106 – Asana names in Yoga are in Sanskrit. What do they mean?

Most of the asanas (postures) are based on animal/birds, directions, and types of movement.

For ex: Adho (down) Mukha (face) Shvan (dog) Asana (posture), aka downward dog.

Some of the more common ones are:

Shvan	Dog	Adho Mukha Shvan Asana	Downward dog
Go	Cow	Go Mukh Asana	Cow facing posture
Ashva	Horse	Ashva Sanchalan Asana	Low lunge with chest lifted

Animals

Adho	Down	Adho Mukha Shvan Asana	Down ward dog
Ardha	Half	Ardh Padmasana	Half Lotus pose
Kon	Angle	Konasana	Angle pose
Trikon	Triangle, three angles	Trikon Asana	Triangle pose
Upavishta	Sitting	Upavishta Konasana	Wide angle seated forward bend
Urdhva	Upward	Urdhva Mukha Shvan Asana	Upward dog
Uttan	Intense Extension/stretch	Uttan Asana (forward bend)	Intense forward bend
Utthita	Extended	Utthita Parsva Konasana	Extended side angle pose
Parshva	Side	Uthitha Parsva Konasana	Extended side angle pose
Parivrita	Revolved	Parivrita Trikonasana	Revolved Triangle pose
Prasarita	Spread out	Prasarita Padottanasana	Wide legged standing forward bend
Paschim	West/front of body	Paschim uttan asana	Seated forward bend
Purva	East/back of body	Purva uttan asana	Upward plank pose
Sanchalan	Stepping movement	Ashwa Sanchalan Asana	Low lunge with chest lifted
Supta	Supine, reclining	Supta Pad Angusht Asana	Reclining hand to big toe pose

Directions

Anga	Limb	Chatur Anga Dand Asana	Four limbed staff pose
Angusht	Thumb/Big toe	Pad Angusht Asana	Big toe pose, forward bend holding big toe
Hast	Hand	Pada Hast Asana	Hand to foot pose
Mukh	Face	Adho Mukh Shvan Asana	Downward facing dog
Pada	Foot	Pada Hast Asana	Hand to foot pose
Sirs	Head	Sirs asana	Head stand

Body Parts

Ekam/ek	One	Ek Pad Asana	One foot pose
Dwi	Two	Dwi pad Sirs Asana	Feet behind the head pose dwi refers to both the lifted feet
Treeni/tri	Three	Tri Anga Mukha Ek Pad paschimuttan asana	Folded leg forward bend tri refers to the 3 poses combined here, Dandasana, virasana and paschimuttanasana
Chatvaari/catur	Four	Chaturanga	Four limbed staff pose
Pancha/pañca	Five
Shat/ṣaṭ	Six
Sapta	Seven
Ashta/aṣṭa	Eight	Asht Anga Namaskar	Eight limbed pose
Nava	Nine
Dasha	Ten
Vimshatihi	Twenty

Numbers

Mudra

Hand gesture

Namaskar Mudra

Palms folded together

Miscellaneous