144 Fun Facts About Yoga

Yoga took shape among wandering Śramaṇa ascetics, whose movement also produced Jainism and what other world religion?

Buddhism: its founder is said to have lived as a wandering ascetic, starving himself alongside five companions, before rejecting such extremes for a 'middle way' between indulgence and self-denial.

Which sage is traditionally credited with compiling the Yoga Sutras?

Patanjali is also the name on a famous commentary on Sanskrit grammar; tradition makes the two authors one sage, but many scholars doubt that the same man wrote both.

Which Sanskrit word names a sound, word or phrase repeated to focus the mind in meditation?

Mantra: repeating one, often counted off on a string of prayer beads, is a practice called japa, and the habit gave English its everyday sense of a slogan someone repeats endlessly.

Kundalini is described as a coiled serpent resting where?

Kundalini rests at the base of the spine, coiled in the muladhara, the root centre; practice is said to rouse it and send it upward through six centres to the seventh.

Whom did K. Pattabhi Jois claim to have learnt his system from?

T. Krishnamacharya gave a lecture and demonstration that Jois watched as a boy of 12; he asked for lessons and began the next day, later crediting Krishnamacharya with the breath-linked system he taught in Mysore.

Which slow style of long-held floor poses did martial artist Paulie Zink begin teaching in the late 1970s?

Yin Yoga: Zink, a martial arts champion, originated the art; a student of his later popularised a beginner's portion of it, and the teacher Sarah Powers gave the style the name it now carries.

What is the literal translation of the Sanskrit greeting 'Namaste,' commonly used in yoga classes?

Namaste means 'I bow to you': namas (bow, obeisance) plus te (to you). The sense is that the same self is present in greeter and greeted.

What does the Sanskrit word 'mudra' literally mean?

Seal is the literal sense; in hatha yoga a mudra is a hold meant to seal breath and vital energy inside the body, while the hand shapes of dance and ritual share the name as 'gestures'.

Modern postural yoga is largely a blend of medieval hatha technique and what?

Modern postural yoga blends medieval hatha technique with Western physical culture, the gymnastics and bodybuilding drills absorbed in early 20th-century India. The older form aimed at meditation and release, not fitness.

What is the name for a secluded spiritual retreat in India where students live and study yoga with a teacher?

Ashram: for a place of retreat the name is unexpectedly strenuous, coming from a Sanskrit root that means 'to toil' or to practise austerity.

What is the Sanskrit name for the "Mountain Pose," a foundational standing posture in yoga?

Tadasana, from tada, 'mountain', looks like simply standing, but teachers call it the cornerstone of the standing poses: the balance and alignment found here carry into the rest.

Which of the five yamas, the ethical restraints of classical yoga, means non-violence?

Ahimsa, non-violence, is the first of the five yamas, alongside satya, asteya, brahmacharya and aparigraha; commentators treat it as the root restraint the other four exist to perfect.

Which yoga style is practiced in a room heated to around 105°F (40°C)?

Bikram yoga, devised by Bikram Choudhury, is practised in a room heated to about 105°F (40°C) with 40% humidity; he fixed the posture sequence and franchised the result worldwide.

What is the Sanskrit term for yogic breathing exercises and techniques?

Pranayama is more than a lung exercise in the old texts: the Yoga Sutras offer the measured sending out and holding of the breath as one way to settle a restless mind.

Which breathing technique slightly narrows the throat so that each breath makes a soft hiss?

Ujjayi means 'victorious'; the sound is the point, since listening to it helps the practitioner slow the breath and keeps attention from wandering.

Which sacred syllable, chanted in yoga and meditation, stands for universal consciousness?

Om, in the Yoga Sutras, is the word that expresses Ishvara, the lord, so the text prescribes repeating it and dwelling on its meaning as a practice in itself.

In the name of one branch of yoga, what does the Sanskrit word 'haṭha' literally mean?

Haṭha literally means 'force'; the popular sun (ha) and moon (ṭha) reading is a later gloss, and the medieval texts point at forceful physical technique.

Roughly how many linked asanas make up the Salute to the Sun?

Twelve linked positions make up the standard Sun Salutation; the Raja of Aundh popularised the sequence in the 1920s, and it was first recorded as yoga only in the early 20th century.

How many 'limbs' make up the classical yoga path set out in the Yoga Sutras, running from restraint to absorption?

