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 Sanskrit: Do you get it?Moderators: Moderators Jump to page : 1 2 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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yogi-boy |
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| easternsun |
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| yogi-boy said: It eventually sounds like technical-jargon mechanics use to rip-off clients with. are you serious?  why would it be ripping people off to teach them the authentic names/language in which yoga was born? would that not add value to the program? learning the names does take a little bit of effort. i teach my students both the sanskrit and their language - they can decide which one they prefer to learn. you can use tricks to do it - garudasana . i tell them that it is eagle in english, washi in japanese. i try to give them a trick to remember the name. garuda is the official airline of indonesia. the next class, there is a good chance they will remember one of those things and be able to come up with a name. dont you think that it makes you sound more knowledgable about your job if you can demonstrate that you know the latin and the english or the sanskrit and the english? you said: No disrespect to the origins of yoga, but surely we can move the language into the 21century. can i ask you why you want to fix something that is clearly not broken? yoga is accessible by all and saying the names in both languages does not de-value it. i actually think that learning the sanskrit is really important - it is one of those little things that might lead one toward the path of studying the eight limbs of ashtanga instead of just heading to a class once a week. sorry this is a touchy subject with me! yesterday i found hermes yoga mats and louis vuitton yoga mat bags and dolce & gabbana "i love yoga" $100 undershirts (that are totally inappropriate for yoga btw  ) no, i did not make it to chanel or dior - but they probably have yoga stuff there too! what would the great sages of yoga think of what it has become  i have a different problem. i dont know the names in english! i have to look them up all the time. | |||
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| Kabu |
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| As a beginner, I don't mind learning the Sanskrit names of poses. Fortunately, our teachers use both English and Sanskrit, so we learn a little at a time. I do tend to refer to poses in English only though. When I was first introduced to Yoga, I found a Yahoo Yoga chat group and lurked for a few weeks. Though many people were very cool, there were a few Yoga-Nazis who were less than pleasant. They had very definite ways of doing things, and God forbid one should stray (like...using English terms for the asanas). Even using the word "pose" pissed them off. And whenever someone would mention a well known teacher (for example, Baron Baptiste), they would verbally rip him or her apart. Quite a nasty atmosphere. It almost turned me off Yoga altogether until I reminded myself this is a community like any other, and you'll always have difficult people no matter where you go. Anyway, that's always stayed with me. | |||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442      | A couple of comments - first of all I don't believe Sanskrit is a dead language. As I understand, it is a language that is alive and well and used more extensively than Latin is in English speaking countries. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong - I was once  Also, if you can name the muscles of the body in Latin, you are capable of adding a bit of Sanskrit. It is quite logical and when you break it down, it is pretty easy. I learned the names of the poses by writing down my practice every day. It only took a minute or so and it had the benefit of giving me a record of what I had done. I actually still keep a little book with my practices although I have developed some shorthand (AMS is Adho Mukha Svanasana). Some people will NEVER learn the names of the poses (or have difficulty at best) either in English or Sanskrit. Visual learners and people with even slight processing problems just don't get it that way. I have a friend who has been taking classes nearly as long as I have (not as extensively but still, pretty regular) who does have a bit of a problem processing language. She can't tell me the name of a pose unless she can move while describing it - it comes out "you know, the one where we go like this and then move our arms like this." And then I tell her the name and she says "Yes, that one!" So while it is good to tell the names of the poses in Sanskrit and English (or whatever language your classes speak - big challenge for Kira!) demostrating will always be the best learning tool for some. And I qualify all this by saying that I am a person who enjoys words and language. If that's not your thing, it will be more of a challenge. Being around people who almost always use the Sanskrit names helps a lot and I am lucky to belong to a big yoga community where I get the chance to talk yoga regularly.  | ||
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| kulkarnn |
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | Neel - I think not giving the Sanskrit names does somewhat of a disservice to those students who could learn easily by just listening. >>Without knowing proper Sanskrit, it is almost next to IMPOSSIBLE to get the entire Yoga and Veda Philosophy. << I think you are probably correct with this yet wouldn't it be nice for students to be able to begin this understanding by starting to get the sound of the language right from the beginning? Then of course they have to pay for a separate class to learn what they might have picked up for free at asana class!  | ||
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| kulkarnn |
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| yogi-boy |
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| Bay Guy |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 2479 Location: A Blue State | yogi-boy - 2005-03-26 10:22 PM Y'know what they say: there's no bore like a wine bore. ! Yeah, but I don't mind if one of those folks invites me to dinner, am I right?  | ||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | Neel - I agree with not mixing philosophy and asana for sure. My teachers do mix it in a bit, but then I am attending classes with very experienced students (much more experienced than myself) and it is not done in a pedantic way. Sometimes in a pose we'll hear, "remember, Patanjali says...XXX" but we save the real philosophy for a separate part of class or a separate class. Yogi-boy - yes, the folks that try to be clever with the Sanskrit will be like that no matter what. The "wine bore" is a classic example! But as we've discussed here before, using the Sanskrit names for the poses when discussing asana is actually more clear than using English because of the variations in how people name the poses. Like "fixed firm" in Bikram. I had to read between the lines a lot and do some thinking to figure out that it was supta virasana. Most people say "reclined hero pose" in English. As far as the Latin goes, I find it is really common to use some Latin words like sternum and sacrum (and we point them out so people know what we mean) and some English, like collarbones. My guess is that we say sternum and sacrum to be really clear about the body part. I know there can be confusion for example, with sacrum and tailbone for beginners (plus they can't see their sacrum on themselves) whereas collarbones are pretty clear and easily defined and seen. I like to use some of the "fancier" Latin names like the ischeal tuberosities and the anterior superior ileac spines for some comic relief when I slow down to give the class a breather. Try offering to help students find their ischeal tuberosities if things are getting too serious | ||
