A Sanskrit Glossary of Yoga Terms

A–Z terms

• Abhyasaअभ्यासabhyāsa

  Abhyasa means 'repeated practice' or 'sustained effort' — in the Yoga Sutras, one of the two means, alongside vairagya (dispassion), by which the fluctuations of the mind are stilled.

• Ahimsaअहिंसाahiṃsā

  Ahimsa is non-harming or non-violence, the first of the five yamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, stated as a broad ethical principle whose exact practical scope the texts leave largely to interpretation.

• Asanaआसनāsana

  Āsana literally means 'seat'; in the classical texts it names a small set of stable meditation postures, not the large repertoire of shapes taught in a modern class.

• Bandhaबन्धbandha

  Bandha means 'bond' or 'lock' — a class of internal muscular contractions the hatha texts pair with breath retention to direct prana, distinct from the modern fitness idea of 'core engagement'.

• Chakraचक्रcakra

  Chakra means 'wheel' or 'circle'; the best-known textual source, the Sat-Chakra-Nirupana, describes six subtle centres with detailed lotus imagery — richer, and different in detail, from the flat colour-coded seven-chakra chart familiar today.

• Dharanaधारणाdhāraṇā

  Dharana means 'holding' or 'concentration' — the sixth limb of Patanjali's path, defined as binding the mind's attention to a single place or object.

• Dhyanaध्यानdhyāna

  Dhyana means sustained, unbroken meditative attention — the seventh limb of Patanjali's path, defined as the continuous flow of attention toward a single object once dharana has been established.

• Guruगुरुguru

  Guru means 'heavy' or 'weighty' — extended to mean a teacher whose knowledge and authority carry real weight; a specific, traditionally defined relationship in Indian religious literature, not a synonym for any confident modern teacher.

• Ida and Pingalaइडा, पिङ्गलाiḍā, piṅgalā

  Ida and pingala are the two nadis described as flanking sushumna, associated respectively with a cooling, lunar quality on the left and a heating, solar quality on the right, whose balancing is the stated aim of nadi-shodhana.

• Ishvara-pranidhanaईश्वरप्रणिधानīśvara-praṇidhāna

  Ishvara-pranidhana is devotion or surrender to Ishvara, a particular kind of divine or ideal being, and the fifth of the five niyamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

• Japaजपjapa

  Japa means 'muttering' or 'repetition' — the disciplined, typically counted repetition of a mantra, traditionally tracked on a 108-bead mala, distinct from simply saying a phrase to oneself informally.

• Kleshaक्लेशkleśa

  Klesha means 'affliction' — in the Yoga Sutras, one of five specific root causes of suffering, named and defined in the second chapter as ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion and the will to live.

• Koshaकोशkośa

  Kosha means 'sheath' or 'covering'; the Taittiriya Upanishad describes five such sheaths, from the food-made body to the sheath of bliss, layered around the self as a covering fits over a sword.

• Kriyaक्रियाkriyā

  Kriya means simply 'action' or 'practice'; the word covers at least three distinct things in yoga writing — the hatha cleansing acts (shatkarma), the specific technique-lineage called Kriya Yoga, and spontaneous involuntary movements sometimes reported in meditation.

• Kumbhakaकुम्भकkumbhaka

  Kumbhaka is breath retention — the pause after inhalation or exhalation — treated by the hatha texts as the technical centre of pranayama proper.

• Kundaliniकुण्डलिनीkuṇḍalinī

  Kundalini means 'coiled one' — a tantric and hatha-yoga concept of a dormant power pictured as a coiled serpent at the base of the spine, said to rise through the central channel when awakened by advanced practice.

• Mantraमन्त्रmantra

  Mantra is usually parsed as 'instrument of thought' (from man, 'to think', plus the instrumental suffix -tra); classically it names sacred Vedic verses and seed syllables used in precise ritual recitation, a more specific practice than simply repeating a calming word.

• Mudraमुद्राmudrā

  Mudra means 'seal' or 'gesture'; the hatha texts use it mainly for whole-body techniques said to seal in prana, while a separate tradition of hand gestures appears in ritual, iconography and dance.

• Nadiनाडीnāḍī

  Nadi means 'channel' or 'tube' — in yogic physiology, a network of subtle pathways carrying prana, distinct from and not identical to the nervous or circulatory systems described by anatomy.

• Niyamaनियमniyama

  Niyama means 'observance' — the second limb of Patanjali's eight-limbed path, comprising five personal disciplines that complement the yamas' restraints with positive practice.

