These six words form the foundation of almost every yoga class. Asana (pose) is the suffix that ends nearly every posture name. Namaste, "I bow to you", is the gesture of mutual respect offered at the close of practice, acknowledging the light in one another. Pranayama is the formal practice of breath control, from prana (life force) and a yama (extension). Drishti is your focused gaze point, used to steady the mind and deepen concentration. Savasana, Corpse Pose, is the final resting pose of every class, considered one of the most important postures in yoga for integrating the practice. And Om is the primordial sound of the universe, a vibration that has been chanted in yogic and Vedic tradition for thousands of years.

These eight words describe how the body is oriented in space. They appear consistently across pose names. Ardha (half), Supta (reclined), Urdhva (upward), Utthita (extended), Parivrtta (revolved or twisted), Upavistha (wide-seated), Baddha (bound) and Adho (downward-facing) are the directional building blocks of Sanskrit posture language. Combined with a noun, an animal, a shape or a body part, they create a precise and poetic description of each pose.
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Adho Mukha Svanasana, for example, means Downward Facing Dog - Adho (down) + Mukha (face) + Svana (dog) + asana (pose).

Many yoga pose names are built from Sanskrit words for parts of the body, making the pose name a literal description of the shape. Hasta (hand), Pada (foot), Janu (knee), Sirsa (head) and Mukha (face), appear again and again across the yoga lexicon. Once you recognise them, pose names begin to decode themselves.
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Janu Sirsasana, for example, translates directly as "knee to head pose," which is exactly what the body does.

Numbers are woven throughout Sanskrit pose names to indicate how many limbs are involved, how many repetitions are implied or the sequence of a pose within a series. Eka (one), Dwi (two), Tri (three), Pancha (five) and Ashta (eight) are among the most commonly encountered.
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Ashtanga, for instance, means "eight limbs", referring both to Patanjali's eight fold path and to the eight points of contact in certain poses.

Yogis observed the natural world closely and drew inspiration from the animals around them, their strength, their stillness and their instinctive relationship with the body. Kapota (pigeon), Salabha (locust), Svana (dog), Marjari (cat), Matsya (fish) and Garuda (eagle) are all reflected in poses that embody the qualities of those creatures.
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Adho Mukha Svanasana, Downward Facing Dog, is perhaps the most recognised animal pose in the world.

Some poses are named for the geometric shapes or objects the body creates. Kona (angle), Danda (staff) and Padma (lotus) describe the form of the pose with precision and poetry. Dandasana, the staff pose, asks the body to be as straight and strong as a rod. Padmasana, the lotus pose, evokes the sacred lotus flower, rooted in the earth, rising toward the light - one of the most revered symbols in yogic and Buddhist philosophy.

Yoga has always been deeply connected to the natural world, and many pose names reflect the elements, celestial bodies and living things that surround us.Chandra (moon), Surya (sun) and Vrksah (tree) speak to the rhythms of nature that yoga invites us to attune to. Surya Namaskar, Sun Salutation, is a sequence traditionally practised at dawn as an offering to the sun, honouring its life-giving energy. Vrksasana, tree pose, asks us to root like a tree and rise with quiet steadiness.

Once you begin to recognise the building blocks of Sanskrit, pose names open up like a language you already half know.
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Ardha Chandrasana - Ardha meaning half, Chandra meaning moon, asana meaning pose, becomes Half Moon Pose.
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Supta Baddha Konasana - Supta meaning reclined, Baddha meaning bound, Kona meaning angle, becomes Reclined Bound Angle Pose.
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The suffix asana, meaning "seat" or "posture," appears at the end of almost every pose name and is your first clue that you are reading a yoga posture. The more words you learn, the more the practice speaks to you.