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| Kabu |
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| I knew I had the right teacher for me when she told the class during Bridge, "You can use a block here to help support you. Place it right where...right near...uh...your Gluteal Crease." | |||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | Yes! I finally found it in Gray's Anatomy - there they call it the Gluteal Fold but same difference, eh? One of my teachers says "the top of the Great Divide." | ||
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| kulkarnn |
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| willowyogamamma |
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| Okay, I'm new to this forum but not new to yoga or to the site and don't really want to start off on the wrong foot, however I feel moved by this enough to post for the first time. Sanskrit is a beautiful complex language that in itself is a meditation. I was fortunate to take a class on Sanskrit locally, going over the alphabet, studying pronunciation of each symbol, each word and left each class vibrating. It's a powerful language that can uplift you as high as you have ever dreamed you could be. 'Updating the language to the 21st century' is losing sight on the purpose of the whole thing. As popular as yoga has become, it shouldn't be treated as a fad. It takes discipline, and love. Why dumb it down? By making it important to you, it will either become important to your students or it wont. It's that simple. I think that's enough of a start for now. | |||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | Iris - what a lovely name! And a lovely screen name, too  Sanskrit is a beautiful language, I agree. It lends itself to chanting in much the same way Latin lends itself to singing. Very uplifting. Welcome! | ||
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| Bay Guy |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 2479 Location: A Blue State | |||
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| Thushara |
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tourist - 2005-03-29 9:01 AM Iris - what a lovely name! And a lovely screen name, too Sanskrit is a beautiful language, I agree. It lends itself to chanting in much the same way Latin lends itself to singing. Very uplifting. Welcome!Iris Iris is a Greek godess for messaging I have the most complicated situation here.. We refer to Yoga poses in Sanskrit names.. And I refer English names too.. My teacher is Tamil and her teacher was Tamil too., for some of the Sanskrit names she use different Pronunciation.. So I have to put quite a lot of effort in understanding.. Soem times they are Tamil words , But I’m confused with Sanskrit as both languages have some sort of similarity. To make matters worst.. My 2 new students speak only Snhala language.. so I have to explain the Sanskrit names in Sinhala as well for them to understand it better.. Ohh .. I put 2 times of effort to overcome this language issues than you guys do, as people in my country speak 3 different languages.. + its Sanskrit for yoga So far so good !! Its challenging.. Any way I love Sanskrit Edited by Thushara 2005-03-28 10:35 PM | |||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | |||
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| MrD |
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| Ah yes. This the old Shall we use dead but time honored languages verses the modern "Vulgar" or common language. There are a few basic facts that need to be understood. 1. Sanskrit, like Latin is no longer used in everyday life, is is generally exclusive to religious/ ceremonial actions. 2. When most of the names of Asanas were created, they were often descriptive and simply referred to the action, or animal look that they represented. A few others like Haumanasana are reflective of Hindu Mythology. 3. Even the sanskrit names are not consistent. See the following link for different names given to the same breathing techniques in Pranayama. http://www.yogajournal.com/practice/673_1.cfm 4. Only after the passage of time when the common usage of the words fades does a language become compartmentalized into a sacred language. 5. Once a language becomes less understood, but more honored, the focus shifts more on the mood and sound of the words, the ceremony as it were, rather than its informational message. In the Western World, Latin, Koine Greek, and Hebrew with occasional Aramaic, Syriac, and Armenian were all Sacred languages. While they allowed people from cultures all across the "known" world to converse, they become languages consigned to scholars and clerics. It was incomprehensible to most members of society. Dante broke that barrier when he published the Inferno in his "Vulgar Tounge" -- the Florentine dialect of Italian, the direct descendant of modern Italian. Martin Luther also broke a similar barrier for Germans when he translated the Bible into High German thereby relegating Low German (the one most directly related to English) to secondary status. The same thing happened with various English Bible translations, like Tyndale's. Bloody Mary's Bible was the Latin Vulgate. Queen Elizabeth's was Tyndale's. One of the large issues of the Reform vs the Counter Reform was the ability to use French for the French, German for the Germans, and English for the English. The test of time came down on the side of the reformers. Early for those countries who adopted Protestant teachings, and later, the 1960's, for the Catholic world. We have similar language exclusivity today in technobabble, govermental gobbledygook, and legalese. To say nothing of the worst offender -- the language of Medicine. I prefer the simple over the complex. Give me understandable English names over the incomprehensible Sanskrit. But of course I don't want candles or incense in my yoga practice either. Edited by MrD 2005-04-01 8:16 PM | |||
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| Gruvemom |
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| jeansyoga |
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| Bay Guy |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 2479 Location: A Blue State | |||
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| tourist |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 8442 | |||
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| Bay Guy |
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Expert Yogi Posts: 2479 Location: A Blue State | |||
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