Yoga originated in India about 5000 years ago. In Sanskrit, Yoga comes from the word YUG which means "union between body and mind".

Patanjali's Yogas-Sutras, a valuable treatise on classical yoga, presents it as a discipline with an essentially spiritual purpose.

Patanjali's Raja Yoga proposes 8 types of exercises, including :

• Yama: ethical principles to be applied in daily life
• Niyama: principles of self-discipline
• Asana: the physical postures of yoga
• Pranayama: control of the breath
• Pratyahara: control of the senses
• Dharana: concentration
• Dhyana: meditation
• Samadhi: spiritual awakening, a state in which individual and universal consciousness are united