asana /ah-suh-nuh/ - the posture, literally ‘seat’

chidananda /chid-ah-nun-duh/ - cit is 'consciousness, self-knowing', ananda is 'exquisite bliss, joy, or delight'; the highest attainment of the yoga practice is to to commune with the Universal Spirit intimately, so that you more and more clearly understand your dharma, which leads to one's life unfolding in delightfully astonishing ways.

dharma /dur-muh/ - 'the right path', dhr means 'to make firm, sustain'; dharma is that which upholds and supports life; svadharma /swuh-dhur-muh/ - sva is 'one's own', this is our individual spiritual path, where we seek to discern what means will engender the most optimal outcome for ourselves, our communities, and the world.

hatha yoga /huh-tuh yo-guh/ - Hatha is translated as 'forceful' or 'determined effort'; ha means 'sun', tha means 'moon'. Yoga comes from the sanskrit root yuj (to yoke, join or concentrate on), and has many translations, including 'the act of yoking, joining, attaching or harnessing', 'to put to active or purposeful use' and 'Krishna consciousness'. Together they are loosely defined as the joining of the masculine (sun - right side) & feminine (moon - left side) energies of the Supreme consciousness through disciplined physical effort, usually through the practice of asana.

iccha /it-cha/ - your 'will' to do, to know, and to be in the world; an intention that springs forth from a desire/longing (heart); in Anusara Yoga this creates your attitude.

jnana /gnyah-nuh/ - 'knowledge', knowing your will; the steps/process needed to carry an intention to fruition (mind); in Anusara Yoga this creates your alignment.

kriya /krih-yah/ - 'action, deed, effort', manifestation of your will; full realization/expression of an intention (body); in Anusara Yoga this creates your action.

pranayama /prah-nah-yah-muh/ - prana is 'the vital energy, breath' or 'lifeforce, soul', and yama is translated as 'suppression, restraint', so some schools will typically define it as 'control of the breath'; however, because an 'a' before a word in sanskrit denotes its opposite, in tantra we define it as prana ayama, or an 'expansion/freeing of the breath'.

Shakti /Shuhk-tih/ - the female principle/energy of the cosmos; she is the creative power of the universe that explodes forth from the Great Heart of Consciousness (Shiva) to fragment into the infinite array of forms that make up our world and the very universe itself; she resides in every living thing, and by awakening to her presence we get a glimpse of reality through the lenses of expanded awareness, to be drawn back into the Great Heart of Consciousness.

Shiva /Shih-vuh/ - the male principle/energy of the cosmos; the Great Heart of Consciousness that paradoxically pulsates in stillness; he is the knower, that which is known, and the means by which things are known; he is all-pervading, with the freedom to bind himself in the shapes, forms, and beings that populate the universe, yet still remain completely free.

spanda /spun-duh/ - the throb/pulsation of the Universe that vibrates within all of nature and pervades all life, when this pulsation is in harmony, chidananda can unfold.

tantra /tun-trah/ - tan is ‘to expand, stretch’, tra is ‘a method, technology, instrument or device of’, tantra is a method to expand one`s understanding of life, the cosmos and, ultimately, God, through the cultivation of conceptual and experiential knowledge; svatantra /swuh-tun-trah/ - sva is ‘one’s own’, this is the process of expanding the heart to experience the extraordinary beauty of life through the senses by reconnecting with the expansive bliss-freedom power of one’s essence.

vinyasa /vi-nyuh-suh/ - nyasa means 'to place' and the prefix vi translates as 'in a special way', so even a stairway or musical arrangement is a vinyasa; in yoga, vinyasa is typically translated as a flowing sequence of asanas, usually centered around practicing the suryanamaskar (sun salutation) linked to the rhythm of the breath.