Ahimsa, the first yama
What ahimsa means, why the Yoga Sutras place it first among the yamas, how Jain, Buddhist and Hindu teaching shaped it, and how it looks on the mat today.
Yoga philosophy, in plain English
The words you hear in a yoga class have a history. These pages explain what they mean, where they come from, and how they show up in a practice today.
Ashtanga yoga
Ashtanga yoga explained: the eight limbs from the Yoga Sutras, and the Ashtanga Vinyasa method of set sequences, breath, bandhas and gaze taught today.
The Bhagavad Gita and yoga
The Bhagavad Gita and yoga: what the text is, the story it tells, the paths of action, knowledge and devotion it teaches, and why yoga students read it.
Bhakti yoga
What bhakti yoga is, where it comes from in the Bhagavad Gita, how devotion shows up in chanting and practice today, and how it can come up in a lesson.
Chakras
Where the chakra system comes from, the seven chakras as later tantric and hatha texts describe them, and how modern yoga culture changed the picture.
What dharma means
What dharma means in Sanskrit, from cosmic order and duty in Hindu texts to the teaching of the Buddha, and what svadharma asks of you in the Bhagavad Gita.
The eight limbs of yoga
The eight limbs of yoga from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, one by one: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi, explained.
Hatha yoga
What hatha yoga means, where it comes from, what the Hatha Yoga Pradipika teaches, and what a hatha class looks like in a studio or private lesson today.
History of yoga
A plain history of yoga: the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Yoga Sutras, the hatha manuals, and how posture classes spread around the world.
Jnana yoga
Jnana yoga explained: the yoga of knowledge and self-inquiry, its roots in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, and how it shows up in a modern practice.
What karma means
What karma means in Sanskrit, how Hindu, Buddhist and Jain teaching read it, why it is not fate or punishment, and how it sits in a yoga practice.
Karma yoga
Karma yoga is the yoga of selfless action. Where it comes from in the Bhagavad Gita, what it asks of you day to day, and how it can come up in a lesson.
Kundalini yoga
Kundalini yoga explained plainly: what the word means, where it appears in the tantric and hatha texts, and how the modern style reached the West in 1969.
What the lotus flower means
What the lotus flower means in Hindu and Buddhist art and texts, why it rises clean from mud, and how the image lives on in yoga, from Padmasana to chakras.
What a mantra is
What the word mantra means, where mantras come from in the Vedas and in Buddhist practice, how they are chanted or repeated, and how one can fit a lesson.
Mudra
What mudra means, where yoga hand gestures come from in Indian ritual, art and the hatha texts, the common mudras in class, and how they fit a lesson.
Namaste meaning
What namaste means, word by word, where the greeting comes from, why yoga classes end with it, and how the gesture is used in a private lesson today.
Om mani padme hum
What om mani padme hum means, where the six-syllable Buddhist mantra comes from, why jewel in the lotus is only one reading, and how it is chanted today.
Om meaning
What om means, how the Upanishads and Yoga Sutras describe it, what the three sounds A-U-M stand for, and why many yoga classes chant it to begin or end.
Prana, breath and life
What prana means in Sanskrit, how the Upanishads and hatha texts describe breath and life force, the five vayus and nadis, and how it relates to breath work.
Pranayama
What pranayama means, how the Yoga Sutras and hatha texts describe yogic breathing, common techniques today, and plain safety notes before you try it.
Raja yoga
Raja yoga, the royal path of meditation, explained: its link to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, the eight limbs, and how it shows up in a modern practice.
Samadhi, the eighth limb
What samadhi means in the Yoga Sutras, the eighth limb and its stages, how Buddhist teaching uses the word, and what a beginner takes from it.
Sanskrit yoga glossary
A plain Sanskrit yoga glossary: namaste, om, chakra, pranayama, the eight limbs and the Sanskrit names of the poses, each in one line, with links.
Shanti and om shanti
What shanti means in Sanskrit, where om shanti shanti shanti comes from in the Upanishads, why peace is said three times, and how it closes a yoga class.
The third eye, or ajna
What the third eye means in yoga: ajna, the sixth chakra between the eyebrows, its place in Hindu and Buddhist art, the pineal gland idea, and practice today.
Types of yoga
The main types of yoga compared: Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Iyengar, Yin, Restorative, Kundalini, hot yoga, prenatal and postpartum, and who each one suits.
What is yoga?
What yoga means, from the Sanskrit root yuj to the Yoga Sutras, how the classical idea became today's posture classes, and what it means in a lesson.
Yamas and niyamas
The five yamas and five niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, what each word means, where they sit in the eight limbs, and how they show up on a mat today.
Yoga quotes from two classical texts
Ten yoga quotes from the Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras in public-domain translations, each quoted exactly, credited, and paired with a practical note.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
What the word sutra means, what the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are, how the four chapters are arranged, when it was written, and how to start reading it.
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