Lost In Translation

Have you ever gone to a yoga class or a yoga studio where the teacher is walking around the room and calls out Utthita Padangusthasana? At which point you have a total blank, then proceed to casually look around, shrug your shoulders - maybe even panic for a moment and then copy what someone else is doing in the class? Yep. We’ve ALL been thee and done it! In fact I am certain there are new breed of yoga teachers graduating from trainings all around the world that wouldn’t have a clue about the use and importance of language in their yoga classes and even in their teacher trainings.

At first, SANSKRIT language may sound unfamiliar and even unpleasing our ears - it’s a dialect that has been around for centuries and is it’s this language that gives life to the many yoga asanas we’ve come to know, to love and also to loathe at times. Sanskrit dates back to the Vedic period around 1200 BC - the same period that some of the yogic texts, history and philosophies first started to appear, so there’s more to these postures than just names - they are quite literally a part of history.

SO much of yoga has changed and evolved since then and alot of it for the better, especially today as so much of the techniques and practices are being recognised by modern science while the asana is also evolving as we learn more about the anatomy of the human body, the brain and the interplay of our hormones, emotions and wellbeing in a broader spectrum.

But at the ROOT of yoga is the language, the mythology and the story that has been passed down for centuries; I feel it’s my duty as a yoga teacher to pay homage and respect to these traditions by incorporating as much of the SANSKRIT names into my classes and sequencing as I can. At my first yoga teacher training in 2009, I remember looking at the words on the pages and thinking there was NO WAY I would ever remember the names but surprisingly with practice…they have became a normal part of my vocabulary. And one that I feel proud to share.

A few years ago in Spain I walked into a yoga studio - no one there spoke English - NO ONE - even managing to pay for the class was a struggle! But I really wanted to do a class. I managed to pay and set up my mat in the tiny but beautiful space. There was a Dharma talk with lot’s of hand gesturing and then once we started to move - my ears became aware of that oh so familiar sound…SANSKRIT: Ananda Balasana (aka Blissful Baby). There I was amongst strangers in a foreign country doing what I love most in the world and those words were music to my ears. I could have cried. I truly felt at one with every other person in that room - even if I didn’t know the cues in between, I knew the asanas. It was one of those experiences where you remember just how powerful the simplicity of something is. The root word of yoga in Sanskrit is ‘yuj’ to yoke or join - by connecting to the language this practice becomes so much more than just striking a pose - it’s an expression - one that is unique to each of us, but one that also brings us together.

And so next time you’re in a yoga class and there’s a name being called out perhaps you’ll have an appreciation or even a sense of curiosity about it’s origins. We cover an entire lecture on the Sanskrit language in our 200 HOUR YTT, and our trainees are encouraged to embrace the unfamiliar - that is after all what yoga offers us.

I’ll be sharing some of the asana names, their mythology and story in upcoming blogs - so stay tuned!