Yoga Asanas: The Many Postures of Raja Yoga
Have you ever wondered exactly what yoga asanas is and/or means? I get this question a lot, and I figured I would write a post about it. Patanji was a compiler of the yoga sutras way back when and at one point he explained that asana is the third limb out of eight within Raja (or classical) yoga. In order these eight limbs are as follows…
- yamas (restrictions)
- niyamas (observances)
- asanas (postures)
- pranayama (breath work)
- Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
- dharana (concentration)
- dhyana (meditation)
- samadhi (self realization and unity with Brahman, or The Concept of God in Hindu)
So as you can tell basically asana yoga is a concentration in yoga that focuses on postures, examples of the subsections of yoga would be hatha yoga asanas or buckram yoga asanas. Many years ago, Patanjali stated that asanas is “to be seated in a position that is firm, but relaxed”. Now that yoga has evolved into thousands of postures, or asanas, it no longer necessarily relates to only seated postures. Now yoga asanas could be said to have an unlimited number of asanas because of the broad nature of that term within the context of the present day.
Many practitioners of yoga decide to participate in yoga just to feel better and not to get a history lesson in the topic of yoga. However, many people who are very enthusiastic about yoga really can appreciate the roots of yoga which many of these people classify as a way of life.
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