Why “Yoga as Union” Misses the Point
If you have dipped even a toe into the world of modern yoga, you will have heard the phrase: Yoga means union. Union of body and mind. Union of individual and divine. Union of breath and movement. It is a neat soundbite. It is also a mistranslation.
The Sanskrit root of the word yoga is yuj. Not “to merge.” Not “to blend.” It literally means to yoke, the way you would hitch oxen to a cart.
The Root of the Word Yoga
This distinction matters. “Union” suggests a soft blur where two things become one, boundaries dissolved. Yoking is active, deliberate, and often uncomfortable. To yoke is to harness energy so it can be directed. Imagine two horses pulling together. If they are not aligned, the cart goes nowhere.
Yoking Instead of Merging
In the Viniyoga approach, this difference shapes how we practice. We do not try to erase difference. We work with relationship. Breath linked with movement. Attention linked with action. Practice linked with purpose.
“Union” tempts us into vague, feel-good generalities: yoga as cosmic oneness, yoga as a universal hug. Yoking calls for effort, discipline, and clarity. Two things remain distinct, yet they are bound together to achieve something greater than either could alone.
What the Yoga Sūtra Really Says
In the Yoga Sūtra, Patañjali does not ask us to melt into the universe. He describes a method for stabilising and directing the mind. Yoga is about harnessing the movements of consciousness so that awareness can rest in its own nature. That image is closer to taming wild horses than floating off into bliss.
Why “Union” Became Popular
The “union” idea fits neatly into Western wellness marketing. It feels inclusive, soothing, uncomplicated. The problem is that it flattens the sharp edges of the tradition. When we swap yoking for union, we lose the sense of practice as purposeful, sometimes resistant, and always requiring work.
How This Changes Your Practice
If we remember yoga as yoking, our time on the mat looks different:
Breath is not only “connected” to movement. It drives it.
Attention does not drift. It is harnessed to the task at hand.
Postures are not ends in themselves. They are tools yoked to a wider intention.
Yoga is not a sweet blur of union. It is the skill of binding together what is scattered so that we can move with direction.
That idea may not fit well on a T-shirt. It is, however, closer to the truth.