• Pranaप्राणprāṇa

  Prana means 'vital breath' or 'life force' — the animating principle behind breath and life described across the Upanishads and later yogic literature, traditionally divided into five functional currents.

• Pranayamaप्राणायामprāṇāyāma

  Pranayama is the fourth limb of Patanjali's system — the regulation, extension or restraint of the breath — and in the hatha texts a set of specific techniques with retention at their centre.

• Pratyaharaप्रत्याहारpratyāhāra

  Pratyahara means 'drawing back' or 'withdrawal' — the fifth limb of Patanjali's path, in which the senses cease pursuing their objects and follow the mind inward, forming the hinge between the outward limbs and the inward ones.

• Samadhiसमाधिsamādhi

  Samadhi means 'putting together' or 'absorption' — the eighth and final limb of Patanjali's path, in which the meditating mind becomes so absorbed in its object that the sense of a separate perceiving self recedes.

• Samskaraसंस्कारsaṃskāra

  Samskara means an 'impression' or 'imprint' left in the mind by past action or experience, which in turn conditions future thought and behaviour — a concept the Yoga Sutras use in explaining memory and habitual patterning.

• Samyamaसंयमsaṃyama

  Samyama means 'binding together' or 'restraint' — in the Yoga Sutras, the technical term for the combined, continuous practice of dharana, dhyana and samadhi applied to a single object.

• Santoshaसंतोषsantoṣa

  Santosha is contentment, the second of the five niyamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, given a specific stated result of unsurpassed happiness rather than a general call to positive thinking.

• Satyaसत्यsatya

  Satya is truthfulness, the second of the five yamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, given a specific stated result rather than a general lifestyle prescription.

• Siddhiसिद्धिsiddhi

  Siddhi means 'accomplishment' or 'perfection'; in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras it names the extraordinary attainments described as arising from samyama, which the text itself calls obstacles to the deeper goal of samadhi.

• Sushumnaसुषुम्नाsuṣumṇā

  Sushumna is the central channel of yogic subtle-body cosmology, described as running along the spine's line and as the pathway through which kundalini is said to rise when the surrounding nadis, ida and pingala, are cleared.

• Svadhyayaस्वाध्यायsvādhyāya

  Svadhyaya is self-study, the fourth of the five niyamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, understood in the tradition to include both introspection and the study of sacred texts.

• Tapasतपस्tapas

  Tapas literally means 'heat' and, by extension, austerity or disciplined ascetic effort — the third of the five niyamas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and a term with a much older history in Vedic literature.

• Ujjayiउज्जायीujjāyī

  Ujjayi ('victorious') is one of the eight kumbhakas named in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, a breath drawn through a partially constricted throat and paired classically with retention, rather than simply an audible breath sustained throughout movement.

• Vairagyaवैराग्यvairāgya

  Vairagya means 'dispassion' or 'non-attachment' — in the Yoga Sutras, mastery over craving for what is seen or heard, presented as the necessary counterpart to sustained practice (abhyasa).

• Vrittiवृत्तिvṛtti

  Vritti means a 'turning' or 'whirl' of the mind — in the Yoga Sutras, the fluctuations or modifications of consciousness that the practice of yoga is defined as stilling.

• Yamaयमyama

  Yama means 'restraint' or 'discipline' — the first limb of Patanjali's eight-limbed path, comprising five ethical restraints that the text treats as the necessary ground for everything that follows.

More terms

Shorter honest definitions for terms that don't yet have a full page of their own.

Abhinivesha abhiniveśa

Clinging to continued existence, the fifth klesha (Yoga Sutras 2.9), described as arising by its own momentum and present even in the wise.

Agni agni

Fire; in ayurveda, digestive fire. The hatha texts use fire imagery for internal heat produced by practice, which is a textual claim about the subtle body rather than a measured physiological one.

Ahamkara ahaṃkāra

The 'I-maker' — the function that appropriates experience as mine. A Samkhya category rather than a Patanjali coinage, though it underlies his treatment of asmita.

Amrita amṛta

'Deathless' — the nectar which hatha texts such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (3.77–3.82, in the khechari and viparita karani passages) describe as normally consumed by the digestive fire and preserved by inversion practices. This is the texts' own imagery of the subtle body, not physiology.

Apana apāna

One of the five vayus, or movements of prana, associated in the texts with downward and eliminative movement. The hatha texts describe practices intended to unite apana with prana.

Asmita asmitā

'I-am-ness': the sense of a separate self identified with the instruments of experience. Listed as the second klesha in Yoga Sutras 2.3 and defined at 2.6.

