If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while, it’s likely you’ve heard Sanskrit words before, perhaps in class, on a teacher training programme, or whilst exploring yogic texts like the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or the Bhagavad Gita.
Beyond the words however, do you know what they mean or where they come from? Whilst some yoga classes opt for using English words for postures and poses, others may include names like Vrikshasana (tree pose), Suryanamaskar (sun salutations) or the mantra Aum, which are thousands of years old. Whether you’re familiar with Sanskrit sounds, or you’ve always wondered about those strange words your teacher uses, there’s a lot to learn about this rich and fascinating language.
Sanskrit is one of the world’s oldest languages, originating in India over 5000 years ago, when it existed as a purely oral tradition. Like many ancient languages, Sanskrit was passed down for years as a spoken language, with stories and teachings learned via repetition and memorisation, instead of reading and writing. Around 5000 years ago, Sanskrit was committed to writing, and texts such as the ancient Vedas and the Mahabharata were born. The word Veda means ‘knowledge’, or ‘storehouse of knowledge’, and the four Vedic texts of the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, Sama-Veda and Atharva-Veda were all written in Sanskrit between 1500 and 900 BCE. These texts are important, because they’re the oldest scriptures in Hinduism, and went on to influence the yoga and meditation practices we know today. In order to remember the words, most verses of the Vedas would be spoken in a rhythmic, poem-like form, whilst the Sama-Veda was sung using elaborate harmonies.
Ancient Origins & Modern Migrations
When you start exploring Sanskrit, you may notice some similarities between the ancient words and modern English. This is because Sanskrit has influenced languages across the world, and is the root of many words used today. Dr Matthew Clark is based in Brighton, UK, and has been a research associate at the London School of Oriental and African studies since 2004, as well as having taught Hinduism, and lecturing on countless yoga teacher training courses across the world. He may have even spoken on a course you’ve taken!
“Almost all languages from Western and Southern Europe and India are in the same language family, known as the Indo-European family. A more complex version of Sanskrit was brought from central Asia to India starting in 1600 BC, and migrated from there to Europe over time.” Despite the assumption that Sanskrit was used solely for mystical rituals and rites, it was actually a common spoken language, and used for all manner of texts from poetry to astrology, maths and medicine.
So, is Sanskrit easy to learn? It seems the answer is no… “Sanskrit is a very complicated language” says Dr Clark, “in two or three words you can say a lot, so by changing just one letter the meaning of the whole sentence can change”. If you’re imagining people thousands of years ago conversing via caveman-like sounds, think again; “Sanskrit is complicated because it’s very old. The older languages are historically, the more complex they are. As time goes on, languages get simpler and simpler. When speaking English, we use a smaller vocabulary than we did years ago and simpler grammar.” If you want a quick reference for Sanskrit words, books like the Illustrated Yoga Dictionary are a valuable resource.
Whilst Sanskrit is indeed a practical and widely utilised language, there are many who value its more spiritual and subtle aspects. Vick Storrm is a Sussex-based yoga teacher and teacher of Vedic Astrology, born into Hindu culture. He speaks Gujarati at home, and has been immersed in the practices of yoga from a young age. “Yoga is such a broad term, and a Sanskrit term. It’s really pronounced ‘yog’, meaning to ‘connect’ or ‘unite’, but has come to mean something entirely different now. If you look at the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita, there are many types of ‘yoga’, which really means ‘many ways to have a spiritual connection’.”
Sanskrit Today
Today, Sanskrit is rarely spoken other than within a few villages in India who have preserved it orally, after a history of having been traditionally passed down from generation to generation. As traditions seem to disintegrate throughout the world however, the passing down of languages and knowledge is becoming lost, which means the traditions they’re related to such as yoga and meditation are changing too.
Vick says that if you want to deepen a yoga practice to a philosophical level, then Sanskrit is an important part of it. “If you want to help the tradition of yoga survive, it’s important to use the Sanskrit words. Sanskrit helps us understand asanas (the yoga postures) in a historical way.” Postures like ‘warrior pose, ‘child’s pose’ and ‘chair pose’ are often used in class, whilst their Sanskrit translations Virabhadrasana, Balasana and Utkatasana hold meanings that could help us understand and therefore practice the postures in an entirely different way. “Virabhadrasana comes from the martial arts of India, and ancient archery too” says Vick. If each yoga practitioner knew this, might it deepen their experience of practicing it?
Putting it Into Practice
If you want to start learning Sanskrit to deepen your yoga and meditation practice, or get acquainted with Eastern traditions, it’s useful to begin by learning the sounds of the alphabet. There are countless videos online to learn from, but chanting mantras with a mala can help you both practice and absorb the feeling of Sanskrit sounds. Try chanting the mantra ‘Om’ or ‘AUM’, which is said to be the primordial sound from which the whole universe was created. Chanting ‘AUM’ also invigorates the chakra system (subtle energetic points and channels within us) and represents a divine connection to past, present and future, as well as mind, body and spirit.
Listen out for these Sanskrit words in your next yoga class:
Yoga: From the root word ‘yuj’ meaning to ‘yoke’, or ‘connect’. ‘Yoga’ doesn’t just refer to the physical practice. There are many types of yoga such as Karma yoga (The yoga of selfless service), Bhakti yoga (the yoga of devotion) and Raja yoga (meditation). When using the word ‘yoga’, it can refer to any or all aspects of meditation, movement or mantra.
Asana: Originally referring to the ‘seat’ one takes for meditation, now used as the word ‘posture’.
Pranayama: This is the word used to describe the various breathing techniques used throughout a yoga practice. The word prana refers to ‘life force energy’, similar to the word Qi, whilst the word yama means to direct or control. In this sense, we may understand a pranayama practice to involve directing and controlling energy away from distractions, and onto the body, breath and mind.
Suryanamaskar: Commonly known as the ‘sun salutations’, this practice is often used at the beginning of a physical yoga class to warm up the body. The word surya means sun (both the physical sun, and the Hindu god of the sun) and namaskar means ‘to greet’ or ‘to revere’. There are many different forms of sun salutations; classical, A and B. Ashtanga yoga sequences often include them.
