Yoga pose quiz

How do you use the pose quiz?

1. Pick a mode. Name the figure shows a line drawing of a pose and asks for its name. Pick the pose for the cue gives you an alignment cue, the kind a teacher says in class, and asks which pose it belongs to. Match the Sanskrit shows a Sanskrit name such as Utkatasana and asks for the English one.
2. Pick a level. Easy sticks to common poses and makes the wrong answers easy to rule out. Medium widens the pool. Hard covers every pose and chooses wrong answers that share the right one’s type and body area.
3. Answer ten questions. Tap an answer, or press 1 to 4 on a keyboard. You see straight away whether you were right, with the correct name, the Sanskrit and a link to the pose. Press Next, or N, to move on.
4. Read your score. The summary lists every pose you missed, each linked to its page with full steps, so the round ends with something to practise. Play again for a fresh set of questions, or change the mode or level.

Your best score for each mode and level is kept in this browser only. There is no sign-up and nothing you answer leaves your device.

How does the quiz work?

Every question comes from the same data as the rest of the site. The figures are the line drawings from the pose library, generated from joint angles rather than photos, so the quiz can show 68 figures, including Warrior I, II and III separately and Cat and Cow as two shapes. The cues are the alignment lines written for each pose page, and the Sanskrit names are the ones those pages use. A cue that names its own pose is left out of the cue mode, so the question never gives the answer away.

The wrong answers are not random at the harder levels. Each pose carries tags for its type (standing, seated, balance, backbend and so on), the body areas it works and its base position. The quiz scores how many tags two poses share. On hard, it picks wrong answers from the most similar poses, which is why Triangle may appear next to Extended Side Angle and Warrior II. On easy, it picks from the least similar half, and the poses asked about are rated level 1 or 2. No round repeats a pose.

How can you get better at naming poses?

• Learn by family. Standing poses, seated poses and backbends each have a handful of shapes that look alike. The beginner yoga poses chart groups 24 of them in four rows, and the PDF prints on one page.
• Learn the word parts. Many Sanskrit names are built from small words: adho (downward), urdhva (upward), parsva (side), supta (reclining). The yoga Sanskrit cheat sheet lists the most useful ones with 60 more words you will hear in class, and the Sanskrit yoga glossary has all 193 terms.
• Practise one a week. The 52 printable pose cards give you a pose for each week of the year, and the pose of the day gives you one each day.
• Say it in class. When a teacher calls a pose, say the name to yourself as you move. Names stick faster when they are tied to the shape in your own body.

A quiz is a way to learn names, not a test of your practice. Knowing that a pose is called Half Moon tells you nothing about whether it suits your body today. Before you try a new pose, read its page for the steps and the easier versions, and stop if anything hurts.