Avidya avidyā

Ignorance or misapprehension — the first of the five kleshas and, in Yoga Sutras 2.4, the field in which the other four grow. Specifically it means mistaking the impermanent for the permanent and the not-self for the self (2.5).

Bindu bindu

'Drop' or point. In hatha texts it names a vital essence said to be preserved rather than lost, and in tantric diagrams a focal point of concentration; the senses are related but not identical.

Buddhi buddhi

The discriminating intellect; in Samkhya the subtlest evolute of prakriti and the faculty through which discernment (viveka) operates.

Chitta citta

Mind in the broad sense — the whole field of mental activity whose fluctuations (vrittis) yoga stills (Yoga Sutras 1.2). Later commentary analyses it into buddhi, ahamkara and manas.

Dharma dharma

A word with a wide range: duty, law, ethical order, and in some philosophical contexts simply a property or attribute. Its meaning depends heavily on which text is using it, and translating it as 'religion' is misleading.

Drishti dṛṣṭi

Gaze or point of focus. Widely taught in modern posture practice as a fixed gaze point per pose; the classical texts use focused gazing in specific practices such as trataka and shambhavi mudra rather than as a per-posture system.

Dvesha dveṣa

Aversion — the push away from what has brought pain (Yoga Sutras 2.8). Classical commentary treats it as the mirror image of raga rather than a separate problem.

Granthi granthi

'Knot' — three points (brahma, vishnu and rudra granthi) described in later hatha and tantric literature as obstructions to the upward movement of energy in sushumna.

Jalandhara Bandha jālandhara bandha

The 'throat lock' (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 3.70–3.76), a chin-to-chest engagement used with retention; with mula and uddiyana it forms the set called maha bandha.

Kaivalya kaivalya

'Aloneness' or absolute independence — the goal named in the title of the Yoga Sutras' fourth chapter, describing consciousness resting in its own nature rather than a state of achievement to be displayed.

Kapalabhati kapālabhāti

'Skull-shining' — rapid forceful exhalation, listed among the shatkarmas (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.35) rather than as a pranayama proper in that text, though it is commonly taught as one today.

Karma karma

Action, and the residue action leaves. The Yoga Sutras discuss karmic deposits (karmāśaya) and their ripening in chapters 2 and 4; the Bhagavad Gita's karma-yoga treats action performed without grasping at its fruit.

Khechari Mudra khecarī mudrā

A tongue practice described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (3.32–3.54) and elsewhere, taught in the texts only under a teacher's direct supervision. Its more extreme described forms are not something to attempt from a written description.

Manas manas

The sensory-processing mind: the faculty that receives and organises sense impressions, distinguished in Samkhya from buddhi and ahamkara.

Mitahara mitāhāra

'Measured eating' — the Hatha Yoga Pradipika's dietary guidance (1.58–1.63), which specifies moderate quantity and leaving part of the stomach unfilled, alongside lists of foods to favour and avoid.

Moksha mokṣa

Liberation or release from bondage — the shared goal-word of most Indian philosophical schools. The Yoga Sutras more often use kaivalya for their own formulation.

Muhurta muhūrta

A traditional time unit of roughly forty-eight minutes, and by extension an auspicious period selected for an activity. Brahma muhurta, the muhurta ending one muhurta before sunrise, is the one most often cited for practice.

Mula Bandha mūla bandha

The 'root lock', described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (3.61–3.69) as a contraction at the perineum used with pranayama to direct apana upward. The texts present it as an internal technique taught under guidance, not as a general core cue.

Nadi Shodhana nāḍī śodhana

'Channel purification' — alternate-nostril breathing. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2.7–2.10) describes an alternating practice with retention and states that it purifies the nadis; the simplified ratio-free version taught today is a modern teaching form of it.

Nakshatra nakṣatra

One of the twenty-seven sidereal lunar mansions of 13°20′ each, used in Jyotisha to locate the Moon. It is calendrical and astronomical bookkeeping; the yoga texts do not make practice depend on it.

Nauli nauli

Abdominal churning, one of the six shatkarmas (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.33–2.34). The texts treat it as an advanced practice taught directly by a teacher.

Neti neti

Nasal cleansing, one of the six shatkarmas (Hatha Yoga Pradipika 2.29–2.30). Modern practice normally uses saline irrigation, and public-health guidance on using only safe, clean water applies.