Eight limbs: posture, which fills a modern class, is only the third, and the path ends in samadhi, a state of complete meditative absorption.

In yogic philosophy, what are the energy centres said to lie along the spine called, the best-known scheme counting seven?

Chakras: seven is no fixed ancient count; medieval texts teach systems of five, six and more, and the seven best known today follow one sixteenth-century treatise, put into English in The Serpent Power.

In the Yoga Sutras, what does vairagya mean, the quality paired with sustained practice?

Non-attachment: the Sutras define it as mastery over the thirst for pleasure; it is an inner state, not a matter of abandoning things, so it can be practised in the midst of family life and work.

Ustrasana, a kneeling backbend, takes its name from which animal?

Camel: ustra is the Sanskrit word for the animal. Kneeling, the practitioner arches back to grasp the heels; teachers warn against flopping into it, which dumps the bend into the neck and lower back.

Which Indian prime minister proposed the International Day of Yoga at the United Nations?

Narendra Modi proposed it in his 2014 address to the UN General Assembly, suggesting 21 June because it is the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere; the Assembly adopted the day that December.

Which limb of classical yoga is the withdrawal of the senses?

Pratyahara, withdrawal of the senses, is the fifth limb; the classic image, from the Bhagavad Gita, is a tortoise drawing its limbs back inside its shell.

Which style did K. Pattabhi Jois popularise in the twentieth century?

Ashtanga Yoga is traditionally taught 'Mysore style': each student works through the memorised sequence at their own pace while the teacher moves round the room adjusting them one by one.

The Sanskrit word 'sutra', as in the Yoga Sutras, literally means what?

Thread: the name pictures terse sayings strung together, and it is a distant cousin of the English words 'sew' and 'suture', all descended from one ancient root.

Which yoga pose, often performed at the end of a session, is known as 'Corpse Pose'?

Savasana is first described in the 15th-century Hatha Yoga Pradipika, which says lying like a corpse removes tiredness and calms the mind; teachers add that truly letting go is harder than it looks.

What does the Sanskrit word 'prana' primarily refer to in yoga philosophy?

Life force: the texts picture it flowing through a network of subtle channels in the body, and many yogic practices are meant to clear those channels and steer the flow.

Which asana, done lying face down, lifts the chest into a gentle backbend?

Cobra Pose is Bhujangasana, from bhujanga, 'snake': the lifted head and chest copy a cobra rearing up with its hood spread, the back half of the body staying on the ground like the tail.

Which US state banned yoga in its public schools for nearly three decades before lifting the ban in 2021?

Alabama's school board banned yoga along with hypnosis and meditation in 1993; the 2021 law that lifted the ban still requires English names for poses and forbids chanting and the greeting 'namaste'.

Sarvangasana, the 'all-limbs pose', is commonly known in English as which pose?

Shoulderstand: the whole body balances upright on the shoulders, and many teachers slip folded blankets under them so the bend is not forced into the neck.

Which yoga style emphasises flowing movements synchronised with the breath?

Vinyasa Yoga pairs each movement with an inhale or an exhale; the linking moves were borrowed from the Sun Salutation, whose flowing steps were strung between the held poses.

What does the Sanskrit word 'chakra' literally mean?

Wheel (or circle) is the literal meaning, and the resemblance is no accident: the Sanskrit word and the English words 'wheel' and 'cycle' all descend from the same ancient root.

Tree pose belongs to which category of asana?

Balancing: Tree Pose is held on one leg, like the ascetic doing penance in the great rock relief at Mahabalipuram, where even a cat is carved copying his one-legged stance.

Padmasana, the classic cross-legged meditation seat, is known in English as which pose?

Lotus Pose: each foot rests on the opposite thigh. Forcing the legs into it is a classic way to hurt the knees, so teachers tell students to turn the leg from the hip instead.

Utkatasana, a standing pose with bent knees and raised arms, is known in English as what?

Chair Pose is the English name only: utkata is Sanskrit for 'fierce' or 'powerful', which is why some teachers call it Fierce Pose.

How do the Yoga Sutras define a good asana?

Yoga Sutra 2.46 reads sthira sukham asanam: a posture should be steady and comfortable. The text sets no shape at all, only that quality.

Before modern mats, meditative practice was often done on a rug of what?

