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Simhasana
Simhasana ( sa, सिंहासन; IAST: ''Siṁhāsana'') or Lion Pose is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. Etymology and origins The name comes from the Sanskrit words ''simha'' (सिंह), meaning "lion", and ''āsana'' (आसन), meaning "posture" or "seat". The pose has also been named Narasimhasana, as in the 19th century ''Joga Pradipika'', from Sanskrit नरसिंह Narasimha, a lion-man avatar of the god Vishnu. The posture is described in the tenth century '' Vimānārcanākalpa''. Description The practitioner kneels with the buttocks on the inner arches of the feet, stretches the arms forwards with the hands outspread just off the ground, and makes a facial expression with the mouth open wide and the tongue out to resemble a lion. The yoga guru B. K. S. Iyengar notes that this is the traditional pose; he calls it Simhasana I. Variations Iyengar's Simhasana II begins from lotus position (Padmasana). The practitioner then s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simhasana Yoga-Asana Nina-Mel
Simhasana ( sa, सिंहासन; IAST: ''Siṁhāsana'') or Lion Pose is an asana in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise. Etymology and origins The name comes from the Sanskrit words ''simha'' (सिंह), meaning "lion", and ''āsana'' (आसन), meaning "posture" or "seat". The pose has also been named Narasimhasana, as in the 19th century ''Joga Pradipika'', from Sanskrit नरसिंह Narasimha, a lion-man avatar of the god Vishnu. The posture is described in the tenth century ''Vimānārcanākalpa''. Description The practitioner kneels with the buttocks on the inner arches of the feet, stretches the arms forwards with the hands outspread just off the ground, and makes a facial expression with the mouth open wide and the tongue out to resemble a lion. The yoga guru B. K. S. Iyengar notes that this is the traditional pose; he calls it Simhasana I. Variations Iyengar's Simhasana II begins from lotus position (Padmasana). The practitioner then st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asana
An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' define "asana" as " position thatis steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Patanjali ''Yoga sutras'', Book II:29, 46 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 colonialism. In that enviro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sitting Asanas
An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose,Verse 46, chapter II, "Patanjali Yoga sutras" by Swami Prabhavananda, published by the Sri Ramakrishna Math p. 111 and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The ''Yoga Sutras of Patanjali'' define "asana" as " position thatis steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Patanjali ''Yoga sutras'', Book II:29, 46 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 colonialism. In that enviro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Asanas
An asana is a body posture, used in both medieval hatha yoga and modern yoga. The term is derived from the Sanskrit word for 'seat'. While many of the oldest mentioned asanas are indeed seated postures for meditation, asanas may be standing, seated, arm-balances, twists, inversions, forward bends, backbends, or reclining in prone or supine positions. The asanas have been given a variety of English names by competing schools of yoga. The traditional number of asanas is the symbolic 84, but different texts identify different selections, sometimes listing their names without describing them. Some names have been given to different asanas over the centuries, and some asanas have been known by a variety of names, making tracing and the assignment of dates difficult. For example, the name Muktasana is now given to a variant of Siddhasana with one foot in front of the other, but has also been used for Siddhasana and other cross-legged meditation poses. As another example, the headstand ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lotus Position
Lotus position or Padmasana ( sa, पद्मासन, translit=padmāsana) is a cross-legged sitting meditation pose from ancient India, in which each foot is placed on the opposite thigh. It is an ancient asana in yoga, predating hatha yoga, and is widely used for meditation in Hindu, Tantra, Jain, and Buddhist traditions. Variations include easy pose (Sukhasana), half lotus, bound lotus, and psychic union pose. Advanced variations of several other asanas including yoga headstand have the legs in lotus or half lotus. The pose can be uncomfortable for people not used to sitting on the floor, and attempts to force the legs into position can injure the knees. Shiva, the meditating ascetic God of Hinduism, Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism, and the Tirthankaras in Jainism have been depicted in the lotus position, especially in statues. The pose is emblematic both of Buddhist meditation and of yoga, and as such has found a place in Western culture as a symbol of health ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virasana
Virasana ( sa, वीरासन; IAST: ''vīrāsana'') or Hero Pose is a kneeling asana in modern yoga as exercise. Medieval hatha yoga texts describe a cross-legged meditation asana under the same name. Supta Virasana is the reclining form of the pose; it provides a stronger stretch. Etymology and origins The name comes from the Sanskrit words वीर ''vira'' meaning "hero", and आसन ''āsana'' meaning "posture" or "seat"; ''supta'' (सुप्त) means "reclined". The name virasana is ancient, being found in the 8th century ''Patanjalayogashastravivarana'' (2.46-48) and the 13th century ''Vasishthasamhita'' (1.72), but in those texts the description is of a cross-legged meditation seat. The modern kneeling pose is found in 20th century texts such as B.K.S. Iyengar's ''Light on Yoga''; it is mentioned also in Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga texts (e.g. Maehle 2011, who recommends it for lengthening the quadriceps muscle). The yoga scholar Mark Singleton notes that a pose ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vimānārcanākalpa
