KeyWords for yoga Part 1
Agni: Digestive and metabolic fire.
Ama: Poorly digested food material that accumulates in the body.
Ama Visha: An especially harmful, disease-promoting type of ama that contains highly reactive toxins.Amrit kalash:literally means “container of immortality”.
Ananda: Bliss or joy. In Indian philosophy of the Upanishads, Ananda was an important attribute of the supreme being, Brahman. “Bliss” was used to define Brahman and was also considered to be the highest state of the individual self.
Ananda Yoga: Ananda Yoga focuses on gentle postures designed to move the body’s energy to different organs and muscles, but primarily to the brain to prepare for meditation.
Antahkarana: The mind.
Antaratma: The inner self, residing in the heart.
Ardha Chandrasana: In Hatha Yoga, the Half-Moon posture.
Ardha Padmasana: In Hatha Yoga, the Half-Lotus posture.
Arjuna: The hero of the Indian epic Mahabharata, he was the friend and devotee of Lord Krishna, who revealed the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita to him on the eve of the battle.
Artha: Worldly wealth, the pursuit of wealth and social status.
Artharya Veda: “Knowledge of Incantations”, the fourth Veda.
Aryans: The migrant invaders of India from approximately 1500 b.c; people of spiritual values.
Asampranjata: The highest super-conscious state where the mind is completely stilled and Reality is experienced.
Asana: Originally an immobile body posture; a seat or sitting posture that was used for meditation and to help facilitate perfect concentration. Hatha yoga developed this practice into a series of asanas or postures.
Ashram: A spiritual settlement or community, a peaceful retreat. A place to meditate or study the philosophy of Yoga.
Ashramas: Nearly 2,000 years ago, the dharma texts described the four ashramas (stages of life). It taught that a man should first be a chaste student, then become a married householder who honors his ancestors by begetting sons, then devote himself to spiritual contemplation, and finally, become a homeless wandering ascetic.
Ashtanga: The eight parts or stages into which the sage Patanjali divided Yoga. He wrote a structural and functional analysis of the techniques, called the “Yoga Sutras” which to this day are still considered to be the single most definitive treatise on the subject.
Ashtanga Yoga: A Yoga regimen commonly know as “Power Yoga”, Ashtanga is a flowing practice in which the postures are linked together and are always done in the exact same sequence.
Asthi: One of the seven bodily constituents, mainly bone and bone metabolism.
Asthi Soshirya: Porous or brittle bones; osteoporosis.
Atmajnana: Knowledge of the Self.
Atman: The self as Spirit which is eternal and super-conscious; our true nature or identity, or spiritual essence. Sometimes a distinction is made between the atman as the individual self and the Parame-Atman, as the transcendental self
Atmiyata: The feeling of oneness.Avadhuta:An enlightened being who lives in a state beyond body-consciousness.
Avatar: A divine incarnation of God, usually incarnations of Vishnu and his wife Laksmi. Krishna and Rama are the two principal ones, while Buddha is considered the ninth avatar of Vishnu.
Ayurveda: A division of the Vedic literature that deals with health, literally “knowledge of the totality of life”. Originated in India approximately 3,000 years ago. It is still a favored form of health care in India. Ayurvedic medicine is both preventive and curative. The preventive part emphasizes the need for a strict code of personal and social hygiene. The curative aspect of Ayurvedic medicine involves the use of herbal medicines, Yoga, and diet.
Baba: A term of affection and respect for a saint or holy man.
Bala: Strength or immunity.
Bandha: Binding, a muscular lock.
Bandha Padmasana: The bound lotus posture
Basti: An herbal enema.
Bhagavad-Gîtâ: meaning “Song of God”, The epic poem Bhagavad Gita was spoken by Krishna, part of the 2000-year-old Sanskrit epic Mahabharata, is considered by many to be the most important text in the Hindu religion. The poem takes the form of a dialogue in which the god Krishna advises the human hero Prince Arjuna before a great battle. Krishna also talks about Sankhya and Yoga, two of the six orthodox Hindu schools of thought.
