Lila Yoga

Concepts

The concepts

Words you hear in class, traced to the texts

Yoga classes come with a vocabulary. Some of it is as old as the tradition, some of it is newer than the microphone your teacher wears. Each entry here takes one word you will actually hear, shows where it appears in the source texts, and says so plainly when it does not appear at all.

The eight limbs

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  1. AshtangaaṣṭāṅgaLiterally "eight limbs." Also the name of a vigorous modern practice style, which is a different thing.
  2. Yamas & Niyamasyama · niyamaThe "ethics of yoga": five restraints and five observances, the first two of the eight limbs. Each of the ten has its own entry below.
  3. AsanaāsanaThe word behind every pose name: Trikonasana, Savasana, Virabhadrasana. It simply means seat, or posture. The third limb.
  4. PranayamaprāṇāyāmaThe breathing practices: box breath, alternate-nostril, or simply "notice your breath." The fourth limb.
  5. PratyaharapratyāhāraThe fifth limb, usually glossed as withdrawal of the senses: the hinge where practice turns from the body to the mind.
  6. DharanadhāraṇāThe sixth limb: concentration. Picking one thing, breath, candle, mantra, and staying.
  7. DhyanadhyānaMeditation. The seventh limb, and the direct ancestor of the words "Chan" and "Zen."
  8. SamadhisamādhiThe eighth limb, usually glossed as absorption, union, or the goal of the whole path.

The five yamas

5
  1. AhimsaahiṃsāOften translated in class as non-violence or kindness, and named as yoga's first ethical commitment.
  2. SatyasatyaTruthfulness, the second yama. Quoted in class as speaking and living your truth.
  3. AsteyaasteyaNon-stealing, the third yama. Teachers often widen it to not taking what is not offered: time, credit, attention.
  4. BrahmacharyabrahmacaryaThe fourth yama, translated variously as continence, moderation, or right use of energy.
  5. AparigrahaaparigrahaNon-grasping or non-possessiveness, the fifth yama. The class version: hold everything lightly.

The five niyamas

5
  1. ShauchaśaucaCleanliness or purity, the first niyama: clean body, clean space, clean inputs.
  2. SantoshasaṃtoṣaContentment. The second niyama, and a favorite theme for the closing minutes of class.
  3. TapastapasDiscipline, austerity, or "heat": the third niyama, invoked whenever a class gets hard on purpose.
  4. SvadhyayasvādhyāyaOften glossed in class as self-study or self-inquiry. The fourth niyama.
  5. Ishvara Pranidhanaīśvara-praṇidhānaSurrender, devotion, or offering the practice up: the fifth niyama, and the most openly religious phrase in the studio vocabulary.

The mind, per Patanjali

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  1. VrittivṛttiThe "fluctuations" or "waves" of the mind, from yoga's one-line definition: the churn the whole practice works on.
  2. The KleshaskleśaThe five afflictions: the tradition's diagnosis of why life keeps hurting in the same places.
  3. DuhkhaduḥkhaSuffering, or unease: the problem the whole tradition is answering.
  4. Purushapuruṣa · draṣṭṛThe Seer: the one watching the thoughts, which the texts insist is not the thoughts.
  5. Abhyasa & Vairagyaabhyāsa · vairāgyaPractice and non-attachment: the pair of tools the tradition hands you for working with your own mind.
  6. Omoṃ · praṇavaThe syllable chanted at the start or end of many classes. The texts call it praṇava.
  7. KaivalyakaivalyaLiberation: the word the Yoga Sutras end on. Rarely said in class, always implied.

Body and breath

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  1. PranaprāṇaLife force, or simply breath-energy: the currency of the hatha tradition.
  2. KundalinikuṇḍalinīThe coiled energy at the base of the spine, said to rise with practice. Also a modern practice style bearing the name.
  3. ChakracakraThe body's energy centers, usually pictured today as seven colored wheels along the spine.
  4. NadināḍīThe body's energy channels. Ida, pingala, and sushumna come up whenever alternate-nostril breathing is taught.
  5. MudramudrāThe "seals": hand positions in a modern class, and a larger family of practices in the old manuals. Related: the bandhas, or locks.
  6. SavasanaśavāsanaCorpse pose: the final rest at the end of class. Genuinely ancient, unlike much of what precedes it.

Yoga in life (the Gita)

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  1. Karma yogakarmaThe yoga of action. Quoted in class whenever the theme is doing your best and letting go of the result.
  2. SthitaprajnasthitaprajñaThe person of "steady wisdom": the Gita's portrait of what practice looks like when it has soaked all the way in.
  3. Dharmadharma · svadharma"Follow your dharma": your duty, your path, the work that is yours to do.
  4. BhaktibhaktiThe yoga of devotion: practice powered by love rather than effort or analysis.

Modern class terms

1
  1. Vinyasavinyāsamodern termThe flowing style on most studio schedules, where movement is linked to breath. Also "take a vinyasa" for the plank-to-dog transition.

Every verse quoted here is rendered live from the reference, with the same Sanskrit, translations, and attributed sources. Where an entry says a word is not in the texts, that absence is checked against the Sanskrit at build time.