Sanskrit yoga glossary

Yoga comes with its own vocabulary. In a first class you might hear namaste at the end, a teacher counting breaths in pranayama, and pose names that sound nothing like their English versions. None of it is meant to keep you out. Most of these words are plain descriptions once you know what they mean, and a good beginner class introduces them a few at a time. If you are heading to one soon, your first yoga class explains what to expect.

This page collects the ones that come up most often. Each has one line: what the word means, and where it belongs in the practice. When a term has a page of its own, it links there, and the longer pages explain where the idea comes from and how it shows up in a practice today.

How to read Sanskrit names

Sanskrit is the classical language of India, and the early texts on yoga were written in it. You do not need to learn it. A few small pieces unlock most of the names:

• Asana at the end of a word means posture. Tadasana is tada (mountain) plus asana.
• Supta means reclined, salamba means supported, eka pada means one leg.
• Yoga after another word names a path or a style: bhakti yoga is the yoga of devotion.

Spellings vary. You will see Vrksasana and Vriksasana, Savasana and Shavasana, and all of them are correct. Transliteration from the original script was never fully standardised, so teachers and books simply differ.

Sanskrit words you already know

Some Sanskrit words reached everyday English long before most people took a yoga class: yoga, mantra, avatar, nirvana, karma and dharma among them. In English they often drift from their first meaning. Karma tends to mean cosmic payback, while the Sanskrit sense of karma is simply action and what follows from it. Dharma is used for a calling, while the older meaning of dharma is duty and the order that holds a life together. The glossary below keeps to the meanings the yoga texts use.

Ideas and paths of yoga

These are the larger ideas: the paths of yoga, the texts, and the frameworks that later practice grew from.

• Ahimsa: Non-harming, in action, speech and thought: the first of the five yamas.
• Ajna: The sixth chakra of the modern seven-chakra system, pictured between the eyebrows and often called the third eye.
• Ashtanga yoga: Eight-limbed yoga, the path outlined in the Yoga Sutras; also the name of a modern style practised as a fixed sequence.
• Bhagavad Gita: A classical Sanskrit poem, a conversation between the warrior Arjuna and Krishna, that sets out the paths of action, devotion and knowledge.
• Bhakti yoga: The yoga of devotion, practised through prayer, chanting and service.
• Chakra: Literally a wheel: in traditional yoga texts, one of the centres pictured along the spine, most often counted as seven.
• Dharma: What holds things together: the order of the world, right conduct and one's own duty; in Buddhism, the teaching of the Buddha.
• Eight limbs of yoga: The eight-part outline of yoga in the Yoga Sutras, from ethics and posture to breath, concentration and meditation.
• Hatha yoga: The branch of yoga built on postures, breath and bodily discipline; most studio yoga taught today grows out of it.
• Jnana yoga: The yoga of knowledge, practised through study, reflection and questioning what the self is.
• Karma: Action, and the idea that intentional actions leave consequences that shape what follows.
• Karma yoga: The yoga of action: doing your work well without clinging to what it earns you, as taught in the Bhagavad Gita.
• Kundalini yoga: A style that combines breath work, chanting, movement and meditation, named for the image of a coiled energy at the base of the spine.
• Mantra: A word, syllable or short phrase, usually Sanskrit, chanted or repeated silently as a focus for prayer or meditation.
• Mudra: A seal or gesture, usually made with the hands, such as the palms pressed together in anjali mudra.
• Namaste: A Sanskrit greeting meaning "I bow to you", said with the palms together at the chest.
• Niyama: The second of the eight limbs: five observances, among them contentment and self-study.
• Om: A single syllable chanted at the start or close of many practices, described in the Upanishads as the sound of everything that exists.
• Om mani padme hum: The six-syllable Buddhist mantra of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, recited above all in Tibetan Buddhism.
• Pranayama: Breath practice: prana is breath or life force and ayama means extending or regulating it.
• Raja yoga: The "royal" path of meditation and mental discipline, usually identified with the Yoga Sutras.
• Yama: The first of the eight limbs: five restraints, among them non-harming and truthfulness.

Words you will hear in a practice

Smaller words that turn up in a class: the limbs of the Yoga Sutras, a few breathing and attention terms, and the word asana itself.

