Many yoga classes use Sanskrit posture names and technical terms alongside English. The practice is debated among teachers, and the arguments on each side are worth setting out.
Some terms have no compact translation
Technical vocabulary in the source literature refers to concepts that English renders only with a phrase, and the phrase usually carries connotations the original does not.
Words commonly translated as posture, breath control or concentration each cover a specific range in the original that the English word does not match.
Retaining the term preserves the distinction and signals to a student that the concept requires explanation rather than assumption.
Consistent vocabulary travels between teachers
A student who learns posture names in Sanskrit can follow a class anywhere, since the terms are more consistent across countries than English translations are.
English names vary considerably between schools and regions, so a translated repertoire is less portable than it appears.
This argument is practical and is the one most often given by teachers who use the terms without emphasising their religious context.
It also carries a claim about lineage
Using the original vocabulary situates a class within a tradition rather than presenting it as generic exercise.
For teachers trained in a lineage this is a matter of accuracy, since the practice they teach did come from somewhere specific.
The same choice is read by some students as ornamental, particularly where terms are used without explanation or with evident uncertainty about meaning.
Accessibility runs the other way
Unfamiliar vocabulary can exclude beginners, older students and anyone who cannot hear an instruction clearly, all of whom need to know what to do immediately.
Most teachers therefore pair the terms, giving the Sanskrit and the English together, which addresses the difficulty at the cost of a slower class.
Studios serving mixed populations often set a policy on this rather than leaving it to each teacher, which produces more consistency for students.
The debate connects to a larger question
Discussions about terminology sit inside a much wider conversation about how a practice with religious origins is taught commercially in countries far from where it developed.
Participants in that conversation disagree substantially about what respectful use looks like, and the disagreement runs among practitioners from the tradition's home cultures as much as between them and anyone else. It is not a settled matter.
Teachers who can say why they use the vocabulary they use are better placed in it than those following a convention they inherited without examining.