Deer or tiger skin: the Bhagavad Gita (6.11) describes the yogi's seat as kusha grass covered with a deerskin and a cloth, set on a clean, firm spot neither too high nor too low.

Which yoga pose stretches the hamstrings and calves with the body in an inverted 'V'?

Downward-Facing Dog, Adho Mukha Svanasana, is named for the way a dog stretches as it gets up: hands and feet planted, hips pushed high, the body an upside-down V.

The fixed hot-yoga beginning series consists of how many postures?

26 postures, always in the same order: the founder claimed copyright in the sequence, but a US appeals court ruled in 2015 that a series of poses is an idea, which cannot be copyrighted.

Who introduced the Yoga Sutras to the West?

Swami Vivekananda built his 1896 book Raja Yoga around the Yoga Sutras; one historian argues the text had lain in relative obscurity for some 700 years before he and others revived it.

What is the yoga term for the energy locks or muscular contractions that direct the flow of prana?

Bandha means 'bond' or 'fetter': the three main locks, at the pelvic floor, the abdomen and the throat, can be held together as the 'great lock' to keep vital energy inside the body.

Viparita Karani, a mudra of medieval hatha yoga, is practised today as which restful pose?

Legs up the wall is the gentle modern form; as a medieval mudra, Viparita Karani, 'the inverter', meant any upside-down hold the yogi preferred.

How are the hands held in anjali mudra, a common gesture in yoga classes?

Palms pressed together: the gesture goes with the greeting namaste, and old Sanskrit manuals grade it, held at the chest for friends, before the face for elders and teachers and at the head for the gods.

Halasana, done lying on the back with legs swung overhead, is named after which farm tool?

Halasana is Plough Pose: from lying on the back, the legs swing over the head until the toes touch the floor, the body resembling an Indian plough. Hala is Sanskrit for plough.

The three principal nadis are ida, pingala and which third, running along the spinal cord?

Sushumna is the central channel running along the spinal cord, flanked by ida and pingala; the aim is to unblock all three, and the roused kundalini is meant to climb the sushumna.

Which yoga style uses props such as blankets and bolsters to support the body in long, passive holds?

Restorative Yoga holds each pose for up to twenty minutes, so a class may contain only four to six of them; the props take the body's weight so the muscles can let go completely.

What is the Sanskrit word for 'union' or 'to yoke', from which the word 'yoga' is derived?

Yuj, 'to yoke', shares an ancient root with the English words 'yoke' and 'join'; traditional commentators on the Yoga Sutras, though, prefer a second root, yuj samadhau, 'to concentrate'.

Jala neti, a traditional yogic cleansing practice, rinses which part of the body with warm salt water?

The nose: salt water is poured into one nostril from a small spouted pot and runs out of the other. Health agencies insist on boiled or distilled water, since tap water can carry dangerous microbes.

Which yogic niyama, or personal observance, means contentment?

Santosha, contentment, is one of the five niyamas; the Yoga Sutras promise that from it comes supreme happiness, and teachers gloss it as not craving what one does not have.

What is the English name for the kneeling asana 'Balasana'?

Child's Pose, Balasana, from bala, 'child', is the practice's standard resting place: a kneeling fold, forehead to the floor, that students drop into between more demanding poses.

Which breathing technique closes one nostril at a time with the fingers, alternating sides?

Nadi Shodhana means 'channel cleaning': breathing through one nostril at a time is meant to clear the two energy channels said to run up either side of the spine.

In yogic breathing, which Sanskrit term names the retention of the breath?

Kumbhaka is named after kumbha, a pot: the torso is pictured as a vessel filled with air and stoppered, the pause coming either after the in-breath or after the out-breath.

In kundalini practice, the roused energy is guided upward to which point?

The crown of the head, the sahasrara: there the roused energy is said to unite with pure consciousness, transforming the whole person.

Which yoga style is defined by precision, sequence and the use of props?

Iyengar Yoga's belts, blocks and blankets were its founder's answer to pupils less fit than he was: with support, the stiff, the elderly and the ill could hold poses correctly too.

The Bhagavad Gita, Krishna's teaching on yoga, is embedded in which larger text?

Mahabharata: the Bhagavad Gita is set in the epic on the eve of its great battle, when a prince loses heart at killing his own kin and Krishna, his charioteer, answers with the teaching.

