Sanskrit Without the Mystique

Thirty words decode most pose names. Learn them and an unfamiliar name stops being noise and starts telling you what is coming.

There is no mysticism required for this. These are ordinary descriptive words — bodies, animals, directions, numbers — assembled compositionally, in the way German assembles nouns.

The structural words

āsana — seat, posture. The suffix on almost every pose name. Tadasana is tada + asana.

adho — downward.

ūrdhva — upward.

parivṛtta — revolved, twisted.

supta — reclining, supine.

utthita — extended, stretched out.

baddha — bound.

ardha — half.

upaviṣṭa — seated.

prasārita — spread wide.

salamba — supported.

nirālamba — unsupported.

Body parts

mukha — face.

pāda — foot or leg.

hasta — hand.

jānu — knee.

śīrṣa — head.

sarvāṅga — whole body (sarva, all + aṅga, limb).

aṅguṣṭha — big toe.

pārśva — side, flank.

bhuja — arm.

karṇa — ear.

mukta — free, released.

Numbers

eka — one.

dvi — two.

tri — three.

catur — four.

aṣṭa — eight.

Animals and things

śvāna — dog.

bhujaṅga — serpent.

vṛkṣa — tree.

baka — crane.

uṣṭra — camel.

matsya — fish.

garuḍa — eagle.

siṃha — lion.

mayūra — peacock.

kapota — pigeon or dove.

vīra — hero, warrior.

tāḍa — mountain.

nāva — boat.

dhanu — bow.

hala — plough.

setu — bridge.

candra — moon.

sūrya — sun.

padma — lotus.

koṇa — angle.

trikoṇa — triangle (tri + koṇa).

Assembling them

Now read some names.

Adho Mukha Śvānāsana — downward + face + dog + posture. Downward-Facing Dog.

Ūrdhva Mukha Śvānāsana — upward + face + dog. Upward Dog. Same pose family, opposite direction.

Utthita Trikoṇāsana — extended + triangle. Extended Triangle.

Parivṛtta Trikoṇāsana — revolved + triangle. The twisted version.

Prasārita Pādottānāsana — spread wide + foot + intense stretch. Wide-Legged Forward Fold.

Supta Baddha Koṇāsana — reclining + bound + angle. Reclining Bound Angle.

Ardha Candrāsana — half + moon. Half Moon.

Salamba Sarvāṅgāsana — supported + whole body. Shoulderstand.

Eka Pāda Rājakapotāsana — one + leg + king + pigeon. Pigeon.

Utthita Hasta Pādāṅguṣṭhāsana — extended + hand + foot + big toe. Standing Hand-to-Big-Toe.

Catuṣpādapīṭham, Caturaṅga Daṇḍāsana — four + limb + staff. Four-Limbed Staff Pose.

Jānu Śīrṣāsana — knee + head. Head-to-Knee Pose.

Once the words are in place, most names are self-describing. You hear an unfamiliar one and you know the general shape before you see it.

Pronunciation, briefly

Sanskrit is regular. A few rules cover most of it.

a is short, as in "cup" — not "cat". So asana is roughly "UH-suh-nuh," not "AH-sah-nah."

ā is long, as in "father." The macron marks length, and it usually indicates where the stress falls.

c is always "ch" as in "church." So catur is "chuh-TOOR."

ś and ṣ are both roughly "sh."

ṛ is a vowel, roughly "ri." Vṛkṣa is "VRIK-sha."

th, ph, kh, bh, dh, gh are aspirated versions of the plain consonants — a puff of air — not the English "th" or "f" sounds. Bhujangasana starts with a "b," not a "v."

v is between English "v" and "w."

Where to stress: usually the syllable with a long vowel. Trikoṇāsana is "tri-ko-NAA-sa-na."

Why bother

Precision. English pose names are inconsistent between traditions and between teachers. Sanskrit names are the same everywhere, and in a class abroad they may be the only shared vocabulary in the room.

Comprehension. "Revolved" tells you the pose is a twist. "Supta" tells you it is on your back. Hearing a name and knowing the category before you see the demonstration is genuinely useful.

It removes the mystique. A great deal of yoga vocabulary is treated as arcane when it is descriptive. Knowing that bhujangasana means "serpent pose" and nothing more is deflating in a good way.

Two words worth knowing that are not pose names

Prāṇāyāma — prāṇa (breath, vital energy) + āyāma (extension, expansion). Not "breath control" so much as "extension of the breath."

Vinyāsa — vi (in a particular way) + nyāsa (to place). Placing things in a deliberate sequence. It refers to the ordering, not to a style of class.

What not to do

Do not fake it. Mispronouncing a word confidently is fine and normal; using vocabulary you do not understand in order to sound like an insider is the thing that makes people distrust yoga writing, and rightly.

Learn the thirty words above, use them where they are useful, and use English where it is clearer.