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Simhasana ( sa, सिंहासन;
The name comes from the Sanskrit words ''simha'' (सिंह), meaning "lion", and ''āsana'' (आसन), meaning "posture" or "seat". The pose has also been named Narasimhasana, as in the 19th century '' Joga Pradipika'', from Sanskrit नरसिंह Narasimha, a lion-man avatar of the god Vishnu. The posture is described in the tenth century '' Vimānārcanākalpa''.
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{{Hatha yoga Sitting asanas Meditation asanas Kneeling asanas Medieval Hatha Yoga asanas
Simhasana ( sa, सिंहासन; IAST
The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that emerged during ...
: ''Siṁhāsana'') or Lion Pose is an 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 ...
in 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 ...
and modern yoga as exercise.
Etymology and origins
The name comes from the Sanskrit words ''simha'' (सिंह), meaning "lion", and ''āsana'' (आसन), meaning "posture" or "seat". The pose has also been named Narasimhasana, as in the 19th century '' Joga Pradipika'', from Sanskrit नरसिंह Narasimha, a lion-man avatar of the god Vishnu. The posture is described in the tenth century '' Vimānārcanākalpa''.
Description
The practitioner kneels with the buttocks on the inner arches of the feet, stretches the arms forwards with the hands outspread just off the ground, and makes a facial expression with the mouth open wide and the tongue out to resemble a lion. The yoga guruB. K. S. Iyengar
Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar (14 December 1918 – 20 August 2014) was an Indian teacher of yoga and author. He is founder of the style of yoga as exercise, known as " Iyengar Yoga", and was considered one of the foremost yoga guru ...
notes that this is the traditional pose; he calls it Simhasana I.
Variations
Iyengar's Simhasana II begins fromlotus position
Lotus position or Padmasana ( sa, पद्मासन, translit=padmāsana) is a cross-legged sitting meditation pose from ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha ...
(Padmasana). The practitioner then stands on the knees and moves the body forwards until the front of the body faces the floor and the shoulders are directly above the hands, the arms straight. The facial expression is the same as before.
'' Yoga Journal'' has described a variant "Lion Pose" with the legs as in Muktasana with the facial and hand positions as in Simhasana, suggesting it as a suitable seat for pranayama.
See also
* List of asanas * Virasana, another ancient kneeling pose, without the facial gestureReferences
Further reading
* * *External links
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{{Hatha yoga Sitting asanas Meditation asanas Kneeling asanas Medieval Hatha Yoga asanas