The practices
Glossary — The Sanskrit words of the method, in plain language
The words of the method, most of them Sanskrit, are technical names: we keep them because they are precise, like Latin in anatomy. Here they are in plain words — what each one means in the tradition, and how to understand it without spiritual vocabulary. None of them asks you to believe anything: what we transmit are methods, which you practise and judge for yourself.
The words of the method
What the method trains, and the three doors it passes through: the body, the breath, the mind.
- Yoga
- “Union”: bringing body, mind, emotions and energy into coherence; alignment, inner stability. The founding text of the tradition defines it as the stilling of the mind’s agitation — a line in which the body does not even appear. The postures are a doorway into it, not the destination.
- Hatha Yoga haṭha yoga
- The physical foundation of yoga. Ha, the sun; tha, the moon: the tradition sees in them the balance of two poles within us, which can be understood as activation and calming. It is not gymnastics, but a preparation of the body that serves as the base for everything else; the five systems of classical yoga taught at the studio belong to it.
- Āsana asana
- Posture. Patañjali defines it in three words, sthira-sukham āsanam — steady, and at ease — and flexibility is not one of them. It is the first of the method’s three doors: the body, the part of the system that answers at once.
- Prāṇāyāma pranayama
- The guiding of the breath, the method’s second door. Of our vital rhythms, the breath is the only one both automatic and voluntary: through it we can act on what usually escapes us, such as the rhythm of the heart or the level of alarm. Prāṇāyāma is practised as a system, not as a technique. The practice: Prāṇāyāma
- Prāṇa prana
- Vital energy: the energy that body, mind and emotions all draw on. In everyday language: vitality, vigour. High and steady, it makes the rest of the system run better.
- Dhyāna dhyana
- Meditation: attention worked on for its own sake, the method’s third door. Rather than fighting thoughts, which only feeds them, attention is given a single point to rest on — a breath, a sound — until it stays there without effort.
- Kriya kriyā
- A structured technique that combines breath, posture and attention; the word appears in the names Surya Kriya and Isha Kriya. Kriya is also the fourth path, the path of inner action, for energy, which it works on directly through the breath.
- Sādhanā sadhana
- Regular practice: a personal discipline, kept up day to day. What counts is not the length but the regularity — a few minutes every day do more than a long session now and then.
- Mandala maṇḍala
- A cycle of forty to forty-eight consecutive days of daily practice, some six to seven weeks — about the time a new alignment needs to settle, and a habit to take root. The changes practitioners report appear over the course of this cycle.
The four paths
One path for each dimension of the system — the mind, the body, the emotions, energy — and each of us is a mixture of the four; Kriya, the fourth, is described above.
- Gnana jñāna
- The path of intelligence, for the mind. It does not ask the mind to fall silent, but to be accurate: it is the path of discernment, which separates what is observed from what memory adds to it.
- Karma
- The path of action, for the body: action done fully, without hanging on its result. The tradition also uses the word to mean memory, which can be understood as the conditioning, habits and automatic patterns inherited from the past.
- Bhakti
- The path of the heart, for the emotions: work through drive and meaning, which the tradition also calls devotion. In the classical reading, emotion is a force, not a flaw. Bhakti does not suppress it; it gives it a direction.
The names of the practices
The names of the practices themselves, and what they mean; most of them have their own page.
- Upa Yoga
- Upa means “under”, “semi”: a pre-yoga, where you begin. Simple movements that mobilise the joints and restore circulation, with no prior condition required — no flexibility, no equipment, no belief. The practice: Upa Yoga
- Angamardana aṅgamardana
- “Mastery of the limbs”: a strengthening system using body weight and momentum, with no equipment, lasting about twenty-five minutes. It works the ligaments and tendons rather than muscle mass, and fits in two square metres. The practice: Angamardana
- Surya Kriya sūrya kriyā
- Surya, the sun: the original solar sequence. Breath-synchronised and of exacting bodily geometry, it is the complete form of which the familiar sun salutation is a simplification. The practice: Surya Kriya
- Surya Namaskar sūrya namaskāra
- The “sun salutation”: a simplified, more accessible version of Surya Kriya, which combines physical fitness with an inner dimension. The tradition counts it among the practices for aligning with the sun, a source of energy. The practice: Surya Kriya
- Yogāsana yogasana, Yogāsanas
- Of the countless possible postures, the tradition singles out eighty-four, the yogāsanas, which it presents as ways of aligning the body. Held slowly and consciously, without forcing or comparison, linked to the breath, they are not stretching, and not a competition. The practice: Yogāsanas
- Bhūta Shuddhi bhuta shuddhi, bhūta śuddhi
- Bhūta, the elements; shuddhi, purification. A foundational yogic process: the tradition describes the body as made of five elements — earth, water, fire, air, space — and this practice as their purification. It can be understood as everyday habits: a conscious relationship to water, food, air, light and space. The practice: Bhūta Shuddhi
- Miracle of Mind
- A seven-minute guided meditation, to begin with. It is the first of the two guided practices you can take anywhere; Isha Kriya follows on from it. The practice: Guided meditations
- Isha Kriya
- A twelve-minute guided meditation, based on the breath and a simple intention. It follows on from Miracle of Mind, so that practice becomes part of every day. The practice: Guided meditations
- Nāda nada, Nāda Yoga
- Sound. Nāda Yoga is the yoga of sound, which uses sound for its vibration rather than its meaning, to settle attention and concentration. The practice: Nāda Yoga & AUMkar
- AUM
- The three fundamental sounds, a-u-m, joined into one and used for their vibration, not their meaning. AUMkar is the conscious use of this sound, taught with Nāda Yoga. The practice: Nāda Yoga & AUMkar
- Mantra
- A sound used for its vibration, such as AUM. A mantra works through the vibration of sound, not as a sentence to be believed; it can be understood as using sound and vibration to bring about calm and concentration.
The words of the tradition
Words you come across when reading about yoga: we say what the tradition means by them, then how to understand them in plain terms, without claiming anything more.
- Nāḍī nadi; Ida, Pingala, Sushumna
- The tradition describes nāḍī, among them Iḍā, Piṅgalā and Suṣumṇā. They can be understood as channels through which vitality circulates: Iḍā and Piṅgalā, the balance between activation and recovery; Suṣumṇā, a deep inner stability. We make no claim about their anatomy.
- Chakra cakra
- The tradition describes chakras in the body, and counts seven of them, or a hundred and fourteen. They can be understood as points of regulation — “regulation centres” — with no claim made about their anatomy.
- Kuṇḍalinī kundalini
- A word from the tradition; it can be understood as untapped potential for vitality, a person’s capacity for development.
- Ānanda ananda
- The tradition’s word for bliss; it can be understood as a state of deep wellbeing, a lasting serenity.
- Guru
- The tradition’s word for the master; it can be understood as an experienced teacher who passes a practice on directly. The aim of that transmission is not dependence: it is for each person to learn to align themselves.
- Initiation
- The tradition’s word for the transmission of a practice; it can be understood as transmission and guidance by a teacher. The way a practice is transmitted is inseparable from the practice itself: that is why its full form is learnt in person.
- Adiyogi Ādiyogī
- The founding figure the tradition places at the origin of yoga, and associates with Shiva. The figure can be understood as symbolic: the mythological origin of the yogic tradition.
- Yoga Sūtra Yoga Sutras
- The aphorisms of Patañjali, the founding text of the tradition. Only one of them concerns posture: sthira-sukham āsanam, “posture: steady, and at ease” (II.46).