• Asana: A posture. First the steady seat for meditation, now the word for every yoga pose.
• Bandha: A lock: a gentle muscular hold used to steady a posture or the breath.
• Dharana: The sixth limb: holding the attention on one point.
• Dhyana: The seventh limb: meditation, when that attention flows without effort.
• Drishti: A resting point for the eyes in a posture, which helps keep the attention steady.
• Prana: Breath, and by extension the life force that yoga texts say the breath carries.
• Pratyahara: The fifth limb: drawing the attention in from the senses.
• Samadhi: The eighth limb: complete absorption, where the one meditating and the object of meditation are no longer felt as separate.
• Sankalpa: An intention, set quietly at the start or the end of a practice.
• Shanti: Peace; often said three times at the close of a chant.
• Ujjayi: A slow breath through the nose with a soft sound at the back of the throat, often used in flowing practice.
• Vinyasa: Placing things in a particular order; in a class, moving from one posture to the next with the breath.
• Yoga Sutras: A classical text attributed to Patanjali: short, dense lines that define yoga and set out the eight limbs.

Sanskrit names of the poses

Each pose below has its own page with the steps, teaching cues, and how to adapt it in pregnancy and after birth.

• Adho Mukha Svanasana: Downward-Facing Dog. Hands and feet on the floor with the hips high, the body in an upside-down V.
• Ananda Balasana: Happy Baby Pose. Lying on the back holding the feet with the knees wide; ananda means bliss.
• Baddha Konasana: Butterfly Pose. Seated with the soles of the feet together; the name means bound angle.
• Bakasana: Crow Pose. An arm balance with the knees on the upper arms; baka means crane.
• Balasana: Child's Pose. Kneeling and folding forward to rest; bala means child.
• Bhujangasana: Cobra Pose. Lifting the chest from the floor while lying on the belly; bhujanga means serpent.
• Caterpillar Pose: A Yin name for a seated forward fold over straight legs, held with the spine allowed to round.
• Dragon Pose: A Yin name for a low lunge held for several minutes with the legs soft.
• Eka Pada Rajakapotasana: Pigeon Pose. One leg folded in front and the other long behind; the name means one-legged king pigeon.
• Malasana: Garland Pose. A deep squat with the palms together at the chest; mala means garland.
• Marjaryasana Bitilasana: Cat-Cow. Rounding and arching the spine on hands and knees; marjari is cat, bitila is cow.
• Matsyasana: Fish Pose. Lying on the back with the chest arched up; matsya means fish.
• Navasana: Boat Pose. Balancing on the sit bones with the body in a V; nava means boat.
• Padmasana: Lotus Pose. A cross-legged seat with each foot resting on the opposite thigh; padma means lotus.
• Paschimottanasana: Seated Forward Bend. Folding over straight legs; the name means an intense stretch of the back of the body.
• Phalakasana: Plank Pose. Holding the body in one long line on the hands and toes; phalaka means plank.
• Salamba Balasana: Supported Child's Pose. Child's Pose resting over a bolster; salamba means supported.
• Salamba Bhujangasana: Sphinx Pose. A supported cobra, propped on the forearms.
• Savasana: Corpse Pose. Lying still on the back at the end of a practice; sava means corpse.
• Setu Bandha Sarvangasana: Bridge Pose. Lying on the back and lifting the hips; setu means bridge.
• Sirsasana: Headstand. Upside down on the forearms and the crown of the head; sirsa means head.
• Sukhasana: Easy Pose. A simple cross-legged seat; sukha means ease or comfort.
• Supta Baddha Konasana: Reclined Butterfly. Butterfly Pose lying back, often over a bolster; supta means reclined.
• Surya Namaskar: Sun Salutation. A short sequence of postures linked to the breath; surya means sun.
• Tadasana: Mountain Pose. Standing tall and still; tada means mountain.
• Trikonasana: Triangle Pose. A wide-legged standing side stretch; trikona means three angles.
• Ustrasana: Camel Pose. A kneeling backbend with the hands reaching for the heels; ustra means camel.
• Utkatasana: Chair Pose. Sitting back as if onto a chair that is not there; utkata means powerful or fierce.
• Vajrasana: Thunderbolt Pose. Kneeling and sitting back on the heels; vajra means thunderbolt or diamond.
• Viparita Karani: Legs Up the Wall. Lying on the back with the legs resting up a wall; the name means an inverted action.
• Virabhadrasana: The Warrior Poses. Three strong standing shapes named after the warrior figure Virabhadra.
• Vrksasana: Tree Pose. Balancing on one leg; vrksa means tree.

How these words come up in a class

Many teachers use the English names first, and the Sanskrit alongside when it helps. If you would like to learn the names, build them in slowly, a few each class, until they feel familiar. If you would rather not, that is completely fine. The practice is the same either way.

If you are new to all of this, start with the English names and let the Sanskrit follow.