Yoga Basics: Yoga Vocabulary

As beginners, we might hear our yoga teachers a lot of words we don't quite understand. Hatha? Asana? Mudra? What are these unusual words and what do they mean? It's understandable to be overwhelmed by it all after a class or two. Even experienced yogis will probably encounter a word or two they don't recognize every once in a while. But understanding Sanskrit Yoga Terms allows us to deepen our practice by incorporating key concepts into each session.

Here's a quick vocabulary lesson for those who are still mystified by yoga lingo:

Asana ("seat"): a physical posture (see also anga, mudra); the third limb (anga) of Patanjali's eightfold path (astha-anga-yoga); originally this meant only meditation posture, but subsequently, in hatha yoga, this aspect of the yogic path was greatly developed

Hatha Yoga ("Forceful Yoga"): a major branch of yoga, developed by Goraksha and other adepts c. 1000 C.E., and emphasizing the physical aspects of the transformative path, notably postures (asana) and cleansing techniques (shodhana), but also breath control (pranayama)

Mantra (from the verbal root man "to think"): a sacred sound or phrase, such as om, hum, or om namah shivaya, that has a transformative effect on the mind of the individual reciting it; to be ultimately effective, a mantra needs to be given in an initiatory context (diksha)

Mudra ("seal"): a hand gesture (such as cin-mudra) or whole-body gesture (such as viparita-karani-mudra); also a designation of the feminine partner in the Tantric sexual ritual

Niyama ("[self-]restraint"): the second limb of Patanjali's eightfold path, which consists of purity (saucha), contentment (samtosha), austerity (tapas), study (svadhyaya), and dedication to the Lord (ishvara-pranidhana)

To learn about more common yoga terms read our more comprehensive guide.