Yoga is an ancient system of breathing practices, physical exercises and postures, and meditationintended to integrate the practitioner's body, mind, and spirit. It originated in India several thousand years ago, and its principles were first written down by a scholar named Patanjali in the second century B.C. The word yoga comes from a Sanskrit word, yukti , and means "union" or "yoke." The various physical and mental disciplines of yoga were seen as a method for individuals to attain union with the divine.

In the contemporary West, however, yoga is more often regarded as a beneficial form of physical exercise than as a philosophy or total way of life. As of 2002, more than six million people in the United States were practicing some form of yoga, with 1.7 million claiming to practice it regularly.