Which Sanskrit name is an alternative for Mountain pose?

Samasthiti, 'equal standing', is the name Ashtanga uses for Mountain pose; for all its status as the foundation of standing work, the pose does not appear in the medieval texts at all.

What is the Sanskrit term for 'meditation' or 'contemplation', a key aspect of yoga practice?

Dhyana is meditation, the seventh limb, an unbroken flow of attention on one object; the word travelled east to become chan in Chinese and zen in Japanese.

Which traditional healing system shares yoga's roots and prescribes yoga as a therapy?

Ayurveda blames illness on an imbalance among three bodily humours, the doshas, and prescribes diet, herbs, massage and yoga to restore the balance.

What is the Sanskrit term for the sequence of postures known as 'Sun Salutations'?

Surya Namaskar honours Surya, the Hindu sun god; the cycle was first recorded as yoga only in the early 20th century, though Indian wrestlers had long drilled with similar moves.

Dhanurasana, a prone backbend in which the hands grip the ankles, is known as which pose?

Dhanurasana is Bow Pose: lying prone, the practitioner bends the knees, grips the ankles and lifts chest and thighs so the body curves like a drawn bow. Dhanu is Sanskrit for bow.

The front splits pose in yoga is named for which Hindu deity, famed for one giant leap across the sea to Lanka?

Hanuman, the monkey god of the Ramayana, crossed the sea to Lanka in a single bound; the pose, Hanumanasana, freezes his stride in mid-air, one leg reaching forward and the other back.

Which Sanskrit term means 'action, deed, effort' and names a completed yogic technique?

Kriya comes from the root kri, 'to do', the same root that gives karma; in yoga it names a complete practice, from a cleansing routine to a fixed set of exercises aimed at one result.

What is the term for a spiritual teacher or guide in the yogic tradition?

Guru literally means 'heavy' or 'weighty' in Sanskrit, a teacher being someone of weight; the well-known gloss 'dispeller of darkness' comes from a traditional play on its two syllables.

B. K. S. Iyengar named his Pune yoga institute in memory of whom?

His wife: Ramamani Iyengar died before the institute opened in 1975, so he gave it her name; their daughter Geeta and son Prashant taught there beside him and later ran it.

Which body of late Vedic texts, among them the Katha, contains some of the earliest teachings on yoga?

Upanishads: the Katha defines yoga as the firm restraint of the senses, with mind and intellect stilled; its yoga is inward, and posture became central only many centuries later.

In Ashtanga Vinyasa, which term names the gazing point fixed during each posture?

Drishti is the gazing point: Ashtanga Vinyasa gives each posture its own, such as the fingertips or the spot between the eyebrows, to steady attention and balance.

The word 'shanti', often chanted three times to close a class, means what?

Peace: the chant repeats shanti three times, by tradition to calm three kinds of trouble: those of the outside world, of the unseen powers and of one's own body and mind.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna teaches the paths of yoga to which prince as a great battle is about to begin?

Arjuna, the finest archer of his side, sees teachers and cousins in the enemy ranks, drops his bow and refuses to fight; Krishna, serving as his charioteer, answers with the Gita's teaching.

Kapalabhati, a cleansing breath of short, sharp exhalations, takes its name from the Sanskrit for 'shining' what?

Skull: kapala is the skull and bhati means shining; the pumping exhalations were a medieval purification meant to clear the sinuses, as if polishing the inside of the head.

Yoga was inscribed by UNESCO in 2016 on which of its international lists?

Intangible Cultural Heritage: the list protects living traditions, not places, and UNESCO's entry notes that yoga is practised by young and old without regard to gender, class or religion.

What name is given to the call-and-response devotional chanting, set to music, heard at many yoga studios?

Kirtan: the word comes from the Sanskrit for praise, and the chant spread in the West from the 1960s with Indian religious movements such as the Hare Krishnas.

Scholars divide the Gita's 18 chapters into three groups of six, devoted to which yogas in order?

Karma, bhakti and jnana are the yogas of action, devotion and knowledge; the Gita's twist was that a householder need not renounce the world, only do his duty without clinging to the results.

Which 8th-century philosopher, Advaita Vedanta's most influential teacher, championed jnana yoga, the path of knowledge?

Adi Shankara wrote influential commentaries on the Gita and the Brahma Sutras; tradition has him walking the length of India debating rivals and founding four monasteries.

