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āsana
An āsana (Sanskrit: आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' define "asana" as " position thatis steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Patanjali '' Yoga sutras'', Book II:29, 46 Asanas are also called yoga poses or yoga postures in English. The 10th or 11th century '' Goraksha Sataka'' and the 15th century '' Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' identify 84 asanas; the 17th century '' Hatha Ratnavali'' provides a different list of 84 asanas, describing some of them. In the 20th century, Indian nationalism favoured physical culture in response t ...
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Hatha Yoga
Hatha yoga (; Sanskrit हठयोग, International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: ''haṭhayoga'') is a branch of yoga that uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some hatha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Itihasa, Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe hatha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amritasiddhi, Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a Tantra, tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onward. Some of the early hatha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical esse ...
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Asanas Composite
An āsana (Sanskrit: wikt:आसन, आसन) is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a meditation seat, sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing asanas, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' define "asana" as "[a position that] is steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga), eight limbs of his system.Patanjali ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga sutras'', Book II:29, 46 Asanas are also called yoga poses or yoga postures in English. The 10th or 11th century ''Goraksha Samhita, Goraksha Sataka'' and the 15th century ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' identify 84 asanas; the 17th century ''Haṭha Ratnāvalī, Hatha Ratnavali'' provid ...
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Lotus Position
Lotus position or Padmasana () is a cross-legged sitting meditation posture, meditation pose from History of India, ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha yoga, and is widely used for meditation in Hinduism, Hindu, Tantra, Jainism, Jain, and Buddhism, Buddhist traditions. Variations include easy pose (Sukhasana), half lotus, bound lotus, and psychic union pose. Advanced variations of several other asanas including yoga headstand have the legs in lotus or half lotus. The pose can be uncomfortable for people not used to sitting on the floor, and attempts to force the legs into position can injure the knees. Shiva, the meditating ascetic God of Hinduism, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and the Tirthankaras in Jainism have been depicted in the lotus position, especially in statues. The pose is emblematic both of Buddhist meditation and of yoga, and as such has found a place in Western culture as ...
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Ashtanga (eight Limbs Of Yoga)
Ashtanga yoga (, "eight limbs of yoga") is Patanjali, Pātañjali's classification of classical yoga, as set out in his ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga Sūtras''. He defined the eight limbs as ''Yamas, yama'' (abstinences), ''niyama'' (observances), ''Asana, āsana'' (postures), ''Pranayama, prāṇāyāma'' (breath control), ''Pratyahara, pratyāhāra'' (withdrawal of the senses), ''dhāraṇā'' (concentration), ''Dhyana in Hinduism, dhyāna'' (meditation), and ''Samadhi, samādhi'' (absorption). The eight limbs form a sequence from the outer to the inner. The posture, asana, must be steady and comfortable for a long time, in order for the yogi to practice the limbs from ''Pranayama, prāṇāyāma'' until ''Samadhi, samādhi''. The main aim is ''kaivalya'', discernment of ''Purusha, Puruṣa'', the witness-conscious, as separate from ''Prakṛti'', the cognitive apparatus, and disentanglement of ''Puruṣa'' from its muddled defilements. Definition of yoga Patanjali, Pā ...
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Shiva
Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, [mɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh]) and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hinduism. Shiva is known as ''The Destroyer'' within the Trimurti, the Hinduism, Hindu trinity which also includes Brahma and Vishnu. In the Shaivite tradition, Shiva is the Supreme Lord who creates, protects and transforms the universe. In the goddess-oriented Shaktism, Shakta tradition, the Supreme Goddess (Devi) is regarded as the energy and creative power (Shakti) and the equal complementary partner of Shiva. Shiva is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta Tradition, Smarta tradition of Hinduism. Shiva has many aspects, benevolent as well as fearsome. In benevolent aspects, he is depicted as an Omniscience, omniscient yogi who lives an Asceticism#Hinduism, ascetic life on Kailasa as well as a house ...
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Ashtanga (vinyasa) Yoga
Ashtanga yoga (not to be confused with Patanjali's ''Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga), aṣṭāṅgayoga'', the eight limbs of yoga) is a style of yoga as exercise popularised by K. Pattabhi Jois during the twentieth century, often promoted as a dynamic form of medieval hatha yoga. Jois claimed to have learnt the system from his teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya. The style is energetic, synchronising breath with movements. The individual poses (asanas) are linked by flowing movements called vinyasas. Jois established his Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in 1948. The current style of teaching is called "Mysore style", after the city in India where the practice was originally taught. Ashtanga yoga has given rise to various spinoff styles of Power Yoga, power yoga. Approach Traditionally, Ashtanga yoga students memorised a sequence of asanas and practised it together without being led by a teacher. Teacher-led classes were introduced in K. Pattabhi Jois's later years. Such classes ...
