Most Sanskrit posture names are plain descriptions. Trikonasana is triangle pose, trikona, triangle, plus asana, posture. Adho mukha svanasana is downward-facing dog: adho, down; mukha, face; svana, dog. Once you know that asana means posture and that the rest is usually a noun, the whole vocabulary becomes much less mysterious.
Whether a teacher uses them is a matter of training and taste. You do not need to learn any of them to practise well.
Why they are used at all
Three reasons, in rough order of honesty.
They are the names. The postures were named in Sanskrit by the traditions that named them, in the same way that ballet positions are named in French and musical directions in Italian. Nobody thinks a pianist playing andante is making a religious statement.
They are unambiguous. English posture names are not standardised. What one teacher calls half moon another calls something else; the Sanskrit is more stable across schools and across countries. If you practise with teachers in different places, the Sanskrit is the shared vocabulary.
They signal lineage. This one is real and worth being honest about. Using Sanskrit indicates that a teacher was taught in a tradition that used it. It is also, sometimes, used decoratively by teachers to imply a depth of training that is not there. A few Sanskrit words in a fitness class do not make it a traditional practice.
What they are not
They are not prayers, and they are not invocations. A posture name is a noun.
This comes up often enough to be worth stating directly, because people sometimes assume that Sanskrit in a class is religious content. Chanting is religious in origin; naming a triangle "triangle" is not. Our fuller answer on the religious question is here.
The small vocabulary that does most of the work
If you want a foothold rather than a glossary, about ten words cover most of what you will hear.
Asana, posture. The suffix on nearly every name. Adho, downward. Urdhva, upward. Mukha, face. Eka, one. Pada, foot or leg. Hasta, hand. Utthita, extended. Supta, reclining. Parivrtta, revolved, meaning a twisted version. Prasarita, spread wide.
With those, utthita trikonasana parses as extended triangle posture, and parivrtta trikonasana as the revolved version of it. Most names in a general class are combinations of a dozen or so such words.
You will also meet pranayama (breath regulation), drishti (gaze point), and savasana (the lying-down posture at the end. Sava means corpse, which is why teachers sometimes avoid translating it).
Does any of it help your practice?
Marginally, and not in the way people expect.
Knowing that parivrtta means revolved tells you what a teacher is about to ask for half a second earlier. Knowing that a name is descriptive removes the sense that there is a hidden layer you are not being let into. Neither of these will change your hips.
What genuinely helps is being told what a shape is for, which is a different question from what it is called. A good teacher answers that one whether or not they use the Sanskrit.
In a one-to-one you can simply ask for English names, or for Sanskrit if you want to learn them because you also attend classes elsewhere. Neither request is unusual.
Questions people ask
Do I need to memorise Sanskrit posture names?
No. They are useful if you move between teachers or studios and want a shared vocabulary, and entirely optional otherwise. Ask your teacher to use English names if you prefer.
Is using Sanskrit in a class a religious act?
Not in itself. Posture names are descriptive nouns. Chanting and invocations are a separate matter, are religious in origin, and are optional in any session.
Why do different teachers use different names for the same shape?
Because English names were never standardised and different schools translated differently. The Sanskrit is more consistent, which is one of the practical arguments for using it.
What does savasana mean, and why is it the last posture?
It translates as corpse posture, and it is the few minutes of stillness at the end. In the older scheme of the practice it is not a cool-down but closer to the point of the session. The part where the attention work happens. A class that drops it because time ran out has cut something load-bearing.
A senior yoga teacher at IndieVeda, teaching one-to-one sessions live from India.
More about IndieVeda Yoga Teacher and their other articles →