Nyasa (English: placing; literally, "deposit" or "setting down") is a concept in

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. It involves touching various parts of the body while chanting specific portions of a

mantra A mantra ( ; Pali: ''mantra'') or mantram (Devanagari: मन्त्रम्) is a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word or phonemes, or group of words (most often in an Indo-Iranian language like Sanskrit or Avestan) belie ...

. This imposition of mantras upon the body is considered as the assigning or locating of divinity inside one's own body. For example, nyasa is part of the equipment of a sculptor as a

sādhaka A ''sādhaka'' or ''sādhak'' or ''sādhaj'' (), in Indian religions and traditions, such as Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Yoga, is someone who follows a particular ''sādhanā'', or a way of life designed to realize the goal of one's ultimate i ...

and

yogi A yogi is a practitioner of Yoga, including a sannyasin or practitioner of meditation in Indian religions.A. K. Banerjea (2014), ''Philosophy of Gorakhnath with Goraksha-Vacana-Sangraha'', Motilal Banarsidass, , pp. xxiii, 297–299, 331 ...

. Each mantra is associated with a specific nyasa. There are various types of nyasas, the most important of them being kara nyasa and anga nyasa. The number seven is commonly written before nyasa mantras in ritual handbooks, indicating that the seven bijaksaras (sacred letters) should be recited before the mantra.

Srividya Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, she had acted in more t ...

followers practice matruka nyasa. The word vinyasa commonly used in yoga practice stems from the word "nyasa" meaning "to place" and the word "vi" meaning "in a special way."

References

Hindu rituals Tantric practices Mantras Yoga concepts {{Yoga-stub