HOME



picture info

Makarasana
Makarasana ( sa, मकरासन) or Crocodile pose is a reclining '' asana'' in ''hatha yoga'' and modern yoga as exercise. Etymology and origins The name comes from the Sanskrit मकर ''makara'' meaning "crocodile" or "monster", and आसन ''āsana'' meaning "posture" or "seat". Makarasana is described in the 17th-century '' Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā'' (Chapter 2, Verse 40). It is described and illustrated in halftone in the 1905 ''Yogasopana Purvacatuska''. Makara is commonly translated crocodile, but has also been assumed to be a sea-creature like a shark or dolphin, and may have been a wholly mythical beast. In Hindu mythology, it was the animal vehicle of the sea-god Varuna, and of the river-goddess Ganga. A different myth in the ''Ramayana'' tells how Hanuman, seeking to drink from a lake, is seized, pulled under, and swallowed by a crocodile. Hanuman changes shape to become so large that the crocodile bursts, leaving a beautiful apsara nymph named Dhyanamalini ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Asana
An asana 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 to colonialism. In that envir ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Bhujangasana
Bhujangasana ( sa, भुजंगासन; IAST: ''Bhujaṅgāsana'') or Cobra Pose is a reclining back-bending asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. It is commonly performed in a cycle of asanas in Surya Namaskar, Salute to the Sun, as an alternative to Urdhva Mukha Svanasana, Upward Dog Pose. The Yin Yoga form is Sphinx Pose. Etymology and origins The name Bhujangasana comes from the Sanskrit words भुजंग ''bhujaṅga'', " cobra" and आसन ''āsana'', "posture" or "seat", from the resemblance to a cobra with its hood raised and was described in the 17th century hatha yoga text ''Gheranda Samhita'' in chapter 2, verses 42–43. In the 19th century ''Sritattvanidhi'', the pose is named सरपासन ''Sarpāsana'', "Serpent Pose", from सरप, ''sarpa ', "serpent" or "snake". It is described and illustrated in halftone as Bhujangasana in the 1905 ''Yogasopana Purvacatuska''. Urdhva Mukha Shvanasana ( sa, ऊर्ध्वमुखश्वा� ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Reclining Asanas
An asana 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 to colonialism. In that environmen ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Gheranda Samhita
''Gheranda Samhita'' ( IAST: gheraṇḍasaṁhitā, घेरंडसंहिता, meaning “Gheranda's collection”) is a Sanskrit text of Yoga in Hinduism. It is one of the three classic texts of hatha yoga (the other two being the ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' and the '' Shiva Samhita''), and one of the most encyclopedic treatises in yoga.B. Heimann (1937)Review: The Ǧheraṇda Saṁhitā. A Treatise on Haṭha Yoga by Śrīś Chandra Vasu The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Cambridge University Press, No. 2 (Apr., 1937), pp. 355-357 Fourteen manuscripts of the text are known, which were discovered in a region stretching from Bengal to Rajasthan. The first critical edition was published in 1933 by Adyar Library, and the second critical edition was published in 1978 by Digambarji and Ghote. Some of the Sanskrit manuscripts contain ungrammatical and incoherent verses, and some cite older Sanskrit texts. It is likely a late 17th-century text ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ramayana
The ''Rāmāyana'' (; sa, रामायणम्, ) is a Sanskrit epic composed over a period of nearly a millennium, with scholars' estimates for the earliest stage of the text ranging from the 8th to 4th centuries BCE, and later stages extending up to the 3rd century CE. ''Ramayana'' is one of the two important epics of Hinduism, the other being the ''Mahābhārata''. The epic, traditionally ascribed to the Maharishi Valmiki, narrates the life of Sita, the Princess of Janakpur, and Rama, a legendary prince of Ayodhya city in the kingdom of Kosala. The epic follows his fourteen-year exile to the forest urged by his father King Dasharatha, on the request of Rama's stepmother Kaikeyi; his travels across forests in the Indian subcontinent with his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana, the kidnapping of Sita by Ravana – the king of Lanka, that resulted in war; and Rama's eventual return to Ayodhya to be crowned king amidst jubilation and celebration. The ''Ramayana'' is ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Yoga Dipika
Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciousness untouched by the mind (''Chitta'') and mundane suffering (''Duḥkha''). There is a wide variety of schools of yoga, practices, and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism,Stuart Ray Sarbacker, ''Samādhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga''. SUNY Press, 2005, pp. 1–2.Tattvarthasutra .1 see Manu Doshi (2007) Translation of Tattvarthasutra, Ahmedabad: Shrut Ratnakar p. 102. and traditional and modern yoga is practiced worldwide. Two general theories exist on the origins of yoga. The linear model holds that yoga originated in the Vedic period, as reflected in the Vedic textual corpus, and influenced Buddhism; according to author Edward Fitzpatrick Crangle, this model is mainly supported by Hindu scholars. According to ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Hatha Yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th-century '' Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a 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 onwards. Some of the early haṭha 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 essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early Haṭha yoga techniques sough ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Diaphragmatic Breathing
Diaphragmatic breathing, abdominal breathing, belly breathing, or deep breathing, is breathing that is done by contracting the diaphragm, a muscle located horizontally between the thoracic cavity and abdominal cavity. Air enters the lungs as the diaphragm strongly contracts, but unlike during traditional relaxed breathing ('' eupnea'') the intercostal muscles of the chest do minimal work in this process. The belly also expands during this type of breathing to make room for the contraction of the diaphragm. Explanation According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, "12.7 percent of American adults aveused deep-breathing exercises... for health purposes," which it describes as follows: "Deep breathing involves slow and deep inhalation through the nose, usually to a count of 10, followed by slow and complete exhalation for a similar count. The process may be repeated 5 to 10 times, several times a day." According to the University of Texas Counseling an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Shavasana
Shavasana ( sa, शवासन; IAST: ''śavāsana''), Corpse Pose, or Mritasana, is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, often used for relaxation at the end of a session. It is the usual pose for the practice of yoga nidra meditation, and is an important pose in Restorative Yoga. Etymology and origins The name Shavasana is from Sanskrit शव ''Śava'', "corpse" and आसन ''Āsana'', "posture" or "seat". The alternative name Mritasana is from Sanskrit मृत ''mṛta'', "death". The earliest mention of the pose is in the 15th century ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'' 1.32, which states in the context of a medieval belief system that "lying down on the ground supine, like a corpse, is called Shavasana. It eliminates tiredness and promotes calmness of the mind." The name Supta Padangusthasana is from Sanskrit सुप्त पादाङ्गुष्ठासन ''supta pādāṅguṣṭhāsana'', from सुप्त supta, "reclined" and पादाङ� ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Salabhasana
Salabhasana or Purna Salabhasana ( sa, शलभासन; IAST: ''Śalabhāsana''), Locust pose, or Grasshopper pose is a prone back-bending asana in modern yoga as exercise. Etymology and origins The asana's name comes from the Sanskrit शलभा "shalabh" which means "grasshopper" or "locust". The pose is not found in the medieval hatha yoga texts. It is included in Yoga Ghamande's 1905 ''Yogasopana Purvacatuska'', the first yoga manual with printed illustrations, uniquely as halftone plates. It is described independently in Swami Vishnudevananda's 1960 ''Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga'' in the Sivananda Yoga tradition, and by ''B. K. S. Iyengar'' in his 1966 ''Light on Yoga'', implying that it may have older origins. A similar pose was found in Western gymnastics in '' The Bagot Stack Stretch-and-Swing System'', 1931, though Mary Bagot Stack had visited India. File:Salabhasana in Yogasopana 1905.jpg, Salabhasana in ''Yogasopana Purvacatuska The ''Yogasopana Purva ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Light On Yoga
''Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika'' (Sanskrit: योग दीपिका, "Yoga Dīpikā") is a 1966 book on the Iyengar Yoga style of modern yoga as exercise by B. K. S. Iyengar, first published in English. It describes more than 200 yoga postures or asanas, and is illustrated with some 600 monochrome photographs of Iyengar demonstrating these. The book has been described as the 'bible of modern yoga', and its presentation of the asanas has been called "unprecedented" and "encyclopedic". It has been translated into at least 23 languages and has sold over three million copies. Context Yoga is a group of Human body, physical, mind, mental, and soul, spiritual practices from ancient India, forming one of the six orthodox schools of Hindu philosophy, Hindu philosophical traditions. In the Western world, however, yoga is often taken to mean a modern form of medieval Hatha yoga, yoga as exercise, practised mainly for exercise, consisting largely of the postures called asanas. B. K ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]