The Language of Yoga
By Paul Jerard, E-RYT 500
Q: When I first received, and started reading, the materials in the Intro course, I was really overwhelmed by all the Sanskrit terms in the “Heart of Yoga” and set it aside for a while. Recently, I’ve been reading it again and finding a wealth of information in the book.
I have completed most of the twenty questions for the Intro course and wonder if I’ll ever really master all the Sanskrit in yoga. Many of the terms have deep, more complex meanings that cannot be defined with a single English synonym.
Also, when reading the “Heart of Yoga” a single sentence might have more than one Sanskrit term in it. I feel like I need to commit time to memorizing all the terms but that feels like such a huge undertaking.
I have connected with a local yoga instructor and I’m participating in yoga classes twice per week. I discussed my frustration with the Sanskrit with my yoga instructor and she gave me the book, The Language of Yoga.
This book looks like a great resource, though I haven’t started reading it or listening to the CD’s yet. I’m wondering if you have any thoughts on using “The Language of Yoga” and learning Sanskrit.
A: My guess is your past teachers did not explain Sanskrit in class. Sanskrit is a distant relative of Latin, but the words do have deep meanings. The more exposure you have, the more comfortable you will be. It’s not so much memorization, as devoting yourself toward becoming comfortable with research.
Please consider the following solutions. The Language of Yoga is a good resource, but you should run the CDs up to track 9 to get past the chanting and focus on words or phrases. It is much easier to learn a language when you focus on single words first.
We also have an online forum for Sanskrit translations:
http://www.yoga-teacher-training.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=2
The Yoga teachers on the forums are very friendly and are happy to help.
© Copyright 2009 – Paul Jerard / Aura Publications
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