A plain guide to Sanskrit pose names

A class may call Mountain Pose Tadasana and never translate it. That is a habit of the room, not a test you must pass before you are allowed to stand on your mat. On this site, the English name is the one we use to teach. The Sanskrit name sits beside it so a class, a book, or another website will sound familiar. The glossary covers the other words, like asana and pranayama. This article is only the pose names you will meet in a first month.

You do not need to say any of them out loud. If you want to, the pronunciations below are the ones printed on the pose pages. They are a guide to the way these names are usually said in English-speaking classes, not a claim about perfect classical Sanskrit. Regional teaching traditions vary. If a teacher says a name a little differently, follow the teacher in the room and the shape with your body.

Names for the poses you will actually do

Mountain Pose is Tadasana (tah-DAHS-uh-nuh). It is the standing setup everything else borrows. Forward Fold is Uttanasana (oo-tahn-AHS-uh-nuh). Half Lift is Ardha Uttanasana (ARD-uh oo-tahn-AHS-uh-nuh). Classes often treat “ardha” as “half,” which matches the shape: the fold, stopped halfway. Chair Pose is Utkatasana (OOT-kah-TAHS-uh-nuh). You can forget every one of those and still practice Day 1.

Downward-Facing Dog is Adho Mukha Svanasana (AH-doh MOO-kah shvah-NAHS-uh-nuh). People say “down dog” and everyone knows. Upward-Facing Dog is the face-up version and is an intermediate pose here. We use Cobra, Bhujangasana (boo-jang-GAHS-uh-nuh), when a smaller backbend is the better idea. Sphinx is often taught under that English name. Child’s Pose is Balasana (bah-LAHS-uh-nuh). Cat is Marjaryasana. Cow is Bitilasana. You will hear “cat-cow” as one phrase. The pages keep them separate so each shape gets its own cues.

Warrior I is Virabhadrasana I (veer-ah-bah-DRAHS-uh-nuh). Warrior II and Warrior III use the same name with a number. The numbers are not ranks. They are different shapes. Tree Pose is Vrksasana (vrik-SHAHS-uh-nuh). Triangle is Trikonasana (tree-koh-NAHS-uh-nuh). Side Angle is Utthita Parsvakonasana, which is a long name for a lunge with a long side body. Reverse Warrior is usually just called that.

Names for the floor

Bridge is Setu Bandha Sarvangasana, often shortened to Setu Bandhasana. You can say Bridge. Corpse Pose is Savasana (shah-VAHS-uh-nuh). The rest is the point. If you remember one word, remember this one, and then actually stay lying down.

Easy Seat is Sukhasana (soo-KAHS-uh-nuh). Staff Pose is Dandasana. Seated Forward Fold is Paschimottanasana. Bound Angle is Baddha Konasana (BAH-dah koh-NAHS-uh-nuh), sometimes called butterfly in gyms. The pose page uses Bound Angle and describes the shape, which matters more than the nickname. Happy Baby is Ananda Balasana. Supine Twist is Supta Matsyendrasana, a name almost nobody expects a beginner to produce. “Knees-to-chest twist” will do.

Legs Up the Wall is Viparita Karani (vip-ah-REE-tah kah-RAH-nee). Reclining Hand-to-Toe is Supta Padangusthasana. Thread the Needle is often taught only in English. Pigeon Prep is Eka Pada Kapotasana and is marked intermediate here because the front knee needs a careful setup. Read the page before you chase the name.

How classes use the names

A teacher may say the Sanskrit name and then demonstrate, or say the English name and then the Sanskrit name once. You are allowed to watch the body. If you are lost, the sentence “Could you show the next pose?” is complete. You do not have to pretend you heard a word you did not hear. The beginner mistakes article is about knees and rest, not vocabulary. Vocabulary can wait.

Some rooms end with “namaste.” The glossary notes that it is a greeting, and that you do not need to say it to practice. Use it if it is respectful in that room and comfortable for you. Skip it if it feels borrowed in a way you do not want. Neither choice changes Mountain Pose.

