The Sanskrit names of poses can be confusing and even intimidating for beginners of yoga. Asana means “pose” and is the suffix for all poses. Sanskrit is a systematic and phonetically based language. There are suffixes and prefixes of words that always have the same meaning. Learning the Sanskrit names of the poses helps to understand yoga.

adho: downward

ananta: infinite, the name of a serpent

ardha: half

baddha: bound

baia: child

Chandra: moon

danda: a staff

eka pada: one leg

garuda: eagle

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

haia: a plough

hasta: the hand

hatha: forcibly or against one's will; a

discipline janu: the knee

jathara: the stomach or abdomen

kona: angle

Marichi: the name of a sage

mukha: face

pada: foot

padangustha: big toe

parivartana: turning around, revolving

parivritta: turned around, revolved

parsva: the side, lateral

paschima: West; the back side of the body

paschimottana: intense stretch of the back side of the body

pincha: the chin, a feather

prana: breath, respiration, life force, vital energy

prasarita: spread out, stretched out

raja-kapota: king pigeon

saiabha: locust

sarvanga: the whole body

setu: a bridge

setu bandha: the construction of a bridge

sirsa: the head

sukha: happiness, joy

supta: lying down

surya: the sun

tada: a mountain

tri: three

trianga: three limbs

trikona: a triangle

upavistha: seated

urdhva: raised, upward

urdhva mukha: upward facing

utkata: powerful, fierce

uttana: an intense stretch

utthita: raised up, extended, stretched

vajra: a thunderbolt

Vasistha: a celebrated sage

viparita: inverted, reversed

vira: a hero, brave

Virabhadra: a powerful hero or warrior

vrksa: tree