Asana

The lotus, a common asana position

Asana is a body position in Yoga. It can mean where a person sits, and the way that they sit. It helps to balance the mind and body. It is meant to be firm, yet comfortable.

All the many different body positions in Yoga are Asanas: they all have their own names and every name ends with asana, such as savasana (correct lying). Many have names of animals, such as bujangasana (cobra). Others have names that describe the position, such as shirshasana (head).

Asana Media

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  Asanas in varied contexts. Left to right, top to bottom: Eka Pada Chakrasana; Ardha Matsyendrasana; Padmasana; Navasana; Pincha Mayurasana; Dhanurasana; Natarajasana; Vrkshasana

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  Mould of Pashupati seal from the Indus Valley Civilization, c. 2500 BC, its central figure in a pose resembling Mulabandhasana.

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  A page from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Bhasya commentary (c. 2nd to 4th century CE), which placed asana as one of the eight limbs of classical yoga

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  Relief statue in Achyutaraya temple, Hampi, Karnataka showing an unidentified hand-balancing asana, 16th century

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  Headstand (Kapala Asana) from 1830 manuscript of Joga Pradipika

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  GS=Goraksha Sataka; ShS=Shiva Samhita; HYP=Hatha Yoga Pradipika; HR=Hatha Ratnavali; GhS=Gheranda Samhita; JP=Joga Pradipika; YS=Yoga Sopana; LoY=Light on Yoga; DM=Dharma Mittra

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  The lion pose, Simhasana, is named for an avatar of Vishnu in the form of the man-lion Narasimha. India, 12th Century

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  "Seal" posture from Mary Bagot Stack's Building the Body Beautiful, 1931. It closely resembles Salabhasana, locust pose; she had learnt some asanas in India in 1912.

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  The Indian Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, joining a programme of yoga for pregnant women in 2018