (yoga), Turkish (yoga). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Okay, I thought prenatal yoga was supposed to help you relax (Charmed; writing credit: Colman deKay) Wow, prenatal yoga this morning and now you want to crash a stranger's funeral (Charmed; writing credit: Colman deKay) Well, since you still haven't told me what exactly it is that you do, I'm gonna go with yoga instructor or chiropractor (Gilmore Girls; writing credit: Povl Erik Carstensen; Sebastian Dorset) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Yoga for Beginners (1999) Geri Yoga (2001) Yoga Flow (2000) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books |
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Periodicals | |||
Theater & Movies |
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Music |
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High Tech |
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Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit |  | Raja Yoga Academy and Aryan Memorial Temple at the International Theosophical Headquarters, Point Loma, Calif. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Fog" by Ricardo Colombo Commentary: "Yoga flaame." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Joan found that whirlpool and yoga baths helped her relax. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Austria | After initially filing for confessional community status, the Church of Scientology withdrew its application from consideration in 1998. The Ministry rejected the application of the Sahaja Yoga group. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Pierce Brosnan | Well I've done a bit of yoga throughout the years and learning some breathing exercises, but it can catch up with you at times. |
Rosie O'Donnell | I'm getting better. Taking yoga every day. Madonna was funny in teaching me that six years ago, she begged me to do yoga, and I was like, shut up. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "Yoga" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 77.33% of the time. "Yoga" is used about 172 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 77.33% | 133 | 27,614 |
| Noun (proper) | 22.67% | 39 | 55,036 |
| Total | 100.00% | 172 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "Yoga": Arhatic Yoga ♦ Astanga yoga ♦ Bikram Yoga ♦ Chakra yoga ♦ Christian Yoga ♦ Gong Yoga (Gong Shui) ♦ Hatha yoga ♦ Healing Yoga ♦ Inner Yoga ♦ Integrative Yoga Therapy ♦ Iyengar Yoga ♦ Kali Yoga ♦ Kripalu Yoga ♦ Kriya Yoga ♦ Kundalini yoga ♦ Lama Yoga ♦ L'Chaim Yoga ♦ Living Yoga Training ♦ Mantra Yoga Meditation ♦ QiGong Yoga Body Therapy ♦ Shabda Yoga ♦ Synergy Yoga. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "Yoga": yoga-based, Yoga-vashishta. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
yoga | 8,328 | pregnancy yoga | 134 |
yoga video | 682 | yoga pants | 132 |
bikram yoga | 516 | yoga for beginner | 126 |
yoga mat | 515 | yoga product | 121 |
hatha yoga | 340 | naked yoga | 100 |
ashtanga yoga | 316 | kriya yoga | 99 |
nude yoga | 310 | yoga supply | 99 |
yoga pose | 282 | yoga teacher training | 98 |
yoga journal | 250 | yoga studio | 94 |
yoga position | 245 | benefit of yoga | 93 |
yoga class | 240 | yoga certification | 92 |
yoga exercise | 240 | yoga kid | 89 |
yoga retreat | 231 | iyengar yoga | 87 |
yoga clothing | 198 | yoga accessory | 86 |
kundalini yoga | 196 | yoga wear | 83 |
tantra yoga | 194 | berkshire yoga | 82 |
yoga posture | 181 | yoga online | 82 |
power yoga | 181 | yoga zone | 81 |
yoga picture | 156 | yoga meditation | 77 |
yoga clothes | 153 | yoga dvd | 76 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "Yoga"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Arabic | نظام من التمرينات, اليوغا فلسفة دينية هندية. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | йога, йогизъм (yogism). (various references) | |
Chinese | 瑜伽. (various references) | |
Czech | jóga. (various references) | |
Dutch | yoga. (various references) | |
Esperanto | jogo. (various references) | |
Farsi | فلسفه جوکی (Yogic). (various references) | |
French | yoga. (various references) | |
German | Joga, Yoga. (various references) | |
Greek | γιόγκα. (various references) | |
Hebrew | יוגה. (various references) | |
Hungarian | jóga. (various references) | |
Italian | yoga. (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | ヨーロッパ李 (common European plum, European plan), ユリウス暦 (Julian calendar, tincture of iodine, yodel, yoghurt, yoke, Yorkshire terrier). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | ヨーガ , ヨガ . (various references) | |
Papiamen | yoga. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | yogaay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | ioga. (various references) | |
Russian | йога (yogi). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | joga. (various references) | |
Spanish | yoga, de yoga. (various references) | |
Swedish | yoga. (various references) | |
Turkish | yoga. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | йога. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "Yoga": yogas. (additional references) | |
Words containing "Yoga": karyogamies, karyogamy. (additional references) | |
| |
"Yoga" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Ayarga, gyoza, hoga, iogt, joga, noga, Nyagah, oga, oya, poga, ryoji, tyoga, yage, Yagi, Yagya, yaog, yeg, yeggi, yg, ygas, y'got, ygu, Yigal, yoa, yoba, yoca, yoda, yog, yogan, yogas, yogat, yoge, yogee, yogel, yogie, yogin, yogir, yogo, yogy, yoha, Yoksam, yoog, yora, yorg, yorgi, yoya. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "Yoga" (pronounced yō"gu) |
| 3 | -ō" g u | toga. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-g-o-y" | |
-1 letter: ago, gay, goa, goy. | |
-2 letters: ag, ay, go, oy, ya, yo. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-g-o-y" | |
+1 letter: agony, hoagy, yogas. | |
+2 letters: agouty, argosy, azygos, cogway, gowany, logway, nongay, oogamy, orangy, otalgy, voyage, zygoma. | |
+3 letters: aglycon, anagogy, analogy, apogamy, apology, azygous, bogyman, buoyage, cogways, coxalgy, dayglow, daylong, exogamy, goombay, grayout, gyrator, hypogea, isogamy, kayoing, logways, maggoty, nongays, nosegay, okaying, orangey, organdy, ouguiya, pageboy, synagog, voyaged, voyager, voyages, zygomas. | |
+4 letters: aerology, aglycone, aglycons, agrimony, agrology, agronomy, algology, allegory, allogamy, alloying, amylogen, annoying, antilogy, apiology, apophyge, areology, autogamy, autogeny, autogyro, axiology, azygoses, bogeyman, boogyman, buoyages, category, coagency, cottagey, cyanogen, dayglows, demagogy, endogamy, foraying, gardyloo, gargoyle, geomancy, geophagy, globally, glossary, goombays, grayouts, gynoecia, gyration, gyrators, gyratory, gyroidal, gyrostat, hogmanay, hogmenay, hologamy, homogamy, hyalogen, hydragog, hypogeal, hypogean, idealogy, kymogram, lollygag, longways, mahogany, misogamy, moneybag, monogamy, myograph, mystagog, nosegays, nugatory, omophagy, orangery, ouguiyas, pageboys, pedagogy, playgoer, polygala, polygamy, rogatory, synagogs, toadying, uropygia, vagotomy, voyagers, voyageur, voyaging, waygoing, xenogamy, yearlong, zygomata, zymogram. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Crosswords 3. Usage: Modern 4. Usage: Commercial | 5. Images: Slideshow 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Quotations: Non-fiction | 9. Quotations: Spoken 10. Usage Frequency 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Derivations 15. Rhymes 16. Anagrams | 17. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
