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A single asana is listed for each main pose, whether or not there are variations. Thus for Sirsasana (Yoga headstand), only one pose is illustrated, although the pose can be varied by moving the legs apart sideways or front-and-back, by lowering one leg to the floor, by folding the legs into lotus posture, by turning the hips to one side, by placing the hands differently on the ground, and so on.
The postures include 24 asanas (poses in modern yoga as exercise), one pranayama breathing exercise, and one shatkarma, a purification making use of forced breathing. Bikram Yoga was devised by Bikram Choudhury around 1971 when he moved to America.
The 19th century Sritattvanidhi uses the name Ardha Chandrasana for a different pose, Vrikshasana. [4] Swami Yogesvarananda used the name in his 1970 First Steps to Higher Yoga for a pose similar to Kapotasana, Pigeon. [4] The modern usage of the name is found in B. K. S. Iyengar's 1966 Light on Yoga. [5]
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 ...
The health benefits of yoga are numerous, from physical ones like improving flexibility, balance and strength (per Johns Hopkins Medicine) to mental health benefits. Harvard Medical School notes ...
The name comes from the Sanskrit words kukkuṭā meaning "cockerel" [5] and asana (आसन) meaning "posture" or "seat". [6]Kukkutasana is described in medieval hatha yoga texts including the 7th century Ahirbudhnya Saṃhitā, [7] the 13th century Vasishtha Samhita, [8] the 15th century Haṭha Yoga Pradīpikā 1.23, the 17th century Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā 2.31, and the Bahr al-hayat c. 1602.
The pose was unknown in hatha yoga until the 20th century Light on Yoga, but the pose appears in the 1896 Vyayama Dipika, a manual of gymnastics, so Norman Sjoman suggests that it was one of the poses adopted into modern yoga in Mysore by Krishnamacharya. The pose would then have been taken up by his pupils Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar. [4]
A preparatory pose, also advanced, is Eka Pada Sirsasana, in which just one foot is placed behind the head. The names of the two poses are confused in literature. Light on Yoga uses the name Eka Pada Sirsasana both for the preparation for Dvi Pada Sirsasana, and for a headstand with one leg up, one leg down, a variation of Sirsasana.