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Asana facts for kids

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Tanumânasî en Meditacion Loto Padmasana
The lotus, a common asana position

Asana is a special body position used in Yoga. It can mean the way a person sits, or even the place they sit. Asanas help to bring balance to your mind and body. They are meant to be steady and strong, but also comfortable.

All the many different body positions in Yoga are called Asanas. Each one has its own name, and almost all of them end with asana. For example, savasana means "correct lying" and bujangasana means "cobra" (like the snake). Other names describe the position, such as shirshasana, which means "head" (for a headstand).

Images for kids

  • Asanas Composite

    Asanas in varied contexts. Left to right, top to bottom: Eka Pada Chakrasana; Ardha Matsyendrasana; Padmasana; Navasana; Pincha Mayurasana; Dhanurasana; Natarajasana; Vrkshasana

  • Yogi. Mold of Seal, Indus valley civilization

    Mould of Pashupati seal from the Indus Valley civilization, c. 2500 BC, its central figure in a pose resembling Mulabandhasana.

  • Patanjali's Yogabhasya, Sanskrit, Devanagari script, sample page f13r

    A page from Patanjali's Yoga Sutras and Bhasya commentary (c. 2nd to 4th century CE), which placed asana as one of the eight limbs of classical yoga

  • 15th-16th century Achyutaraya temple yoga asana 7, Hampi Hindu monuments Karnataka (cropped)

    Relief statue in Achyutaraya temple, Hampi, Karnataka showing an unidentified hand-balancing asana, 16th century

  • Bukh Parighasana Parsvottanasana Navasana

    Postures in Niels Bukh's 1924 Primary Gymnastics resembling Parighasana, Parsvottanasana, and Navasana, supporting the suggestion that Krishnamacharya derived some of his asanas from the gymnastics culture of his time

  • Kapala Asana (headstand) from Jogapradipika 1830 (detail)

    Headstand (Kapala Asana) from 1830 manuscript of Joga Pradipika

  • (An) Avatar of Vishnu in the form of the man-lion Narasimha, Holika Holi, 12th Century Indian Art, Museum of San Francisco

    The lion pose, Simhasana, is named for an avatar of Vishnu in the form of the man-lion Narasimha. India, 12th Century

  • Seal posture Mollie Bagot Stack 1931

    "Seal" posture from Mary Bagot Stack's Building the Body Beautiful, 1931. It closely resembles Salabhasana, locust pose; she had learnt some asanas in India in 1912.

  • The Union Minister for Women and Child Development, Smt. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi participating in a programme (Yoga for pregnant women), on the occasion of the 4th International Day of Yoga 2018, in New Delhi on June 21, 2018 (2)

    The Indian Minister for Women and Child Development, Maneka Gandhi, joining a programme of yoga for pregnant women in 2018

  • Mr-yoga-lord of dance - both arms

    The Yoga Sutras 2:46 state that asanas, here Natarajasana, should be "steady and comfortable".

  • Downward-Facing-Dog

    Adho Mukha Svanasana, downward-facing dog pose, is performed at least once and often twice in Surya Namaskar, the Salute to the Sun.

  • Eka-Pada Bakasana

    Eka Pada Bakasana (One-legged Crane), an asana in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga's Advanced series

  • Jambhala, The Buddhist God of Riches LACMA M.86.61.3

    Jambhala, the Buddhist god of riches, seated in Lalitasana. Nepal, 1643

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Asana para niños

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