Bhagwan: One endowed with spiritual power, righteousness, knowledge, and renunciation. A term and title of great honor.
Bhakt: The path of devotion; an intense love of God. When a man gets it, he loves all, hates none; and becomes satisfied forever.
Bhakti Yoga: Bhakti Yoga is the practice of devotional disciplines. It is union through devotion.
Bhastra: Breath control. Hatha Yoga uses eight different kinds of breath control. Bhastra is one of them.
Bhranti Darshana: A delusion.
Bhuja: Arm or shoulder.
Bhujangasana: The cobra posture.
Bikram Yoga: A rigorous form of Yoga performed in a room heated to at least 95 degrees. Each posture in the sequence is designed to safely stretch and open the body, in preparation for the next posture.
Bindi: A mark (usually round and red), worn on the centre of the forehead to show that a woman is married, typically now a days it is worn as makeup.
Bodhi: Enlightenment; the pursuit of pure truth without any attachment. Prince Gautama, the Buddha sat under the Bodhi tree (actually a fig tree), determined to stay there until he experienced supreme enlightenment.
Bodhisattva: A being who has developed the aspiration to attain the state of Buddhahood and devotes his life to the task of achieving it for the sake of all sentient beings.
Brahma: As part of the Hindu Trinity of Vishnu and Shiva, Brahma is the creator of the Universe.
Brahmacharya: Literally means practicing conduct that leads one to God. Mostly it is used to describe self-restraint, especially over sexual desire, the first stage in the fourfold Hindu life cycle.
Brahmadvara: The opening where kundalini enters the spine.
Brahmanda Prana: Cosmic breath.
Brahmin: A priest or scholar; a member of the most privileged of the four social classes of Hinduism.
Brihaspati: The Hindu Deity of Wisdom; the chief of all the priests.
Buddha: The Awakened One – The honorary title of Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism who lived in the sixth century B.C. The name is also given to those who achieve true enlightenment and as a result, inner freedom.
Buddhi: Wisdom, the higher mind or intellect.
Chakra: Literally, the wheel of a wagon; it is a term used to represent the energetic centers of the body. In Hindu Yoga there are seven such centers that store and release life force (prana): the base of the spine, the genitals, the naval, the heart, the middle of the forehead, and the top of the head.
Chela: A pupil, as student who studies spirituality.
Chiti: The power of universal Consciousness; the creative aspect of God.
Chaitanya: The fundamental, all-pervasive, divine Consciousness. When used in reference to a mantra, the capacity to draw one’s mind spontaneously into meditative stillness.
Charaka Samhita: A classical text of Ayurveda.
Dahl: A small lentil.
Dakshina: An offering or gift to God or the Guru. Traditionally, when one seeks the teachings or blessings of a saint, one brings an offering; this act of giving invites grace. The practice of giving dakshina is an expression of gratitude and love for what has been received on the spiritual path.
Dalit: A person outside the class system of Hinduism who was formerly termed as Untouchable.
Dandayamana-Dhanurasana: Standing bow pulling posture, This posture frims the abdominal wall and upper thighs, and tightens upper arms, hips and buttocks.
Darshama: A visit to a great person, viewpoint or vision.Darshana:Visionary states or insight experienced during or after meditation. Literally “vision” or “sight”.
Daya: Compassion for all creatures.
Deva: Male deity; literally ‘shining one’.
Devi: Female deity.
Dharma: A term of many meanings, including “law”, “virtue”, and “righteousness”. In general,
dharma means the religious discipline for the four orders of life: maintaining celibacy and studying, family life, a devout and renounced life (but living with the spouse), and total renunciation for God realization.
Dharana: Concentration. The sixth limb of the Ashtanga or Raja Yoga system.
Dharma Sastra: Law Books forming part of the scriptures of Hinduism.Dhatu:One of seven divisions of the body, it correlates with the modern scientific concept of “tissue”.
Dhi: The mind’s ability to learn or acquire knowledge.
