Asana

In the practice of Yoga, Asana denotes the art of sitting still[1] and also any posture useful for restoring and maintaining a practitioner's well-being and improving the body's flexibility and vitality, cultivating the ability to remain in seated meditation for extended periods.[2] Such asanas are known in English as "yoga postures" or "yoga positions". Any way that we may sit or stand is an asana while a posture used in yoga is called a yogasana. Modern usage includes lying on the back, standing on the head and a variety of other positions.[2] In yoga asana refers both to the place in which a practitioner (yogin or yogi if male, yogini if female) sits and the posture in which he or she sits.[3] In the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali defines asana as "to be seated in a position that is firm, but relaxed".[4] Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system, known as Raja yoga,[5] but does not reference standing postures or kriyās. Benefits[edit]

Yoga Yoga (/ˈjoʊɡə/; Sanskrit: योग, Listen) is an Indian physical, mental, and spiritual practice or discipline. There is a broad variety of schools, practices and goals in Hinduism, Buddhism (including Vajrayana and Tibetan Buddhism[2][3][4]) and Jainism.[5][6][7][6] The best-known are Hatha yoga and Raja yoga. The origins of Yoga have been speculated to date back to pre-Vedic Indian traditions, but most likely developed around the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, in ancient India's ascetic circles, which are also credited with the early sramana movements. Yoga gurus from India later introduced yoga to the west, following the success of Swami Vivekananda in the late 19th and early 20th century. Many studies have tried to determine the effectiveness of yoga as a complementary intervention for cancer, schizophrenia, asthma, and heart disease. Terminology There are very many compound words containing yog in Sanskrit. Goal of Yoga According to Jacobsen, "Yoga has five principal meanings:[27] Buddhism