What is "yogini"

n. A female yogi.

Yogini ( Sanskrit: योगिनी, yoginī, ) is the feminine source word of the masculine yogi and neutral/plural " yogin". More than a gender label for all things yogi, yogini represents both a female master practitioner of yoga and a formal term of respect for female Hindu or Buddhist spiritual teachers in India, Nepal and Tibet.

In the Hindu tradition, yogini has referred to women who are part of the Yoga school of Hindu traditions and to the women who were part of the Gorakshanath founded Nath Yogi tradition. A Yogini, in some contexts, refers to the sacred feminine force made incarnate, as an aspect of Parvati, and revered in yogini temples of India as the Eight Matrikas or the Sixty-four Yoginis.

Yogini also refers to women who are part of Hindu and Buddhist tantra traditions. In Tantric Buddhism, Miranda Shaw states that a large number of women like Dombiyogini, Sahajayogicinta, Lakshminkara, Mekhala, Kankhala Gangadhara, Siddharajni, and others, were respected yoginis and advanced seekers on the path to enlightenment.

In the Tibetan Buddhism and Bön tradition, some ngagmas are comparable, in practice, to the Mahasidda yoginis of Indian Buddhism.