Asana

In yoga, an asana is a posture in which a practitioner sits.[1] In the Yoga Sutras,

Patanjali defines "asana" as "to be seated in a position that is firm, but relaxed".[2]
Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of
his system, known as ashtanga yoga.[3]

Asanas are also performed asphysical exercise where they are sometimes referred to
as "yoga postures" or "yoga positions".[4] Some asanas are performed just for health
purposes. Asanas do promote good health, although in different ways compared to
physical exercises, "placing the physical body in positions that cultivate also
awareness, relaxation and concentration".[5] Through the practice of yoga asanas one
puts the body into positions that are not often practiced in modern, everyday life and
thus helps to maintain longterm range of motion as we age.

Contents Sarvangasana

Terminology
Common practices
Pranayama
Surya Namaskara
Benefits
Number of positions
84 classic asanas
Commercialization and Patenting
See also
Padmasana or Lotus pose
References
External links

Terminology
Asana (/ˈɑːsənə/; listen
Sanskrit: आसन āsana [ˈɑːsənə]
'sitting down', < आस ās 'to sit
down'[6]) originally meant a sitting Sadhak Anshit Padmasana or Lotus
pose
position. The word asana in
Sanskrit does appear in many
contexts denoting a static physical position, although traditional usage is specific to
the practice of yoga. Traditional usage defines asana as both singular and plural. In
Mudra and Asana English, plural for asana is defined as asanas. In addition, English usage within the
context of yoga practice sometimes specifies yogasana or yoga asana, particularly
with regard to the system of the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. However, yogasana is also
the name of a particular posture that is not specifically associated with the Vinyasa system, and that while "ashtanga" (small 'a') refers
to the eight limbs of Yoga delineated below, Ashtanga (capital 'A') refers to the specific system of Yoga developed by Sri
Krishnamacharya at the Mysore Palace.

Yoga first originated in India. In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali describes asana as the third of the eight limbs of classical, or Raja Yoga.
Asanas are the physical movements of yoga practice and, in combination with pranayama or breathing techniques, constitute the style
of yoga referred to as Hatha Yoga.[7] In the Yoga Sutra, Patanjali describes asana as a "steady and comfortable posture", referring
specifically to the seated, meditative postures used for meditation practices. He further suggests that meditation is the path to
samādhi; transpersonal self-realization.[8]

The eight limbs are, in order, the yamas (codes of social conduct), niyamas (self-observances), asanas (postures), pranayama (breath
work), pratyahara (sense withdrawal or non-attachment), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (realization of
the true Self or Atman, and unity with Brahman (The Hindu Concept of Ultimate Reality)).[3][8]

Common practices
In the Yoga Sutras, the only rule Patanjali suggests for practicing asana is that it be "steady and comfortable".[3] The body is held
poised with the practitioner experiencing no discomfort. When control of the body is mastered, practitioners are believed to free
themselves from the duality of heat/cold, hunger/satiety, joy/grief, which is the first step toward the unattachment that relieves
suffering.[9]

[10][11]
Listed below are traditional rules for performing asanas:

The stomach should be empty.

Force or pressure should not be used, and the body should not tremble.
Lower the head and other parts of the body slowly; in particular
, raised heels should be lowered slowly
.
The breathing should be controlled. The benefits of asanas increase if the specific
pranayama to the yoga type is
performed.
If the body is stressed, performCorpse Pose or Child Pose
Such asanas as Sukhasana or Shavasana help to reduce headaches.

Pranayama
Pranayama, or breath control, is the Fourth Limb ofashtanga, as set out by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutra. The practice is an integral part
of both Hatha Yoga and Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga but while performing asanas. They are to be practiced and perfected as individual
practices of their own.

Patanjali discusses his specific approach to pranayama in verses 2.49 through 2.51, and devotes verses 2.52 and 2.53 of the Sutra to
explaining the benefits of the practice.[12] Patanjali describes pranayama as the control of the enhanced "life force" that is a result of
practicing the various breathing techniques, rather than the exercises themselves.[13][14] The entirety of breathing practices includes
those classified as pranayama, as well as others called svarodaya, or the "science of breath". It is a vast practice that goes far beyond
the limits of pranayama as applied to asana.[15]

Surya Namaskara
Surya Namaskara, or the Salutation of the Sun, which is very commonly practiced in most forms of yoga, originally evolved as a type
of worship of Surya, the Vedic solar deity, by concentrating on the Sun for vitalization.[16]