Yoga nidra, a guided relaxation practised lying on the back, takes its name from the Sanskrit for what?

Sleep: yoga nidra is 'yogic sleep', a guided drift to the border between waking and sleeping in which the body rests completely while the mind is meant to stay aware.

Which violinist became B. K. S. Iyengar's pupil and wrote the foreword to his 1966 classic Light on Yoga?

Yehudi Menuhin, exhausted, offered Iyengar five minutes in 1952 and was put so soundly to rest that he became his pupil; his invitations to Europe turned an obscure teacher into a world figure.

Who wrote The Heart of Yoga (1995), a guide to his father Krishnamacharya's teaching?

T. K. V. Desikachar had an engineering degree and a job offer in Delhi when he resolved to learn what his father knew; he turned the job down and spent decades spreading that tailored teaching.

Which teacher opened a yoga studio on Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard in the late 1940s?

Indra Devi was at first turned away by her future teacher, whose Mysore school took neither women nor foreigners; the Maharaja intervened, and she went on to teach Hollywood stars such as Gloria Swanson.

Which feat did the 'father of modern yoga' apparently perform while touring for the King of Mysore?

Stopping his heartbeat: Krishnamacharya's shows, staged to revive interest in yoga, also had him halting cars with his bare hands and lifting heavy objects with his teeth.

Virabhadrasana, a lunging standing pose, goes by which English name?

Warrior: the pose recalls Virabhadra, a fierce fighter of Hindu myth conjured by an enraged god to wreck the great sacrifice of Daksha, the father-in-law who had left him off the guest list.

Which inverted pose has been called the 'king of all asanas'?

Headstand, Sirsasana, is no beginner's pose for all its royal title: teachers stress building strength first and keeping the weight on the forearms and shoulders, off the head and neck.

Laughter yoga was introduced in Mumbai in 1995 by a man of which profession?

Madan Kataria, a Mumbai family physician, started the first laughter club in a local park in 1995 with his wife Madhuri and a handful of friends.

What do the three H's in Yogi Bhajan's 3HO foundation stand for?

Healthy, Happy, Holy: Yogi Bhajan founded 3HO in Los Angeles in 1969, drawing young seekers out of the drug counterculture with Kundalini yoga and a strict vegetarian, drug-free way of life.

Which tech founder was among the most famous advocates of Autobiography of a Yogi?

Steve Jobs reread Autobiography of a Yogi every year, and guests at his 2011 memorial were reportedly handed a small brown box containing a copy as they left.

In September 1983, Vishnudevananda flew a 'peace flight' over which barrier?

The Berlin Wall: in September 1983 Vishnudevananda flew an ultralight over it from West to East Berlin; his flights over the world's trouble spots earned him the name 'The Flying Swami'.

Which swami founded the Divine Life Society at Rishikesh in 1936?

Swami Sivananda, a former doctor, founded the Divine Life Society at Rishikesh in 1936; his disciples Vishnudevananda, Satyananda and Chidananda carried his yoga teaching worldwide.

The yogic breathing exercise bhramari takes its name from the sound of which creature?

A bee: the name means 'like a bee', also borne by a Hindu goddess of bees; the practitioner hums through the whole out-breath, making a steady buzz.

Which Indian teacher, who settled in Los Angeles in the 1920s, wrote the 1946 classic Autobiography of a Yogi?

Paramahansa Yogananda arrived in Boston in 1920 as India's delegate to a congress of religious liberals and stayed on in America; his memoir has since been translated into more than fifty languages.

Natarajasana, Dancer Pose, is named for Nataraja, the cosmic dancer form of which Hindu god?

Shiva: Nataraja, 'king of the dance', is his dancing form, cast in famous Chola bronzes; yogis also honour Shiva as Adiyogi, the first yogi and patron god of the practice.

Sharon Gannon and David Life co-founded which yoga method in New York in 1984?

Jivamukti, founded in New York in 1984 by Sharon Gannon, a dancer and musician, and David Life, an artist and cafe owner, makes ethical vegetarianism, chanting and scripture part of the practice.

Garudasana, a standing pose with wrapped arms and legs, is usually named after which bird?

Eagle is the usual English rendering, but Garuda is a mythical king of the birds who carries the god Vishnu through the sky; he is also the national emblem of Indonesia and Thailand.

