41. Should yoga teachers use Sanskrit?

This episode is exploring the answer - your answer - to a question that’s probably asked in every single teacher training: Should yoga teachers use Sanskrit?

We’ll look at some reasons for using Sanskrit, and some concerns around using Sanskrit, and then a few questions to help you make your own mind up.

The absolutely incredible Sanskrit teacher; Hali Schwartz, coming to Yoga Hero in Leeds on 1st June to teach us a day of Sanskrit. So if you’re ignited and inspired to bring Sanskrit in to your classes, don’t miss this, it really is such a fantastic day! Take a look here

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Transcript

 [00:00:00] Hello, and welcome to four yoga teachers. 

This podcast has been created to help yoga teachers teach with passion, avoid burnout, and earn a fair living. 

This episode is exploring the answer, your answer, to a question that's probably asked in every single yoga teacher training all over the world. 'Should yoga teachers use Sanskrit?' We'll look at some reasons for using Sanskrit and some concerns about using Sanskrit and then a few questions to help make your mind up. Remember the decision that you make now isn't forever set in concrete. You can actually assess whether and how much Sanskrit to use in a case by case, class by class basis. 

Sanskrit is an ancient Indian language that [00:01:00] our revered yoga scriptures are written in. The Sanskrit alphabet is a completely different offering to the English alphabet, for kickoff, there are more characters. Which means that one Sanskrit character can't be directly replaced by an English character, there'll be too many leftover. So diacritical markings are used such as dots and lines around a letter to indicate the pronunciation of the Sanskrit character. However, these diacritical markings aren't always used in written text. And so you would be forgiven for pronouncing a word the way that it looks, for example, Savasana. In an ideal world, we'd have the diacritical markings present all of the time and we'd learn how to pronounce the Sanskrit accordingly, but there is still issues with that. Okay, I'm getting ahead of myself here. 

Let's start off with a [00:02:00] look at the reasons for yoga teachers using Sanskrit. 

The roots of yoga. This is undeniably one of the most convincing and important reasons for using Sanskrit. The use of the ancient language reminds us that yoga too, has a depth, a history, a richness beyond just the poses. 

The Sanskrit words themselves. 

One of my favorite examples of just how wonderful Sanskrit is is the word 'vritti', which is part of the definition of yoga in chapter one, sutra two of the yoga sutras of Master Patanjali. Vritti is often transliterated as thought or modification of the mind. But it's also transliterated as [00:03:00] vortex or Whirlpool. This is just absolutely incredible. When you think about it, that the ancient yogis, even without pinging notifications, even without smartphones and the internet, we're still so astounded about the power of the mind that they used the word vortex for thought. Amazing. 

Another example, along these lines is something like Pranayama. Which is really prana- ah- yama. Prana, of course being our subtle yoga energy. A, Being a negative prefix. And Yama, meaning restraint like in the eight limbs of yoga. So if we were sticking to only English in our yoga classes, you might say something like "now we'll practice some breathing techniques". Which of course is fine and understandable by those who are in your class, but this misses out the beauty, that pranayama [00:04:00] means, 'no restraint of the life force'. Or 'expanding our vital energy'. This deeper, meaning just isn't conveyed by 'breathing techniques'. 

In the concerns around using Sanskrit, I'll talk about how as yoga teachers, we need to transliterate and explain and add meaning on; just saying the word pranayama doesn't convey the depth of the meaning. But if, and when, a Yogi understands the deeper meaning of pranayama, They'll hopefully be reminded of that when they hear the word. 

. Some concerns around using Sanskrit. 

Elitism how many times have you told someone you're a yoga teacher and they respond with something like, I'd love to try it, but I'm not flexible at all, and you think to [00:05:00] yourself, or you say out loud, You don't have to be flexible to do yoga. For me, the use of Sanskrit is kind of similar to this concept. So that person could also very well be saying I'd love to try yoga, but I don't understand the Sanskrit. 

We do have to meet students where they are. Otherwise, they won't know what to do, so they leave the class feeling stupid or in the worst case, it could lead to injury. As yoga teachers, we want to, by definition, educate our yogis, and some of this will be the roots of yoga and the use of Sanskrit. But if our yogis leave class feeling stupid, or feeling worse than when they came in, we just haven't done our job, right. 

Confusion. 

Yes, many of the Sanskrit Asana names depict what's going on in the pose. Vrksasana tree pose. [00:06:00] Yes; the base wants to be rooted like a tree and the upper body, have the free movement of branches in the wind. But the word Vrksasana does not communicate this to yogis in and of itself. I think if we aim for safety and clarity in every class, that's a pretty good thing to achieve as a yoga teacher.

Mispronunciation. I'm all for having a go. If the time and the circumstances are right. Yeah. I really am, I say, go for it. So many yoga teachers that I work with are held back by fear. Yeah, I think go for it. Try it. However, there are some places where we can easily clear up our pronunciation of Sanskrit. For example, like I said much earlier on; shavasana instead of Savasana. And another [00:07:00] really important often mispronounced example is chakra. Chakra is with a hard 'ch', just like you use in chaturanga okay. I think that's, as far as I'll go there. I'm a Sanskrit student, not a Sanskrit teacher. The wonderful news is that we do have a incredible Sanskrit teacher, coming to Yoga Hero, on the 1st of June, Hali Schwartz will be leading a full day of Sanskrit, chanting and philosophy. So if you're ignited and inspired to bring Sanskrit into your classes. Don't miss this, it really is such a fantastic day.

And overall, it really is important to do your research. Some historians say that Sanskrit was only used by scholars, and so it caused a divide when it was more of an everyday language. Other historians have concerns about Sanskrit through colonialism. 

Some [00:08:00] yogis campaigning hard, and rightly so, against cultural appropriation in yoga say that using Sanskrit is a big step towards not appropriating yoga. Other campaigners say that Sanskrit is appropriating yoga. Let's just take a step back for a moment. Remember there are different schools of yoga, Jnana yoga. Bhakti yoga, Raja yoga, Karma yoga, because everyone is different and everyone needs to find their own path. But all of these paths lead to the same place. In the same way the use of Sanskrit or the non-use of Sanskrit can still help you lead our yogis to live a life with more peace.

Ultimately the most important thing to do is to have a really, really good think about who you are as a teacher. Why you teach yoga. What your purpose is. And then in your [00:09:00] heart of hearts, does using Sanskrit fit with this purpose or does it not? And there's your answer to the question that we asked right at the beginning of this episode.

I do hope you can join us on the 1st of June, for Hali Schwartz's day of Sanskrit, whether you're keen to sprinkle Sanskrit into your classes now, or it's something that you'll explore in the future. It's a must not miss day. It will really clear up your pronunciation of Sanskrit. 

And so there you have some reasons for, and some concerns about using Sanskrit. 

It's an ongoing balancing act of acknowledging and representing the roots and the depths of yoga. But balancing that with making sure that you are teaching safely at all times. I hope that's given you some food for thought, what's your decision? I'd love to hear from you and [00:10:00] what your thinking is, but above all yoga teacher, happy teaching.