abhyasa — abhyāsa ( practice )
ahimsa — ahiṁsā ( nonviolence, nonharming )
ananda — ānanda ( bliss, ecstasy )
aparigraha — aparigraha ( non-hoarding, greedlesssness )
asana — āsana ( seat, posture, connection to the earth )
asmita — asmitā ( ego identification, egoism, individualism )
asteya — asteya ( non-stealing )
atman — ātman ( the Divine Self, the in-dwelling soul )
avidya — avidyā ( misknowing, ignorance )
bandha — bandha ( energy lock used to direct the flow of prana )
bhakti — bhakti ( devotion )
bhavana — bhāvana ( cultivating, calling into existence )
brahmacharya — brahmacarya ( continence )
chakra — cakra ( wheel, circle, energy vortex )
chitta-vritti — citta-vṛtti ( fluctuations, whirlings of the mind )
dharana — dhāraṇā ( concentration leading to medit ation )
dharma — dharma ( a law or principle which governs the universe )
dhyana — dhyāna ( the meditation state, absorption )
drishti — dṛṣṭi ( gaze )
dukha — duḥkha ( limitation, suffering )
guna — guṇa ( quality such as sattva - lightness, rajas - activity, tamas - inertia )
guru — guru ( remover of darkness, teacher )
ishvara — Īśvara ( God in form )
jiva — jīva ( individual self, unenlightened soul )
jivanmukta — jīvanmukta ( one who is enlightened to the true nature of being while living )
karma — karma ( action ; thought, words, deed )
kirtan — kirtan ( devotional singing of sacred mantras in a call-and-response format )
klesha — kleśa ( obstacle to liberation )
krama — krama ( succession of transformation that occurs from moment to moment )
kriya — kriyā ( action taken for purification purposes )
kundalini — kuṇḍalinī ( consciousness )
mantra — mantra ( mind traverser, protector )
mauna — mauna ( silence )
maya — māyā ( illusion that which veils, limits and conceals )
moksha — mokṣa ( liberation )
mudra — mudrā ( seal )
nada — nāda ( sound current, primal vibration )
nadi — nāḍī ( river, stream, subtle channels for the flow of life force )
nirodha — nirodha ( restriction, ceasing, stopping )
niyama — niyama ( observances, action taken concerning ourselves )
prana — prāṇa ( life force, vitality )
pratyahara — pratyāhāra ( drawing the senses inward )
pranidhana — praṇidhāna ( commitment, devotional submission )
puraka — pūraka ( inhale )
purusha — puruṣa ( pure spirit, transcendental Self )
raga — rāga ( desire, excessive attachment to pleasure )
rechaka — recaka ( exhale )
sakshi — sākṣī ( the one with eyes, witness )
samadhi — samādhi ( same as the highest, bliss, Self-realization )
samavritti — samavṛtti ( same turning, even breathing )
samsara — saṃsāra ( the wheel of birth and death, suffering individualization )
samskaras — saṃskāra ( mental impressions, recollections, or psychological imprints )
santosha — santoṣa ( contentment )
satchitananda — satcitānanda ( true existence, knowledge and bliss )
satsang — satsang ( attachment to the Truth, association )
sattva — sattva ( lightness, purity, balance )
satya — satya ( truthfulness, honesty )
saucha — śauca ( shining, cleanliness )
shastra — śāstra ( sacred scriptures, precept, rules, manual )
sthira — sthira ( steady, stable )
sukha — sukha ( sweet space, happiness )
sutra — sūtra ( thread, teachings given )
svadhyaya — svādhyāya ( moving toward one’s own, study of the Self )
tapas — tapas ( to burn, austerity, intense discipline )
ujjayi — ujjāyī ( victorious )
vairagya — vairāgya ( detachment from anything that would lead one to avidya ignorance )
vinyasa — vinyāsa ( linking mechanism )
vinyasa krama — vinyāsa krama ( linked moments in the continuous process of change )
yama — yama ( restrictions on our behavior toward others )
yoga — yoga ( the yoking of the individual sense of self to the cosmic eternal Self )
Image | Jivamukti Collective Austria
Words by Eva Lucie Daniela