Bakasana, the arm balance often mislabelled 'Crow' in the West, is properly named for which bird?

Crane is the real bird: the crane's long legs match Bakasana's straight arms, while the true Crow pose, Kakasana, keeps the arms bent like a crow's shorter legs.

Which company first sold nylon-and-Lycra yoga pants in 1998 from its Vancouver store?

Lululemon, founded by Chip Wilson in Vancouver in 1998, sold the first stretchy nylon-and-Lycra yoga pants; Wilson was reportedly inspired by a 1997 class where the instructor wore second-skin dance attire.

Chaturanga Dandasana, or Four-Limbed Staff pose, is also known by which English name?

Low Plank looks like the bottom of a push-up with the elbows hugged in; flowing classes repeat it in every Sun Salutation, as the step between the forward fold and Upward-Facing Dog.

In Simhasana, a kneeling pose with the mouth wide open and the tongue out, which animal is imitated?

Lion is the meaning of the Sanskrit simha, and the gaping face is meant to resemble one. An older name, Narasimhasana, points to the half-man, half-beast avatar of the god Vishnu.

Pavanamuktasana, done lying down with one knee drawn to the chest, has which English name?

Wind-Relieving Pose is a literal translation: the Sanskrit pavana means wind and mukta means free. In the usual form the hands clasp one shin to hold the leg in place.

Navasana, a seated balance on the sitting bones with legs raised, is named after which vehicle?

Boat is the meaning of the Sanskrit nava. The 19th-century manuscript Sritattvanidhi illustrated the same shape under another name with the same sense, Naukasana.

Matsyasana, a reclining backbend propped on the elbows, takes its name from which water creature?

Fish is the meaning of the Sanskrit matsya. As the back arches further, the top of the head may brush the floor, but it is not supposed to carry any weight.

Marjariasana, a kneeling pose alternated with Cow pose to flex the spine, is named after which animal?

Cat is the meaning of both of its Sanskrit names, Marjariasana and Bidalasana. A very similar kneeling exercise appeared in the Danish instructor Niels Bukh's gymnastics manual in the early 20th century.

The Sanskrit 'setu' in Setubandhasana, a backbend lifting the hips from the floor, names which structure?

Bridge is the meaning of setu, and the rest of the full name adds the words for caught and all limbs. In the complete version the hands reach back to catch the ankles.

Sukhasana, a plain cross-legged seat whose Sanskrit name suggests pleasure, has which English name?

Easy Pose is the usual English name, since the Sanskrit sukha means pleasure or ease. The name turns up for a meditation seat in texts as old as the 4th century.

Ananda Balasana, done lying on the back gripping the outsides of the feet, has which English name?

Happy Baby is the English name. Because it is done lying down it takes little effort, and it stretches the inner thighs, groin, hips and hamstrings.

Vrischikasana, a forearm balance with the legs bent back overhead, is named after which creature?

Scorpion is the meaning of the Sanskrit vrischika. In a harder variant the feet come to rest on the head, which the manual Light on Yoga reads as an attempt to subdue the ego.

Adho Mukha Vrksasana, Sanskrit for an upside-down tree pose, is better known by which gymnastic name?

Handstand is the everyday name for the pose, which yoga counts among its inversions. Holding it works the wrist flexors, the front of the shoulders, the chest and the biceps.

The Sanskrit name Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, a seated backbend, means the one-legged king of which birds?

Pigeons is the answer: kapota is the Sanskrit for the bird and raja means king. Yin Yoga calls its version Swan Pose, and aerial classes practise a 'flying' form supported in a hammock.

Salabhasana, a prone backbend with both the head and the legs lifted, is named after which insect?

Locust is the usual English name, from the Sanskrit shalabh. A half version of the pose lifts just one leg and the opposite arm at a time.

Vajrasana, a kneeling seat known as Diamond Pose, is named for a weapon that gives it which other English name?

Thunderbolt is the other name, because the vajra is a weapon whose name carries both meanings. Sitting in it for very long spells has been linked to nerve damage one doctor called 'yoga foot drop'.

Virasana, a kneeling asana with the feet apart so the buttocks rest between them, has which English name?

Hero Pose is the English name, from the Sanskrit vira. A reclining form, Supta Virasana, lowers the back to the floor with the hands beside the thighs or stretched overhead.