The physical aspect of the practice 'links together' twelve asanas in a dynamically expressed series. A full round of Surya namaskara
is considered to be two sets of the twelve asanas, with a change in the second set where the opposing leg is moved first. The asanas
included in the sun salutation differ from tradition to tradition.[17]
Benefits
The physical aspect of what is called yoga in recent years, the asanas, has been much
popularized in the West due to the vast amount of benefits.[18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
Physically, the practice of asanas is considered to:

improve flexibility[25][26]
improve strength[25][26]
improve balance[25][26] Adho Mukha Svanasanais the 5th
reduce stress and anxiety[25][26] and 8th asana in Sun Salutation.
reduce symptoms of lower back pain[25][26]
be beneficial for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
(COPD)[25][26]
increase energy and decrease fatigue[25][26]
shorten labor and improve birth outcomes[26]
[26]
improve physical health and quality of life measures in the elderly
improve diabetes management[27]
reduce sleep disturbances[25][28]
reduce hypertension[29][30]
improve blood circulation[31]
reduce weight[32][33]

Number of positions
In 1959, Swami Vishnu-devananda published a compilation of sixty-six basic postures and 136 variations of those postures.[34] In
[35] when he first began to catalogue the number of
1975, Sri Dharma Mittra suggested [that] "there are an infinite number of asanas.",
asanas in the Master Yoga Chart of 908 Postures, as an offering of devotion to his guru Swami Kailashananda Maharaj. He
eventually compiled a list of 1,300 variations, derived from contemporary gurus, yogis and ancient and contemporary texts.[35] This
work is considered one of the primary references for asanas in the field of yoga today.[36] His work is often mentioned in
contemporary references forIyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Sivananda Yoga and other classical and contemporary texts.[37]

84 classic asanas
A group of 84 classic asanas revealed by the Hindu deity Lord Shiva is mentioned in several classic texts on yoga. Some of these
asanas are considered highly important in the yogic canon: texts that do mention the 84 frequently single out the first four as
necessary or vital to attain yogic perfection. However, a complete list of Shiva's asanas remains as yet unverified, with only one text
attempting a complete corpus.

Patanjali's Yoga Sutra (4-2nd century BC) does not mention a single asana by name, merely specifying the characteristics of a good
asana.[38] Later yoga texts however, do mention the 84 Classic Asanas and associate them with Shiva.

The Goraksha Samhita (10-11th century CE), or Goraksha Paddhathi, an early hatha yogic text, describes the origin of the 84 classic
asanas. Observing that there are as many postures as there are beings and asserting that there are 8,400,000[39] species in all, the text
states that Lord Shiva fashioned an asana for each 100,000, thus giving 84 in all, although it mentions and describes only two in
detail: the siddhasana and the padmasana.[40]

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (15th century CE) specifies that of these 84, the first four are important, namely the siddhasana,
padmasana, bhadrasana and simhasana.[41]

The Hatha Ratnavali (17th century CE)[42] is one of the few texts to attempt a listing of all the 84, although 4 out of its list do not
have meaningful translations from the Sanskrit, and 21 are merely mentioned without any description.[43] In all, 52 asanas of the
[44]
Hatha Ratnavali are confirmed and described by the text itself, or other asana corpora.
The Gheranda Samhita (late 17th century CE) asserts that Shiva taught 8,400,000 asanas, out of which 84 are preeminent, and "32
are useful in the world of mortals."[45] These 32 are: siddhasana, padmasana, bhadrasana, muktasana, vajrasana, svastikasana,
simhasana, gomukhasana, virasana, dhanurasana, mritasana, guptasana, matsyasana, matsyendrasana, gorakshana,
paschimottanasana, utkatasana, sankatasana, mayurasana, kukkutasana, kurmasana, uttanakurmakasana, uttanamandukasana,
vrikshasana, mandukasana, garudasana, vrishasana, shalabhasana, makarasana, ushtrasana, bhujangasana, and yogasana.[46]

In Shiva Samhita (17–18th century CE) the poses ugrasana andsvastikasana replace the latter two of theHatha Yoga Pradipika.

Śrītattvanidhi is a treatise written in the 19th century. One of its sections, includes instructions for and illustrations of 122 postures,
making it by far the most elaborate text on asanas in existence before the twentieth century
.

Commercialization and Patenting

Yoga asana training in many regions has become a commercial venture[47] where critics have termed such practices as 'body
shows'.[48] Yoga was a $7 billion industry in the United States in 2012. [47]

In 2007 the Kolkata-born, US-based yoga teacher Bikram Choudhury, among others, attempted to patent 130 yoga-related asanas in
the US.[49] This prompted the government of India to seek clarification on the guidelines for patenting asanas from the US Patent
Office.[50][51] In 2008, to show that all asanas are public knowledge and therefore not patentable, the government of India formed a
team of yoga gurus, government officials, and 200 scientists from the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research(CSIR) to register
all known asanas in a public database. The team collected asanas from 35 ancient texts including the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata,
the Bhagwad Gita, and Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and as of 2010, has identified 900 asanas for the database which was named the
Traditional Knowledge Digital Libraryand made available topatent examiners.[52][53]

See also
Karanas
List of asanas
Yoga

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External links
Free Library of Yoga Poses

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