Nirodha nirodha

Cessation, restraint or settling. It is the operative word in the text's definition of yoga itself — yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ (Yoga Sutras 1.2). Translators differ over whether to render it as suppression, restraint or stilling, and the choice changes how the whole text reads.

Ojas ojas

A term from ayurvedic physiology for vital essence or resilience, often carried over into yoga writing. It belongs to ayurveda's system rather than to Patanjali's, and claims made for it should be read as that tradition's own.

Om oṃ / auṃ

A foundational sacred syllable discussed at length in the Mandukya Upanishad, which maps its three sounds (a-u-m) to waking, dream and deep-sleep states of consciousness, with a fourth, silent element pointing beyond them.

Paksha pakṣa

A lunar fortnight — shukla paksha as the Moon waxes toward purnima, krishna paksha as it wanes toward amavasya. Most Indian observances are dated by paksha and tithi rather than by solar date.

Prakriti prakṛti

Nature or primordial materiality in Samkhya — everything that changes, including mind and intellect. The Yoga Sutras' account of liberation turns on discriminating purusha from prakriti (2.17–2.27).

Purusha puruṣa

Pure consciousness in Samkhya metaphysics, which the Yoga Sutras assume: the witness that does not act. Distinguished from prakriti, and not the same as the everyday 'self' of ordinary speech.

Raga rāga

Attachment — the pull toward what has brought pleasure (Yoga Sutras 2.7). Paired with dvesha as the two afflictions that keep the mind reacting to memory rather than to what is present.

Rajas rajas

The guna of activity, agitation and drive — neither good nor bad in Samkhya, but a mode that must be understood rather than merely suppressed.

Samana samāna

The vayu associated with the central region and with assimilation in the classical subtle-body model.

Samyoga saṃyoga

The conjunction of seer and seen which, according to Yoga Sutras 2.17, is the cause of avoidable suffering — the technical diagnosis behind the text's whole method.

Sattva sattva

The guna of clarity, lightness and intelligibility, one of the three qualities of prakriti in Samkhya. The modern phrase 'sattvic diet' extends the term into food in ways the earliest sources do not spell out in detail.

Savasana śavāsana

'Corpse pose' — lying still and fully relaxed. Named in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (1.32) and Gheranda Samhita as a restful posture; in modern classes it is typically the final relaxation, a use consistent with its classical description.

Shambhavi Mudra śāmbhavī mudrā

An inward gaze with the eyes directed toward the brow, described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (4.36–4.37) as attention turned inward while the gaze rests outward.

Shatkarma ṣaṭkarma

The six cleansing acts of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2.22): dhauti, basti, neti, trataka, nauli and kapalabhati, presented as preparation for pranayama for those of excess humour.

Surya Namaskar sūrya namaskāra

'Sun salutation' — a flowing sequence of postures. Widely practised today, but its now-standard sequenced form is a documented early-twentieth-century development (associated with figures such as the Raja of Aundh) rather than an ancient asana sequence named as such in the classical hatha texts.

Tamas tamas

The guna of inertia, heaviness and obscuration. Along with sattva and rajas it forms the threefold analysis of nature that Patanjali inherits rather than argues for.

Tithi tithi

A lunar day: the time the Moon takes to gain twelve degrees of elongation on the Sun, so it runs between roughly nineteen and twenty-six hours rather than a fixed twenty-four. Thirty tithis make a lunar month.

Trataka trāṭaka

Steady gazing, one of the six shatkarmas of the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (2.31–2.32), described as clearing the eyes and steadying the mind. Practitioners are advised to stop if the eyes become strained.

Udana udāna

The vayu associated with upward movement and with speech in the classical subtle-body model.

Uddiyana Bandha uḍḍīyāna bandha

The 'upward-flying lock' — abdominal drawing-in described in the Hatha Yoga Pradipika (3.55–3.60), traditionally performed on empty lungs and on an empty stomach.

Vinyasa vinyāsa

Literally 'placement' or 'arrangement in sequence'; in the Krishnamacharya-descended modern tradition it describes linking breath to movement between postures. It is a twentieth-century pedagogical development rather than a term with a load-bearing role in the classical hatha or Patanjali texts.

Viveka viveka

Discernment — specifically the ability to distinguish the seer from the seen. Yoga Sutras 2.26 names unbroken discriminative discernment as the means of removing ignorance.

Viveka Khyati viveka-khyāti

'Discriminative illumination' — in Yoga Sutras 2.28 the result of sustained practice of the limbs: clarity that distinguishes the seer from the seen.

Vyana vyāna

The vayu associated with pervasive, circulating movement throughout the body in the classical subtle-body model.