Understanding Yoga: Definitions and its Role in Mental Health

The word yoga often brings to mind images of complex postures or social media reels of people balancing on one hand. But the original meaning is far more profound and rooted in something we all struggle with – a restless mind. Ancient Indian sages saw yoga primarily as a science of mental control, a structured method to bring stillness, clarity, and balance to a wandering mind. This understanding is now finding strong validation in modern psychiatry and neuroscience.

What is yoga? Beyond postures and stretches 🔗

The Sanskrit word “yoga” comes from the root yuj, meaning “to unite” or “to join”. According to the Department of AYUSH, yoga is about the union of a person’s own consciousness and the universal consciousness. But this union is not just spiritual jargon. At a practical level, it refers to the integration of body, breath, mind, and awareness into a single, coherent experience.

Most people today encounter yoga only through its physical component, called asana. However, classical texts describe yoga as a complete eight-limbed system, known as Ashtanga Yoga, which includes ethical restraints (yama), personal observances (niyama), postures (asana), breath control (pranayama), withdrawal of senses (pratyahara), concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and absorption (samadhi). Physical postures are just one limb out of eight, and the remaining seven deal almost entirely with the mind.

Classical definitions of yoga 🔗

Different ancient texts offer different angles on what yoga truly means. Together, they paint a picture of yoga as a discipline aimed at mastering the mind rather than the body.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra: Yoga as cessation of mental fluctuations 🔗

The most cited definition comes from the sage Patanjali, who composed the Yoga Sutras around 2,000 years ago. His second sutra states “Yogaschitta vritti nirodhah” – which means yoga is the stilling or controlling of the modifications of the mind. Here, chitta refers to the entire mental field including consciousness, intellect, ego, and memory. Vritti means the fluctuations or waves that arise in this field, and nirodha means cessation or regulation.

A common analogy compares the mind to a lake. When the surface is disturbed by ripples, you cannot see the bottom clearly. When the water becomes still, you can see right through to the depth. Patanjali essentially defines yoga as the practice of calming these mental ripples so that the true self becomes visible. The fluctuations he describes are not random – they arise from desires, aversions, attachments, ignorance, and the ego’s constant chatter of “I”, “me”, and “mine”.

Yoga Vasishta: Yoga as a method to pacify the mind 🔗

The Yoga Vasishta, a dialogue between Sage Vasishta and Prince Rama, offers a beautifully direct definition. It states “Manah prashamana upayah yoga ityabhidhiyate“, which translates to yoga is a skilful method to calm the mind. The emphasis here is on the word upaya, meaning a technique or skilful means. The Yoga Vasishta clarifies that this calming is not achieved through force or suppression but through understanding and subtle method. You cannot bully the mind into silence; you have to skillfully guide it.

Bhagavad Gita: Yoga as equanimity and skill in action 🔗

The Bhagavad Gita offers two equally important definitions. In Chapter 2, Verse 48, Krishna tells Arjuna “Samatvam yoga uchyate” – yoga is equanimity of mind in success and failure. Two verses later, in 2.50, comes the famous statement “Yogah karmasu kaushalam“, meaning yoga is skill in action. Both definitions extend yoga beyond a meditation cushion into the chaos of daily life. Yoga becomes the ability to stay balanced through the highs and lows, and to act with clarity and precision regardless of the outcome.

Yoga as a mind therapy 🔗

When we put all these definitions together, a clear thread emerges. Yoga is fundamentally a technology of the mind. It is a structured method to modify how the brain functions, producing a state of mental calm, focus, and emotional stability. This is exactly why modern researchers have begun investigating yoga as a clinical intervention for mental health conditions.

How yoga modifies brain function 🔗

Regular yoga practice has been shown to influence multiple physiological systems involved in stress and emotional regulation. Research at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences in Bengaluru has demonstrated that yoga can produce therapeutic effects in depression, with early yoga intervention leading to better outcomes and even functioning as effective monotherapy in mild to moderate cases. Studies have explored how yoga affects neurotransmitter activity, particularly serotonin, dopamine, and GABA, which are involved in mood regulation.

