Yoga in Hinduism

The Bhagavad Gita famously distinguishes several types of "yoga", corresponding to the duties of different nature of people. Capturing the essence and at the same time going into detail about the various Yogas and their philosophies, it constantly refers to itself as such, the "Scripture of Yoga". The book is thought to have been written some time between the 5th and the 2nd century BC.

Perhaps the classic description of yoga is the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which form the basis not only of the darshana called "yoga"- one of six such "orthodox" (i.e. Veda-accepting) schools of Hindu philosophy--but also of the practice of yoga in most ashrams (to the extent these can be distinguished). The school (dharshana) of Indian philosophy known as "yoga" is primarily Upanishadic with roots in Samkhya, and some scholars see some influence from Buddhism.