It might seem like you’ll never manage to learn the names of all the yoga pose names — and that might be true, because there are thousands upon thousands of poses and variations. But you will learn a lot of them (even in Sanskrit!) as you continue your practice.
Here’s where it gets confusing: some poses are known by several different names, depending upon the yoga style or tradition and the teacher. My yoga teacher, Yogrishi Vishvketu, spent five years putting together this book, Yogasana (affiliate link), to clarify more than 800 yoga pose names and meanings. Now that I’ve completed my 500 hours of yoga teacher training with Vishva, I’m re-committing to using these yoga pose names, even though for the past few years I’ve fallen into some mainstream naming habits (even in my book! — another affiliate link).
Tadasana: Palm Tree Pose
Often called mountain pose in your typical yoga class, this is the pose where we stand tall with our arms by our sides. It translates not to mountain pose, but to palm tree pose.
Candrakalasana: Moon Phase Pose
More often called ardhacandrasana (which is something else–see below), moon phase is one of my favorite balancing poses:
Ardhacandrasana: Half Moon Pose
Pronounced with a “ch” sound, the photo below shows ardhacandrasana. Candrasana is moon pose, with both hands together above the head.
Parvatasana: Mountain Pose
Uh, oh. I know this is confusing. You know this one as downward dog, or adho mukha svanasana, but downward dog is actually a little bit different: in true downward dog, the forehead touches the floor. The pose we often call downward dog, and what I’m doing in this picture, is parvatasana.
But. You will hear it called downward dog unless you’re in one of my classes. (Sometimes I still slip up, since I got in the habit of calling it downward dog, too!).
Cetakasana: Horse Pose
I often refer to this as low lunge in my classes, but its proper name is cetakasana. It’s pronounced with a “ch” sound at the beginning.
What other names have you heard for these poses?
For more Yoga Vocabulary, see these:
Yoga Vocabulary 1: Non-English Words