Dhriti: The mind’s ability to process and store what it has learned.
Dhyana: Meditation. The seventh limb of the Ashtanga or Raja Yoga system.
Dirgha Svasam: A comprehensive breathing technique in yoga.
Doshas: Three governing principles in nature that guide the functioning of the mind and body.
Dravidians: The oldest known inhabitants of the Indian subcontinent. Archeological remains of their civilization have been found in the Indus River Valley dating back to 2700 BCE. In some areas, the Dravidians were conquered by the Aryans when they migrated from the West around 1500 BC.
Durga: One of the wives of Shiva. She is the goddess of retribution and justice. She is both beautiful and fierce, and usually appears with eight arms carrying weapons and riding upon a tiger or a lion.
Eka: or Ek, meaning One, single.
Eka Pada Hastasana: The one leg posture.
Eka Pada Kakasana: The one leg crow posture.
Flow Yoga: Flow Yoga is about linking the breath with the pose. One moves from pose to pose in a smooth, easy manner, like Meditation in Motion and on a deeper level, as resistance is released and tension is shed, you flow with the present moment.
Gautama: Siddhartha Gautama abandoned a life of comfort as the son of a. local king and dedicated himself to finding a way to end human suffering. At first he was an extreme ascetic, but eventually found a “middle way” and finally, after meditating intensely under the bodhi tree, he had a vision of the entire cycle of birth and rebirth and with it a path of non-attachment that showed the way out of sorrow and suffering. With perfect enlightenment he became the Buddha.
Ganesha: An elephant-headed God, son of Shiva who takes away all obstacles and is the God of good fortune.
Ghee: Clarified butter.
Govinda: Another name for Krishna, who is also referred to as Gopala.
Granthi: Blockages of energy within the body. Literally, a “knot”. In order to experience self-realization, the knots must be released.
Grihastha: A person at the second of the four stages of life, the stage of the householder.
Gunam: Inner beauty.
Gunas: The three (raja, tamas, sattva) basic qualities of nature that determine the inherent characteristics of all created things. They are: purity, light, harmony and intelligence, activity and passion, and dullness, inertia and ignorance.Guru:A personal spiritual teacher or guide who has himself achieved spiritual insight. From at least the time of the Upanisads, India has stressed the importance of the tutorial method in religious instruction. Classically, the pupil lived at the home of his guru and served him with obedience and devotion.
Guru Gita: A sacred text consisting of mantras that describe the nature of the Guru, and the Guru-disciple relationship.
Gurukul: Traditional Hindu residential schools of learning; typically the teacher’s house or a monastery.
Hanuman: The monkey king, and one of the heroes of the Ramayana. He was devoted to Lord Rama, for whom he performed many acts of magic and daring.
Hatha: Force or overcoming will.
Hatha Yoga: A branch of Yoga, perhaps the most practiced style of Yoga, emphasizing the physical aspects of the spiritual path, with postures and breath control.
Hatha Yoga Pradipika: The oldest significant manuscript devoted specifically to the exposition of Hatha Yoga, which was not established as a separate form until sometime around 700 – 1000 B.C.
Hinduism: It is both a civilization and a community of religions; it has no beginning or founder, nor a central authority, hierarchy, or organization. Every attempt to define Hinduism has proved to be unsatisfactory in one way or another. It embraces one god and many gods, it is unique, but acknowledges many paths to one truth.
Hridayam: That which is especially nourishing and healing for the heart.
Indra: Vedic God of being or life.
Ishvara: Ishvara literally means “Lord of the Universe”. It is used to refer to a god who is seen as the personalization of the Creator Brahman.
Iyengar Yoga: This is probably the best known and widely practiced system of Hatha Yoga today. Iyengar is unique for its use of props such as cushions, straps, blankets and blocks to assist in doing the postures.
Jainism: Non-orthodox form of Vedic/Aryan teaching, emphasizing non-violence.
Japa: Reciting sacred texts, practiced verbally and mentally.
Jiva: Life. The individual soul; at one with the universal soul
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