Chakra maps, mantras, and bandhas show up in some traditions. This site does not assign them. You can practice every routine here without that layer. If you want it later, learn it from a teacher who can explain the tradition they are drawing from, rather than from a caption.

A way to learn ten names without a list on the fridge

Learn the name of the pose you did today, once. Day 1 gives you Easy Seat, Cat, Cow, Child, Mountain, Forward Fold, Half Lift, and Corpse. That is a week of vocabulary if you only keep Corpse and Mountain. Day 3 adds Dog and the Warriors. By Day 7 the English names should feel like instructions. The Sanskrit can stay a subtitle.

When you read another site or walk into a class, search the English name on this library if the Sanskrit one sails past you. The pose page will show both. The steps will be in English. That is the whole function of printing both names at the top of every pose. The language is a door. The cues are the room.

If a name in a class does not match a name here, ask what the shape is in plain words. Teachers translate differently, and some poses have more than one traditional name. The shape, the safety note, and whether your knee likes it are the parts that have to match. Thread the Needle, for example, is Parsva Balasana on this site (PARSH-vah bah-LAHS-uh-nuh).

What a dictionary will support

The pronunciations above are a class guide. For meanings, this section uses Monier-Williams’s Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1899), in the Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries edition. Page numbers are that book’s.

Asana, page 159, is sitting or sitting down, a seat or stool, and “sitting in peculiar posture according to the custom of devotees.” The entry says five postures, or in other places even eighty-four, are enumerated, and that this manner of sitting forms part of the eightfold observances of ascetics. That is a seat and a counted list. Nobody should mistake it for a catalog of modern standing poses. The Patanjali page goes through Yoga Sutra 2.46, sthira sukham asanam. Sukha, page 1220, is pleasant, agreeable, comfortable. Easy Seat, Sukhasana, borrows that comfortable sense. It is not a promise that your hips will like the floor.

Some English names track the dictionary. Vriksha, page 1008, is a tree, so Tree Pose is a fair gloss of Vrksasana. Bala, page 728, is a child or boy, so Child’s Pose fits Balasana. Shava, page 1059, is a corpse, which is why Savasana is Corpse Pose. Adhas, page 20, is below or down. Mukha, page 819, is face, including compounds for facing a direction. Shvan, page 1105, is a dog. Downward-Facing Dog is the usual teaching gloss of those pieces. Bhujanga, page 759, is a snake. Cobra is the studio animal for Bhujangasana. The dictionary says snake. Ardha, page 91, is half, which is why Half Lift is the fold stopped partway. Vira, page 1005, is a hero. The Warrior numbers mark different shapes, not a rank.

Other English names are shape nicknames the dictionary will not confirm. Utkata, page 175, means immense, excessive, furious, or difficult. It does not mean a chair. Chair Pose looks like sitting into one. That is the nickname. Uttana, page 177, means stretched out or lying face-up. Forward Fold is our name for Uttanasana. The entry does not say “touch the floor with straight legs.” Pashchima, page 612, means behind, last, or western. Teachers sometimes say the “west” is the back of the body. The entry does not say that. Follow the cues for Seated Forward Fold.

Tadasana needs the same caution. Tada, page 441, is a blow, and also, marked “L.” for a sense taken from lexicographers rather than a cited classical passage, a mountain. Tala, page 444, is a different word, the fan-palm. Mountain Pose is the conventional English name, tied to one of those senses. Stand in Mountain Pose either way. The footnote does not move your feet.

Setu, page 1246, is a dam, causeway, or bridge, and bandha, page 720, is a bond. Bridge is the short name. Danda, page 466, is a staff, so Staff Pose matches. You do not need the rest of the dictionary to practice. Ten English names, used while you move, still beat a list on the fridge.

Sources: Monier-Williams M. A Sanskrit-English Dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press; 1899. Cologne Digital Sanskrit Dictionaries edition, printed pages: asana 159, adhas 20, ardha 91, utkata 175, uttana 177, tada 441, tala 444, danda 466, pashchima 612, bandha 720, bala 728, bhujanga 759, mukha 819, vira 1005, vriksha 1008, shava 1059, shvan 1105, sukha 1220, setu 1246. Yoga Sutra 2.46 is discussed on the Patanjali page.