Yoga Sanskrit Terms: A Glossary of Yoga Words

Anga Meaning: The Limbs of Yoga and the Word Behind Ashtanga

Anga (Sanskrit: अङ्ग, aṅga) means "limb". It can also mean a part of the body, a member of a group, or one component of a larger whole. In yoga you meet it inside the word Ashtanga, ashta (eight) plus anga (limb): the eight limbs of yoga described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. What...

Posted on 14 Jan 2020

Yoga Sanskrit terms

Brahma: The Hindu Creator God and His Place in Yoga

Brahma (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मा) is the Hindu god of creation. Together with Vishnu, who preserves the world, and Shiva, who destroys it so it can begin again, he forms the Trimurti, the "three forms" of the divine. He is shown with four faces, sitting on a lotus, and he rides a swan. In...

Posted on 17 Dec 2019

Yoga Sanskrit terms

Buddha Meaning: Who the Buddha Was and What He Taught

Buddha (Sanskrit and Pali: बुद्ध) means "the awakened one". It is a title, not a name. It is given to Siddhartha Gautama, the teacher from the north of ancient India whose teaching became Buddhism, and in Buddhist tradition to anyone who wakes up fully to how things are. When people...

Posted on 13 Nov 2019

Yoga Sanskrit terms

Brahman: Meaning in Hinduism and Yoga

Brahman (Sanskrit: ब्रह्मन्, brahman) is the name Hindu philosophy gives to the ultimate reality: the one ground that everything in the universe comes from, rests in and returns to. The Upanishads teach that Brahman is also what you are at the deepest level, your true self or...

Posted on 19 Sep 2019

Yoga Sanskrit terms

Om (Aum) Mantra: Meaning, How to Chant It and a 10-Minute Class

Om (Sanskrit: ॐ, also written Aum) is the best-known mantra in yoga: a single syllable, chanted aloud or repeated silently, used to focus the mind before and during meditation. In the Upanishads it stands for Brahman, the whole of reality, and in the Yoga Sutras Patanjali calls it pranava, the...

Posted on 27 May 2019

Yoga Sanskrit terms