Sanskrit Pronunciation Guide:
Pronounced by Lakshmi Nair.
One of the most common signs of the appropriation of yoga is that mispronunciation of Sanskrit yoga vocabulary has become ubiquitous in the yoga world. One way to honor yoga without appropriating it is to treat Sanskrit as a language that deserves your time and respect and to learn to pronounce it as well as you can as a non-native speaker the same way you would if you were speaking French or Italian.
If you have already been using these words for sometime and mispronouncing them, it will take some effort to unlearn what you know and to re-learn and reform the words in your mouth with the correct pronunciation. Be patient with yourself and remind yourself that you are making this effort out of respect for the cultural origins of yoga.
Before you begin, look over this key to my pronunciation guide:
I have written out the pronunciation phonetically using the best possible approximations in American English. Read them while listening to the audio. In the audio clips, I will say each word slowly, syllable by syllable and then will repeat the word twice as it is pronounced in Sanskrit.
short a will be written as uh and pronounced like the u in the English word cup
long a will be written as AA and pronounced like the a in the English words almond, artist, always
e will be written as ay and pronouced like in the English words day or hey
short i will be written as i and pronounced like in the English words fit, bit
long i will be written as ee and pronounced like in the English words feet, beet
short u will be written as oo and pronounced like in the English words look, book.
long u will be written as OO and pronounced like in the English words schOOL, cOOL
dental d will be written as th and pronounced like in the English words this that and the other.
dental t will be written as TH and pronounced like in the English words THink, THanks
retroflex d will be written as D and will be pronounced like the English phrases Duh! Dang!
retroflex t will be written as T and will be pronounced like the English words Tummy, Talk (but with a slightly harder sound that comes from the retroflex action of the tongue)
when an English word conveys the pronunciation, I will use the whole word in quotation marks. Example: devi: “they”-vee
aspirated sounds won’t be covered in the written pronunciation guide but you will be able to hear them in the audio.
The Chakras
There are 12 vocabulary words in this series:
Chakra (“Chuck”-ruh, NOT “Shock”-ruh or “Chock”-ruh): Wheel referring to a spinning whirlpool of energy where there is a confluence of Nadis (energy channels) There are 7 Chakras that run along the central axis of energy (Sushumna Nadi: see below)
The root chakra: Muladhara: mOO-lAA-thAA-ruh or “moolah”-thAA-ruh (remember that th is pronounced like the, they, though)
2. The sacral chakra: Svadhisthana: svAA-thiSH-TAA-nuh (pronunciation note: the SH is capitalized because it is a retroflex sh coming before a retroflex aspirated T)
3. The solar plexus chakra: Manipura: “money”-poo-ruh (remember oo is pronouced like look, book)
4. The heart chakra: Anahata: un-AA-huh-THuh
5. The throat chakra: Vishuddhi: vish-shoo-”thee” (as in how do I love thee?)
6. The third eye chakra: Ajña: AAg-nyuh or AAg-yuh (South Indian vs North Indian pronunciation)
7. The crown chakra: Sahasrara: suh-huss-rAA-ruh
Other chakra related terms:
Sushumna Nadi: Soo-shoom-nuh (remember oo is pronouced like look, book) nAA-Dee The central energy channel. The largest energy channel in the body
Ida: i-Duh The left/lunar/feminine channel
Pingala: ping-guh-luh The right/solar/masculine channel
Kundalini Shakti: koon-Duh-lin-ee shuck-THee (remember oo is pronouced like look, book) The latent feminine energy of spiritual awakening and ascension that lies coiled at the base of the Sushumna Nadi.