Mayurasana, a hand balance with the body held horizontal over the hands, is named after which bird?

Peacock is the meaning of the Sanskrit mayura. It is one of the oldest asanas that is not a seat, first described in a 10th-century text, the Vimanarcanakalpa.

Malasana, a squatting posture with the feet together, goes by which English name in the manual Light on Yoga?

Garland Pose is the name used in Light on Yoga, where the arms can bind around the back like a wreath. Many classes also give the same name to an ordinary squat with the feet set wider apart.

Baddha Konasana, seated with the soles of the feet together, takes one English name from which tradesman?

Cobbler is the tradesman: Indian shoemakers typically sit this way while they work. The same seat is also known as Butterfly Pose and Bound Angle Pose.

The 'paschima' in Paschimottanasana, yoga's seated forward bend, literally names which compass direction?

West is the surface meaning of paschima, a word that also stands for the back of the body. That is why the pose is sometimes translated as Intense Dorsal Stretch.

Ardha Matsyendrasana, named after a sage counted among hatha yoga's founders, is which kind of posture?

A seated twist is the answer: one foot is planted outside the opposite leg and the torso turns toward it. The arms lever the body round and may be bound by clasping a foot or the other hand.

The American College of Physicians' 2017 guideline suggests yoga as a nondrug treatment for which chronic complaint?

Low-back pain is the complaint: the guideline tells doctors to start with nondrug methods, and yoga is one of the approaches it suggests. The health agency NCCIH adds that the benefit may be small.

Reviews of how yoga might ease stress have examined its effect on which hormone, measured in saliva?

Cortisol is the hormone in question. One review counted salivary levels of it among four mechanisms found to mediate yoga's effect on stress, alongside self-compassion and a more positive mood.

According to the US health agency NCCIH, which are the most common injuries suffered in yoga practice?

Sprains and strains top the list, most often at the knee or lower leg. Serious injuries are rare, and the overall risk is lower than in higher-impact activities.

The US agency NCCIH lists which eye condition among those that may call for a modified yoga practice?

Glaucoma is on the agency's list, alongside severe hypertension, lumbar spine disease and old knee or hip injuries. Older adults are also told to take particular care.

A 2019 arthritis guideline backs yoga for knee osteoarthritis because it resembles which better-studied practice?

Tai chi is the practice, and the same guideline recommends it strongly. Yoga earned only a conditional recommendation, resting on its similarity to an exercise with more trials behind it.

A 2018 evaluation of 13 studies found that yoga reduced which hallmark physical symptom of menopause?

Hot flashes were among the physical symptoms that eased, in studies covering more than 1,300 participants. The same evaluation also found less anxiety and depression.

Who built yoga into the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction course he developed in Massachusetts in the late 1970s?

Jon Kabat-Zinn devised the course at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, blending meditation, body awareness and yoga. He set it out in his 1990 book Full Catastrophe Living.

Which American physician's programme for reversing heart disease pairs a plant-based diet with yoga and meditation?

Dean Ornish built yoga and meditation into his programme as stress management. His interest dates from his student days, when he met the yoga teacher Satchidananda, who inspired his research on diet.

Which guided relaxation practice has the US Army used to help soldiers recover from PTSD?

Yoga nidra is a guided state between waking and sleeping. Richard Miller's version, called iRest, was studied at Walter Reed Army Medical Center with soldiers back from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Which psychiatrist's 2014 book The Body Keeps the Score proposed several ways yoga could provide therapeutic benefits?

Bessel van der Kolk put forward several mechanisms by which yoga might be therapeutic. By his own account the ideas were still under-researched at the time he was writing.

In the modern Western chakra colour scheme, which colour belongs to Anahata, the heart chakra?

Green is the colour, and Anahata is the fourth of the main centres counting upward. Its Sanskrit name means 'unstruck', and its emblem is a six-pointed star standing for air.

Vishuddha, a chakra whose Sanskrit name means 'very pure', sits at which part of the body?

The throat is where Vishuddha sits, with its surface point in the pit of the neck. Tradition pictures it in white with sixteen smoke-coloured petals and links it to the element aether.

Sahasrara, the highest chakra in the body, is pictured as a flower with how many petals?

1,000 petals give Sahasrara its name, which means 'thousand-petalled'. They are drawn in 20 layers of about 50 each, in different colours.

