Sanskrit is one of the world's oldest living languages, the sacred tongue that has carried the wisdom of yoga for over 3,500 years. Understanding even a handful of words can transform your practice.

The names stop being labels and start being descriptions, stories and invitations. Every yoga pose has a name. And every name tells a story.

Here is your guide to the building blocks of Sanskrit yoga language.
 

 Six words you will encounter in almost every class. 

1. Asana (pose)
2. Namaste (I bow to you)
3. Pranayama (breathwork)
4. Drishti (gaze point)
5. Savasana (corpse pose)
6 .Om (universal sound)

Learn these and you already speak the language of the studio.

These words describe how the body moves in space. Once you know these, pose names begin to decode themselves.
 

Ardha (half)
Supta (reclined)
Urdhva (upward)
Utthita (extended)
Parivrtta (revolved)
Upavistha (wide-seated)
Baddha (bound)
Adho (downward-facing)
 

Knowing the Sanskrit words for parts of the body is one of the quickest ways to decode a pose name. 

Hasta (hand)
Pada (foot)
Janu (knee)
Sirsa (head) and 
Mukha (face)

These words appear again and again across the yoga lexicon. Janu Sirsasana - knee to head pose, is a perfect example of exactly what the body does, written into the name.

Numbers appear throughout Sanskrit pose names to describe how many limbs are involved or the structure of the pose. 

Eka (one)
Dwi (two)
Tri (three)
Pancha (five)
Ashta (eight)

These are the most commonly encountered. Ashtanga, meaning eight limbs, refers both to Patanjali's eightfold path of yoga and to the dynamic style of practice many yogis know today.

Yogis drew inspiration from the natural world, its strength, stillness and instinct. 

Kapota (pigeon)
Salabha (locust) 
Svana (dog) 
Marjari (cat) 
Matsya (fish)
Garuda (eagle)

These words are all reflected in poses that embody the qualities of those creatures.

Some poses are named for the shapes the body creates. 

Kona (angle)
Danda (staff)
Padma (lotus)

These words are sued to describe the form with precision and poetry - the lotus being one of the most sacred symbols in all of yogic philosophy.

Yoga has always been attuned to the rhythms of the natural world. 

Chandra (moon)
Surya (sun)
Vrksah (tree)

These words remind us that the practice is not separate from nature, it is an expression of it.

Once you know the words, the poses reveal themselves. 

Ardha Chandrasana - Half Moon Pose. 

Supta Baddha Konasana - Reclined Bound Angle Pose.

The suffix asana (seat or posture) is your first clue. The rest follows naturally.