A Glossary of Yoga Terms
You walk into your first yoga class and the teacher starts speaking in a language you don’t recognise. Adho Mukha Svanasana. Ujjayi. Savasana. You follow along as best you can, but part of your mind starts keeping a list.
This article is that list. A reference for the terms you will encounter most often — in class, in the texts, and in conversation with other practitioners. It is not exhaustive. It is a starting point.
The foundations
Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, meaning to yoke or to unite. The word points to something considerably broader than physical exercise: the settling of individual awareness. In Patanjali’s definition, yoga is chitta vritti nirodha — the stilling of the fluctuations of the mind. The postures are one small part of that.
Prana (life force) is the energy said to animate all living things and to flow through the body along subtle channels called nadis. Yoga practices — particularly asana and pranayama — are designed in part to work with this energy directly.
Chakras (wheels or energy centers) are the points where these channels intersect. Classical yoga describes seven main chakras along the spine, each associated with different physical and psychological qualities. You will encounter them most often in the context of pranayama and meditation.
The eight limbs
Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras describe yoga as a path of eight limbs — ashtanga (not to be confused with the yoga style of the same name). Each limb is a stage of practice, moving from ethics outward to deep absorption inward.
Yama (ethical restraints) are the five ways yoga asks us to relate to the world: non-violence (ahimsa), truthfulness (satya), non-stealing (asteya), continence (brahmacharya), and non-grasping (aparigraha).
Niyama (personal observances) are the five internal disciplines: cleanliness (saucha), contentment (santosha), self-discipline (tapas), self-study (svadhyaya), and surrender to a higher principle (ishvara pranidhana).
Asana (posture) is the third limb and the one most people encounter first. In Patanjali’s text, asana is described simply as a stable, comfortable seat for meditation. The full catalogue of physical postures came much later, primarily through Hatha yoga.
Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses) is the bridge between the outer and inner practices — learning to draw attention inward rather than following every external stimulus.
Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (absorption) are the final three limbs. Dharana is focused attention on a single object. Dhyana is when that focus becomes continuous. Samadhi is when the boundary between the observer and the observed dissolves. The meditation article covers these three in more detail.
Postures and movement
Asana in its modern form includes hundreds of physical postures. The asanas guide gives an overview organised by category, with Sanskrit names and key benefits for each.
Vinyasa (flowing sequence) refers to postures connected by breath and movement. In a vinyasa class, the transitions between poses are part of the practice. It also names a specific linking sequence you will encounter in many styles: plank — chaturanga — upward dog — downward dog.
Surya Namaskar (sun salutation) is a sequence of 12 postures traditionally practised at dawn, facing east. It is one of the first things many students learn and one of the most complete whole-body practices in yoga.
Savasana (corpse pose) is the final relaxation at the end of class — lying still on the back, completely releasing effort. It looks simple. It is often the hardest thing in the room.
Drishti (gaze point) is the specific point of focus for the eyes in a given posture. Fixing the gaze steadies the mind as well as the body.
Breath, gesture, and energy
Pranayama (breath regulation) is the fourth limb of Patanjali’s path and a complete practice in itself. The word points to both the extension of prana and the controlled use of breath. The main techniques range from simple rhythmic breathing to more advanced practices involving retention. There is a full guide in the pranayama article.
Mudra (gesture or seal) refers to hand positions, body seals, and eye positions used to direct the flow of prana. Bandha (lock or bond) refers to internal muscular contractions used to contain and redirect energy within the body. Both are explained in detail in the mudras and bandhas article.
Kumbhaka (retention) is the pause between inhalation and exhalation in pranayama. Antara kumbhaka is the pause after inhaling; bahya kumbhaka is the pause after exhaling. These belong to the more advanced pranayama practices.
Sacred language
Om (or Aum) is the most fundamental sound in yoga. It is said to be the primordial vibration from which all other sound arises. You will hear it chanted at the beginning and end of many classes.
Mantra (sacred phrase or mind tool) — a word or phrase repeated mentally or aloud to focus the mind or invoke a specific quality. Mantras come from Sanskrit and Vedic traditions, and their meaning matters as much as the sound. The mantras article covers the ones you will encounter most often.
Namaste (I bow to you) — the greeting and farewell gesture of yoga: hands at the heart, a slight bow. It is an acknowledgment of something worthy in the other person.
Shanti (peace) — used three times at the end of a practice or chant, referring to peace in the body, the mind, and the spirit.
Texts and teachers
Patanjali — the sage who compiled the Yoga Sutras, probably around the 2nd century BCE. We know almost nothing about him as a person. His text remains the foundational reference for classical yoga philosophy. The history of yoga traces his place in the broader tradition.
The Yoga Sutras — Patanjali’s collection of 196 aphorisms on the theory and practice of yoga. Dense, precise, and still widely studied more than two thousand years after they were written.
Guru (dispeller of darkness) — a spiritual teacher. In Sanskrit, gu means darkness and ru means light. The word carries more weight than “teacher”: a guru is someone who has walked the path and can genuinely guide others along it.
Svadhyaya (self-study) — one of the niyamas. It means the study of sacred texts and, equally, the study of oneself. The point is not to accumulate knowledge but to use that knowledge as a mirror.
Conclusion
The vocabulary of yoga can feel like a barrier at first. Over time, it becomes something else — a more precise way of pointing at real experiences. You don’t need to memorise this glossary before your next class. But when a term comes up and you want to understand it more fully, you now know where to look.