The ''Vimānārcanākalpa'' is a 10th to 11th century text on Hatha yoga, attributed to the sage Marichi. Text The ''Vimanarcanakalpa'' is a 10th to 11th century prose text on Hatha yoga, attributed to the sage Marichi. revised from American Academy of Religions conference, San Francisco, 19 November 2011. It states that yoga is the union of the individual with the supreme self. It is one of the earliest texts to describe a non-seated asana and to call such postures asanas (the term originally and literally meaning a seat), namely Mayurasana the peacock pose. In chapter 96 it describes nine asanas in all (Brahmasana, Svastikasana, Lotus position, Padmasana, Gomukhasana, Simhasana, Muktasana, Virasana, Bhadrasana, and Mayurasana), some 500 years before the ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika''. Its account of Mayurasana, in James Mallinson (author), James Mallinson's translation, is: The text teaches a method of pratyahara, withdrawal using the breath, which is raised through 18 stages cal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoga As Exercise
Yoga as exercise is a physical activity consisting mainly of postures, often connected by flowing sequences, sometimes accompanied by breathing exercises, and frequently ending with relaxation lying down or meditation. Yoga in this form has become familiar across the world, especially in America and Europe. It is derived from medieval Haṭha yoga, which made use of similar postures, but it is generally simply called "yoga". Academics have given yoga as exercise a variety of names, including modern postural yoga and transnational anglophone yoga. Posture is described in the ''Yoga Sutras'' II.29 as the third of the eight limbs, the ashtanga, of yoga. Sutra II.46 defines it as that which is ''steady and comfortable'', but no further elaboration or list of postures is given. Postures were not central in any of the older traditions of yoga; posture practice was revived in the 1920s by yoga gurus including Yogendra and Kuvalayananda, who emphasised its health benefits. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Narasimha
Narasimha ( sa, नरसिंह, lit=man-lion, ), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is regarded to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to slay Hiranyakashipu, to end religious persecution and calamity on earth, thereby restoring dharma. Narasimha is often depicted with three eyes, and is described in Vaishnavism to be the God of Destruction; he who destroys the entire universe at the time of the great dissolution (Mahapralaya). Hence, he is known as Kala (time) or Mahakala (great-time), or Parakala (beyond time) in his epithets. There exists a matha (monastery) dedicated to him by the name of Parakala Matha in the Sri Vaishnava tradition. Narasimha is also described as the God of Yoga, in the form of Yoga-Narasimha. Narasimha iconography shows him with a human torso and lower body, with a leonine face and claws, typically with the asura Hiranyakashipu in his lap, whom he is in the process of defeating. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Avatar
Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes used to refer to any guru or revered human being. The word ''avatar'' does not appear in the Vedic literature; however, it appears in developed forms in post-Vedic literature, and as a noun particularly in the Puranic literature after the 6th century CE. Despite that, the concept of an avatar is compatible with the content of the Vedic literature like the Upanishads as it is symbolic imagery of the Saguna Brahman concept in the philosophy of Hinduism. The ''Rigveda'' describes Indra as endowed with a mysterious power of assuming any form at will. The ''Bhagavad Gita'' expounds the doctrine of Avatara but with terms other than ''avatar''. Theologically, the term is most often associated with the Hindu god Vishnu, though th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vishnu
Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within the Trimurti, the triple deity of supreme divinity that includes Brahma and Shiva.Gavin Flood, An Introduction to Hinduism' (1996), p. 17. In Vaishnavism, Vishnu is the supreme being who creates, protects, and transforms the universe. In the Shaktism tradition, the Goddess, or Adi Shakti, is described as the supreme Para Brahman, yet Vishnu is revered along with Shiva and Brahma. Tridevi is stated to be the energy and creative power (Shakti) of each, with Lakshmi being the equal complementary partner of Vishnu. He is one of the five equivalent deities in Panchayatana puja of the Smarta tradition of Hinduism. According to Vaishnavism, the highest form of Ishvara is with qualities (Saguna), and have certain form, but is limitless, transcend ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books by decree in 1586, it is the second oldest university press after Cambridge University Press. It is a department of the University of Oxford and is governed by a group of 15 academics known as the Delegates of the Press, who are appointed by the vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford. The Delegates of the Press are led by the Secretary to the Delegates, who serves as OUP's chief executive and as its major representative on other university bodies. Oxford University Press has had a similar governance structure since the 17th century. The press is located on Walton Street, Oxford, opposite Somerville College, in the inner suburb of Jericho. For the last 500 years, OUP has primarily focused on the publication of pedagogical texts and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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