The language of yoga

Would you feel different if your yoga teacher suddenly instructed you to go into Adho Mukha Swanasana instead of the downward-facing dog pose? Or vice versa? Do the exotic pose names make you more enthusiastic or just distract you from practice? Anyway, here’s a little something you need to know about the language of yoga.

Sanskrit became the language of yoga thanks to Patanjali, a mysterious figure from ca 200 BCE or CE, who is believed to be the author of Yoga Sutras – a collection of yoga wisdom. Ancient Indians believed that every word of Sanskrit is in a close relationship with the thing or concept it denotes. This way you can get a deeper understanding of things, connect with them, by just speaking the words.

However complicated Sanskrit yoga asana names may sound, they’re actually quite easy to interpret. All you need to know is what the separate parts of the names mean.

There’re several groups of words that are often used in asana names. As a rule, they denote a body part, state, number or form. We’ve compiled a small glossary for you.

Body parts

Anga part of the body

Hasta hand

Janu knee

Mukha face

Pada foot, leg

Padangustha big toe

Paschima back of the body

Purva front of the body

Sirsa head

State

Adho downward

Baddha bound

Parivrtta revolved

Pida pressure

Prasarita expanded

Salamba supported

Supta lying down

Upavistha sitting

Urdhva upwards

Utthita stretched

Form

Ardha half

Kona angle

Parsva side

Number

Eka one

Dva two

Tri three

Chatur four

Asta eight

Additionally, there’s a large group of words that denote animals and objects. Just to name some of them:

Bhujanga snake

Dhanu bow

Kapota pigeon

Nava boat

Padma lotus

Svana dog

So now it should not be a problem for you to decipher Adho Mukha Swanasana or even Parivritta Janu Sirsasana!