A Yoga Glossary

In yoga, it can be difficult to understand the terms and words being used. This list is to help those who wish to understand the names of the poses.

Adho: downward

Anguli: Toes

Ananta: infinite, the name of a serpent

Anjana: Name of the mother of Hanuman, a powerful Hindu monkey chief

Ardha: half

Asana: posture of pose

Baddha: bound

Bala: child

Bandha: an energy lock or seal in the body

Bharadva: the name of a sage

Bheka: frog

Bodymind: all aspects of the individual '" physical, psychological, emotional, and spititual

Chandra: moon

Danda: staff or rod

Dhanura: bow

Chakra: energy center of the body

Charana: concentration

Dhyana: meditation

Drishti: gaze

Dvi: two or both

Eka: one-to-one

Eka Pada: one leg

Garuda: eagle

Gheranda: a sage, the author of the Gheranda Samitha

Go: cow

gomukha: a face resembling a cow, narrow at one end and broad at the other end

Hala: plough

Hasta: hand

Hatha: the yoga of effort, or the physical yoga, forcibly or against one's will, a discipline

Jala: water

Jalan: a net or network

Janu: knee

Jathara: abdomen, stomach

Kapota: pigeon or dove

Karani: active

Kasyapa: a legendary sage, father of the gods and of the demons

Kona: angle

Kriya: a cleansing process

Kundalini: an energy, likened to the snake that is said to lie coiled at the base of the spine

Kurma: tortoise

Maha: great, might, noble

Mantra: a hymn or word, repeated

Marichi: a sage, son of Brahma

Matsya: fish

Mayura: peacock

Mudra: a position that creates an energy seal in the body

Mukha: mouth or face

Mula: root

Nadis: vital energy channels in the body

Neti: nose cleaning

Nidra: sleep

Nirlamba: unsupported

Pada: leg or foot

Padangustha: big toe

Padma: lotus

Parigha: a beam or bar used to close a gate

Parivrtta: turned around, revolved

Parsva: side, lateral

Paschima: the West, the back side of the body

Paschimottana: intense stretch of the back side of the body

Patanjali: yoga philosophizer, author of the Yoga-sutras

Pincha: the chin, a feather

Pinda: fetus, embryo

Prana: breath, respiration, life, vitality, wind, energy, strength, universal life energy. It also connotes the soul.

Pranayama: rhythmic control of the breath. The fourth stage of yoga and the hub around which the wheel of yoga revolves.

Prasarita: spread out, stretched out

Raja: lord or king

Raja-kapota: king pigeon

Salabha: locust

Salamba: supported

Sama: same, equal, or even

Samadhi: the eighth and highest stage of yoga. A state in which there is a feeling of supreme joy and peace.

Sarvanga: the whole body

Sasanka: hare, rabbit

Sava: a corpse

Setu: a bridge

Setu bandha: bridge construction

Sirsa: head

Sukha: happiness, delight, joy, pleasure, comfort

Supta: reclined, lying down

Surya: the sun

Tada: mountain

Tan: to stretch, extend, lengthen out

Tittibha: firefly

Trataka: to look or to gaze

Tri: three

Trianga: three limbs

Trikona: a triangle

Ud: to fly

Upavista: seated

Urdhva: raised, elevated, upward

Urdhva Mukha: upward facing

Ustra: camel

Ut: intense

Uttana: an intense stretch

Utthita: extended, raised up, stretched

Vajra: a thunderbolt

Vasistha: a legendary sage

Viloma: against the order of things

Viparita: inversion, inverted, reversed

Vira: a hero, brave

Virahadra: name of a great warrior

Vritti: mode of being, condition

Vrksa: tree

Yana: upward

Yoga: This word is derived from the root Yuj meaning to join, to yoke, to concentrate attention. It is one of the six systems of Indian philosophy collated by the sage Patanjali. The chief aim of yoga is to teach the means by which the human soul may be completely united with the Supreme Spirit.

Yoga-sutras: the classical work on yoga by the India sage, Patanjali