Glossary
Terms used on this site
IAST and Devanāgarī. Scholarly labels for practice objects. Not a wellness dictionary.
- आसन āsana
- Seat, then posture. YS 2.46 defines the seat (sthira-sukham āsanam); classroom shapes are later and mixed (Bryant 2009).
- प्राणायाम prāṇāyāma
- A named practice object in yoga and haṭha sources. On this site it is never renamed “breathwork.” Technique, locus, adhikāra, contraindications.
- योग निद्रा yoga nidrā
- A labeled teaching object. Satyananda popularisation ≠ tantric nyāsa ≠ iRest. Never NSDR. See the yoga nidrā hub.
- यम yama
- Restraints. Five in the Yoga Sūtra list (YS 2.30). Practice objects, not a brand values poster. Yama and niyama.
- नियम niyama
- Observances. Five in the Yoga Sūtra list (YS 2.32).
- हठ haṭha
- A medieval yoga literature and method family. Cite an edition (Mallinson; hathapradipika.online 2024). Not “forceful fitness.”
- अधिकार adhikāra
- Readiness / qualification for a practice. Knowledge pages are not initiation.
- vinyasa krama
- One unmerged Path track: breath-linked sequencing (Krishnamacharya / Ramaswami). Not a smoothie, not pilates.
- Alignment
- One unmerged Path track. Props, hold timers, sequenced alignment. Not a certified listing.
- Ashtanga
- Series as a curriculum object. Gate first: harm disclosure. Not a 5,000-year sequence.
- IAST / Devanāgarī
- Scholarly transliteration and the Indian script. Pose records stack Devanāgarī → IAST → English. Hindi is a locale, not chrome.
- practice_layer
- A tag on the pose record: classical-seated, medieval-hatha, modern-postural, mixed. It is a citation aid, not a purity rank.