[ SANSKRIT TERM ]
योग· yoga
Union. Skill in action. The way the parts come back together.
MEANING
Yoga in the Gita means much more than postures (asana is a much later development). It's union — yoking yourself to the deeper reality so that what you do, who you are, and what you serve all align. The Gita defines yoga twice in Chapter 2: "samatvam yoga uchyate" (equipoise is yoga) and "yogah karmasu kaushalam" (yoga is skill in action). Each chapter ends with the word "yoga" in its title — Arjun Vishad Yoga (the yoga of Arjun's despair), Sankhya Yoga (the yoga of analysis), and so on — because every chapter is a path of integration in its own register.