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Asana
The term ‘asana’ comes from the verb root ‘as’ which has meanings that include ‘to be present’, ‘to inhabit’, ‘dwell in’, ‘to sit quietly’, and ‘abide’, and has been translated as: (i) sitting, abiding; (ii) a seat or throne; and (iii) a sitting position or posture. In the context of Yoga, the term carries the general sense of a bodily posture that can be maintained for a prolonged period in order to provide a stable foundation for higher practices such as pranayama, dharana and dhyana. In Hatha-Yoga the practice of asana has the additional role of balancing the various pranas or vayus, as well as being an aid in the purification of the nadis.
In contrast to its pivotal position in most contemporary Yoga schools, the place of asana in the Hatha tradition is more preliminary. Indeed in some Hatha systems it is not included as an explicit limb or aspect at all, though when this is the case a number of asanas suitable for prolonged sitting are usually described.
The number of asanas described in Hatha texts varies significantly, though many hold that there are as many as there ‘species of beings’, and/or cite the number as 8,400,000. Of these Siva is said to have taught 84, a number which has symbolic significance in Hinduism, though no known text before the 17th century Hatha-Ratna-Avali (‘String of Pearls on Hatha’) enumerates or describes these.
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There are as many asanas as there are species of beings. (Only) Maheshvara (Siva) knows all their varieties.
Of the 8,400,000, one for each (100,000) has been mentioned. Thus Siva created eighty-four seats (asanas).
Of all the asanas, two are special. The first is said to be the hero’s posture (siddha-asana); the second is the lotus posture (kamala-asana). (Goraksa-Paddhati: 1.8-10)
There are eight-four hundreds of thousands of asanas described by Siva. The asanas are as many in number as there are numbers of species of living creatures in this universe.
Among them eight-four are the best; and among these eighty-four, thirty-two have been found useful for mankind in this world.
Siddhasana, Padmasana, Bhadrasana, Muktasana, Vajrasana, Swastikasana, Simhasana, Gomukhasana, Virasana, Dhanurasana, Mrtasana, Guptasana, Matsyasana, Matsyendrasana, Paschimottanasana, Goraksasana, Utkatasana, Sankatasana, Mayurasana, Kukutasana, Kurmasana, Uttana Kurmasana, Mandukasana, Uttana Mandukasana, Vrksasana, Garudasana, Vrsasana, Salabhasana, Makarasana, Ustrasana, Bhujgangasana, Yogasana. (Gheranda-Samhita: 2.1-6)
There are eighty-four asanas, of various modes. Out of them, four ought to be adopted, which I mention below – (1) Siddhasana; (2) Padmasana; (3) Ugrasana; (4) Svastikasana. (Siva Samhita: 3.84) |
Given that older texts such as these describe at the most a few dozen asanas, and that contemporary texts provide details of considerably more, there is some speculation that a tradition of asana practice more concerned with the cultivation of the physical body for its own sake than the goals of Hatha-Yoga may have developed among the Nathas. (Iyengar’s popular ‘Light On Yoga’ describes more than 200 asanas, the recently published ‘Encyclopedia of Traditional Asanas’ lists 900, while another asana handbook published in Brazil reputedly contains illustrations of over 2000 asanas.)
Whenever or not this was the case, by the early 20th century the use of asanas (and to a much lesser extent pranayama) for health and physical development was becoming widespread. Bishnu Charan Ghosh, the brother of the well-known Paramahansa Yogananda and teacher of Bikram Choudhury, promoted a system of asanas he developed specifically for health and fitness through his Ghosh College of Physical Education which was established in 1924 in what is now Kolkata. In the same year, Swami Kuvalayananda (1883-1966), who founded the Kaivalyadhama Institude in Lonavla near Mumbai, was instrumental in introducing asanas into the physical education curriculum in Indian schools. The now famous yogin Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), who was the guru of B.K.S. Iyengar, K. Patabhi Jois, and T.K.V. Desikachar, was sent by the Maharaja of Mysore to observe this institution's work in 1934. Recent research into the system of asanas taught by Krishnamacharya when he had the patronage of the Mysore Palace from 1933-50 indicates that it was influenced by Indian wrestling and gymnastic traditions, and suggestively the term asana is also used for positions in wrestling (and archery). By the end of the 20th century the practice of asanas as a form of physical development had evolved to the level of a competitive sport, with so-called ‘Yoga Championships’ held in India and around the world employing categories such as ‘athletic yoga’ and ‘artistic yoga’.
Many if not most contemporary Yoga practitioners, especially those outside of India, reduce Yoga to the practice of asana, which is in turn popularly understood as a means of improving fitness and flexibility. In his role as a healer, Krishnamacharya also explored the therapeutic dimension of asanas (and pranayama), and work of this kind of work is now being professionalised as yoga therapy in the West. A growing body of research into the benefits of asanas has demonstrated its efficacy in both of these contexts, its regular practice improving physiological markers such as musculoskeletal flexibility, cardiovascular and respiratory efficiency, immune response, endocrine and gastrointestinal functioning; and psychological markers such as attention, memory, somatic awareness and mood, as well as having a positive affect on anxiety and depression.
As an aspect of Patanjali’s astanga-yoga, asana is understood as the stability that comes from the relaxation of the effort required to maintain a physical posture. While Vyasa’s commentary mentions a number of asanas suitable for sustained sitting, the only stipulation from Patanajali is that one’s posture be steady (sthira) and comfortable (sukham). There is no interest here in the cultivation of the physical body for its own sake, but in the disciplining of the body so that attention can be directed without distraction towards the infinite (ananta) (Yoga-Sutra: 2.46-7). More specifically, the perfection of asana is marked by the capacity to remain unaffected by the ‘pairs of opposites’ (dvandvas) (2.48) such as heat and cold, pleasure and pain, light and darkness, gain and loss, and love and hatred.
The role of asanas in the Hatha tradition is significantly broader than it is in Patanjali’s system. Guided by the fundamental principle that liberation can take place in and through the body, and as the following quotes demonstrate, the cultivation of the kind of physiological and psychological benefits mentioned above is consistent with the ultimate goals of Hatha-Yoga.
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Asanas are treated of in the first place as they form the first stage of Hatha-Yoga. Asanas make one firm, free from diseases, and light of limb. (Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika: 1.17)
Several diseases brought on by an excess or irregularity in the humours of the body – wind, bile and phlegm – are removed by the asanas. Physiologists will find here a vast field for their researchers. (Jyotsna: 1.17)
This most excellent of all asanas, Paschimotanasana, makes the breath [prana] flow through the Sushumna, rouses the gastric fire, makes the loins lean, and removes all diseases.
(Hatha-Yoga-Pradipika: 1.29) |
As a preliminary stage in many Hatha systems, the benefits of asana practice are important only to the extent that they provide a foundation for the higher limbs of Hatha practice. To this end, asana practice initiates a process of balancing the pranas and purifying the nadis that is continued and deepened by pranayama. In doing so it attunes the practitioner’s awareness to more subtle levels of existence, and as the prana-maya-kosa becomes more sattvic, the kind of self-control associated with the yamas and niyamas arises naturally.
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