Yoga practices like slow breathing and meditation activate the parasympathetic nervous system, which is the body’s “rest and digest” mode. This reduces cortisol levels, slows heart rate, and lowers blood pressure. Over time, the brain literally rewires itself – a phenomenon called neuroplasticity – leading to improved attention, reduced reactivity, and better emotional control.

Yoga in mainstream Indian psychiatry 🔗

What was once considered a purely spiritual practice has now found a place in tertiary mental health care. NIMHANS has built an integrative model where yoga is added as a formalized clinical discipline within psychiatric services, with yoga therapists working alongside psychiatrists and validated yoga modules designed for specific neuropsychiatric disorders. This is a remarkable shift, signalling that yoga is no longer alternative – it is becoming complementary, evidence-based care.

A series of studies has established the efficacy of practices like Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) in conditions ranging from depression to substance use, with physical components like asanas and pranayama showing measurable physiological and therapeutic effects. Clinicians now use yoga interventions for anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, attention disorders, and even as adjunct therapy for severe psychiatric conditions.

Ancient perspectives on yoga as mental stability 🔗

The framing of yoga as mind therapy is not a modern invention. Ancient yogis were essentially the world’s first psychologists. They observed that human suffering arises largely from a disturbed and untrained mind, and they developed yoga as a systematic response to that observation.

Five states of the mind 🔗

Classical yoga philosophy describes five states or bhumis of the mind. The first two – kshipta (disturbed) and mudha (dull) – closely resemble what modern mental health practitioners would identify as features of mental illness. The third, vikshipta (distracted), is the everyday state most of us live in. The last two – ekagra (one-pointed) and niruddha (fully controlled) – represent the desirable states cultivated through yoga practice. The goal is to gradually move the mind from disturbance and distraction toward focus and mastery.

Why ancient sages prioritised mental over physical 🔗

It is telling that in nearly every classical definition, the body is not the primary subject. Patanjali talks about chitta, the Yoga Vasishta talks about manah, and the Bhagavad Gita talks about samatva and kaushalam – all mental qualities. The sages understood that physical health, while important, is downstream of mental health. A disturbed mind eventually creates a disturbed body, which is why yoga has also been described as chitta-vritti-nirodha rather than sharira-vritti-nirodha.

This emphasis explains why yoga has been found useful in the prevention of psychosomatic and stress-related disorders. By working with the mind, yoga indirectly heals the body. By regulating the breath, it directly calms the nervous system. By disciplining behaviour and observance through yama and niyama, it stabilises the social and emotional environment in which the mind operates.

Why these definitions matter today 🔗

Understanding the original definitions of yoga has practical importance for students of public health, nutrition, and mental wellness. If yoga is reduced to fitness, its therapeutic potential is lost. When yoga is framed correctly – as a discipline for mental clarity and emotional stability – it becomes a powerful, low-cost, and culturally accessible public health intervention.

For a country dealing with a significant mental health burden, where stigma still prevents many from seeking psychiatric help, yoga offers a familiar and acceptable entry point. It is not a replacement for medication or therapy in serious cases, but it is a strong complementary practice. Schools, workplaces, and primary health centres are increasingly integrating yoga because its benefits cut across physical fitness, mental wellbeing, and behavioural regulation.

The next time someone says yoga is just stretching, you can confidently explain that according to its own foundational texts, yoga is the science of stilling the fluctuations of the mind, a skilful method to bring inner peace, and the art of skill and equanimity in action. The postures are simply the doorway.

What do you think? If yoga has always been defined primarily as a discipline of the mind, why do you think modern popular culture has reduced it largely to physical postures and fitness? And in your own experience, has a calmer mind led to better physical health, or has it worked the other way around for you?

References

1. https://health.arunachal.gov.in/?page_id=1057
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vritti
3. https://www.yogicwayoflife.com/what-is-yoga/
4. https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1728510
5. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9623895/
6. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3705673/
7. https://ayush.delhi.gov.in/ayush/yoga-naturopathy