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Meditation Seat
Meditative postures or meditation seats are the body positions or asanas, usually sitting but also sometimes standing or reclining, used to facilitate meditation. Best known in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions are the lotus and kneeling positions; other options include sitting on a chair, with the spine upright. Meditation is sometimes practiced while walking, such as kinhin, doing simple repetitive tasks, as in Zen samu, or work which encourages mindfulness. Postures in the ''Yoga Sutras'' The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' describe yoga as having eight limbs, one being asana, the meditation seat. The sutras do not name any asanas, merely specifying the characteristics of a good asana, stating: The ''Sutras'' are embedded in the ''Bhasya'' commentary, which scholars including Philipp Maas now believe are by the same author; it names 12 seated meditation asanas, possibly all cross-legged, including Padmasana, Virasana, Bhadrasana (now called Baddha Konasana), and Svast ...
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Lalitasana
Lalitasana is a pose or mudra in Indian art and the art of dharmic religions in other countries. It is often called "the royal position" or "royal ease" in English, and is a relaxed pose typical in royal portraits and those of religious figures whose "kingly" attributes are being emphasized. The figure sits on a throne with one leg tucked inwards on the seat and the other hanging down ("pendent") to touch the ground or rest on a support (often a stylized lotus throne). Usually it is the proper right leg that dangles, but the reversed image can be found. Bare feet are normal. ''Asana'' is a general term for a seated pose, from ''āsana'' "sitting down" (from आस ''ās'' "to sit down"), a sitting posture, a seat. Some sources distinguish between the ''lalitasana'' posture, as described above, and the "royal ease" (''maharajalilasana'' or ''rajalilasana''), where the right leg (usually) is bent, and the foot rests on the same level as the sitting body, and the extended arm i ...
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Pattabhi Jois
K. Pattabhi Jois (26 July 1915 – 18 May 2009) was an Indian Modern yoga gurus, yoga guru who developed and popularized the vinyasa, flowing style of yoga as exercise known as Ashtanga (vinyasa) yoga. In 1948, Jois established the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in Mysore, India. Pattabhi Jois is one of a short list of Indians instrumental in establishing modern yoga as exercise in the 20th century, along with B. K. S. Iyengar, another pupil of Krishnamacharya in Mysore. Jois sexual abuse by yoga gurus, sexually abused some of his yoga students by touching inappropriately during adjustments. Sharath Jois has publicly apologised for his grandfather's "improper adjustments". Biography Early life Krishna Pattabhi Jois was born in a Kannada Hindu family on 26 July 1915 (''Guru Purnima, Guru Pūrṇimā'', full moon day) in the village of Kowshika, near Hassan district, Hassan, Karnataka, South India. Jois's father was an Hindu astrology, astrologer, priest, and landholder. His ...
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Goraksha Samhita
Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath (Sanskrit: ''Gorakṣanātha'') (Devanagari : गोरक्षनाथ / गोरखनाथ), c. early 11th century) was a Hindu yogi, mahasiddha and saint who was the founder of the Nath Hindu monastic movement in India. He is considered one of the two disciples of Matsyendranath. His followers are known as yogi, Jogi, ''Gorakhnathi'', ''Darshani'' or ''Kanphata''. He was one of nine saints, or Navnath, and is known in Maharashtra, India. Hagiography, Hagiographies describe him to be a person outside the laws of time who appeared on earth during different ages. Historians agree that Gorakhnath lived sometime during the first half of the 2nd millennium CE, but there is some disagreement about which century he lived. Estimates based on archaeological and textual evidence range from Briggs' estimate of the 11th to 12th century to Grierson's estimate of the 14th century. Gorakhnath is considered a ''Maha-yogi'' (or "great yogi") in Hind ...
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Hatha Yoga Pradipika
The ''Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā'' ( or Light on Hatha Yoga) is a classic fifteenth-century Sanskrit manual on haṭha yoga, written by Svātmārāma, who connects the teaching's lineage to Matsyendranath of the Nathas. It is among the most influential surviving texts on haṭha yoga, being one of the three classic texts alongside the ''Gheranda Samhita'' and the ''Shiva Samhita''. More recently, eight works of early hatha yoga that may have contributed to the ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' have been identified. Title and composition Different manuscripts offer different titles for the text, including ''Haṭhayogapradīpikā'', ''Haṭhapradīpikā'', ''Haṭhapradī'', and ''Hath-Pradipika''. It was composed by Svātmārāma in the 15th century as a compilation of the earlier haṭha yoga texts. Svātmārāma incorporates older Sanskrit concepts into his synthesis. He introduces his system as a preparatory stage for physical purification before higher meditation or Raja Yoga. S ...
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Tirthankara
In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''Dharma (Jainism), dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a ''Tirtha (Jainism), tirtha'', a fordable passage across ''Saṃsāra (Jainism), saṃsāra'', the sea of interminable birth and death. According to Jains, ''tirthankaras'' are the supreme preachers of ''dharma'', who have conquered ''saṃsāra'' on their own and made a path for others to follow. After understanding the true nature of the self or soul, the ''Tīrthaṅkara'' attains ''kevala jnana'' (omniscience). A Tirthankara provides a bridge for others to follow them from ''saṃsāra'' to ''moksha'' (liberation). In Jain cosmology, the wheel of time is divided into two halves, Utsarpiṇī', the ascending time cycle, and ''avasarpiṇī'', the descending time cycle (said to be current now). In each half of the cycle, exactly 24 ''tirthankaras'' grace this part of the universe. There have been infini ...
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