Which chakra, drawn with four red petals and tied to the element earth, is known in English as the root chakra?

Muladhara is the root chakra: mula is the Sanskrit for root. Its emblem holds a yellow square standing for earth, around the seed syllable lam.

Manipura, a chakra whose Sanskrit name translates as 'city of jewels', is associated with which element?

Fire is Manipura's element, tied to transformation and drawn as a red triangle. Its colour depends on the tradition: yellow, blue or red.

In the 1920s, Western writers began pairing each main chakra with which kind of body part?

An endocrine gland was assigned to each centre in the 1920s, and the pairing has stuck. Correspondences with alchemy, astrology, gemstones and Tarot were also added to the Western system.

The rainbow colours of the Western chakra chart were added in 1927 by Charles Leadbeater, a writer from which movement?

Theosophy is the movement: Leadbeater was a member of the Theosophical Society. The rainbow sequence is Newton's, and it is found in no ancient Indian system.

Which British judge, writing as Arthur Avalon, published the influential chakra study The Serpent Power in 1919?

John Woodroffe was a lawyer at the Calcutta High Court who translated some 20 Sanskrit texts. The Serpent Power was his rough translation of a 1577 treatise on the body's energy centres.

Which psychiatrist's 1932 Zurich seminar read kundalini yoga as a model for phases of higher consciousness?

Carl Jung interpreted its symbols in terms of individuation. His talks to the Psychological Club came to be regarded as a milestone in the psychological understanding of Eastern thought.

Ajna, the sixth of the seven main chakras, is located at which point on the body?

Between the eyebrows, in the centre of the forehead, is where Ajna is placed. Popularly called the third eye, its name translates as 'command' or 'authority'.

In a 'Mysore style' Ashtanga class, named after the school's home city, how do students practise?

At their own pace is the rule: each student works through the sequences they know while the teacher instructs them one by one. Led group classes are typically held only twice a week.

The Yoga Korunta, Ashtanga's supposed ancient source text, was reportedly lost when the only copy met which fate?

Eaten by ants is the story told of the only copy, said to have turned up in a national archive in the early 20th century. No manuscript survives to check the tale.

Which vigorous American style, launched by Beryl Bender Birch in 1995, is a spinoff of the Ashtanga method?

Power Yoga began with Birch and came to cover many vigorous flowing styles. Pattabhi Jois disowned the link in a 1995 letter to Yoga Journal, dismissing the newcomer as mere bodybuilding.

K. Pattabhi Jois wrote which book on Ashtanga practice in Kannada, decades before its 1999 English translation?

Yoga Mala waited four decades for an English translation, which appeared in 1999. In it Jois recommends staying in each posture for several full breaths.

Which Sanskrit term does the Ashtanga method use for its three places of attention: posture, breathing and gaze?

Tristhana joins the breathing system, the posture and the looking place, which are meant to be performed together. They are said to purify the body, the nervous system and the mind.

Pattabhi Jois's four-month stay in which Californian town in 1975 marked the start of Ashtanga in America?

Encinitas was his base on that first American visit. He returned to the United States several times over the next 20 years, teaching there and beyond.

Garbha Pindasana, an Ashtanga primary series pose with the arms threaded behind the knees, has which English name?

Embryo in Womb is the name: garbha means womb and pinda means embryo. With the legs crossed and the hands reaching up to grasp the ears, the body rests on the tailbone alone.

Tittibhasana, an arm balance Pattabhi Jois took up in his Ashtanga system, is named after which insect?

Firefly is the meaning of the Sanskrit tittibha, a small insect. The pose is described in a 1930s manual by Jois's own teacher, with the legs stretched straight out in front.

According to Sharath Jois, the vinyasas linking Ashtanga postures heat and purify which part of the body?

The blood is what the flowing movements are said to heat, clarify and circulate. He offered the claim without citing any medical evidence.

Which gentle yoga backbend, done with the forearms resting on the ground, shares its name with an Egyptian monument?

Sphinx is the pose: keeping the forearms on the ground makes the backbend gentler than the straight-armed version. Yin Yoga uses it as an easier variant for long holds.

Makarasana, a reclining yoga pose often used for relaxation, is usually named after which reptile?

Crocodile is the common translation of the Sanskrit makara. The word has also been read as a sea creature such as a shark, and may have meant a wholly mythical beast.