Help a newbie in deciphering

Yoga Discussion General Yoga
#1

I did a search on the forums, but really didn’t see anything so I apologize if I am repeating something. I’ve read this site for some time now, but only very recently registered and this is one of my first posts.

I can’t help but feel that many others new to yoga and these forums have the same difficulties with navigating the site that I do. Mainly, I do not know all of the Sanskrit names for poses, methods, and techniques, and DEFINITELY have no idea to pronounce them. How in the world do y’all memorize all of that?! And get the spelling right? :lol:

I’ve also looked on the internet and it’s surprisingly difficult to find “glossaries” or other sources that give phonetic pronunciations of the poses. Does anyone know of a legitimate source of this information? Or is there a thread here that I’m missing which lists what I’m looking for?

I’m not sure what etiquette is, either, when referring to certain poses on this forum. It seems as if most people use the Sanskrit terms which, for me, is tedious because I have to keep looking things up throughout the text. I’m surprised more people don’t at least parenthesize the “common” term when they use Sanskrit names. I would imagine there are a lot of beginners here, trying to educate themselves and learn and develop their practices and it simply doesn’t seem incredibly user friendly to us newbies…

Thanks so much!

#2

Valid points.

I’ll list a few things in reply:

Sanskrit pronunciation guide on the net

A bit of a glossary (limited to terms in the Bhagavad Gita or “Divine Song”)

A searchable “translator” which I’ve never found easy to use

I’m not aware of any etiquette with regard to using Sanskrit or English names when referencing postures/poses ([I]asana[/I]) either here on the forum or in class. One can only do as one can do. When I teach a level one class I presume beginners and tend to use a mix of Sanskrit and English names. If the English names are easier for you then use those until such a time that you prefer otherwise.

Students are not likely to learn the Sanskrit name of the poses if/when they are not exposed to them. And of course I could not be an apologist for Yoga’s roots, history, resonance, or lineage, all of which convey part of the practice.

When a member of the community posts I tend to read what they’ve written, do so several times, and consider several forms of reply before actually authoring one. I also effort to answer the questions asked when they are clear enough to do so and answer relative to the level of the person doing the asking, when that is clear enough to do so

So for you I’ll gladly reply with both Sanskrit and English and you may pick your nectar.

Warmly,

gordon

#3

Thank you! Don’t get me wrong, I love learning all of the Sanskrit names… but in my head, most of them come out as “mumgbabasannaaaaa”. :lol: It gets really confusing, so many are so similar.

I’ll check out those links. Thanks again! I’ve really been enjoying my practice, and want to learn as much as I can about it.

#4

Dosn’t really matter… feel free to use the easier English names if you like…
When and if you delve deeper into traditional yoga you may feel compelled to use Sanskrit, i know many teachers that prefer it, but i generally stick to English names especially when teaching beginners…

#5

Fuzz - are you on a slackline in your picture? It’s hard to tell. I love slacklining, though it’s largely responsible for my knee surgery last year. In fact, it’s one of the reasons I wanted to start doing yoga, because I wasn’t able to do it for so long. My leg strength is getting better every day, and I can’t wait to try some acro-yoga on the line!

The only Sanskrit term I use regularly is Savasana. :smiley:
I think it will just take some time… there is so much to learn about the practice, aside from the asanas themselves.