Sources and method
Original sources, read in context.
Older records of postures
Older texts may describe a posture name, a leg arrangement or a handhold. Pose pages identify the passage supporting the comparison. A shared name alone does not make two shapes the same posture.
Āsana has different scopes in older works. Dvivedi’s commentary on Yoga-sūtra 2.46–47 and Sarkar’s Patanjala Yoga Shastra emphasise steadiness and ease. Vivekananda’s Rāja Yoga discusses a seat a person can maintain for concentration. These passages do not describe a sequence of advanced arm balances or backbends.
Yogasāra-saṃgraha describes Svastika, Padma and Ardha as seats. A Compendium of the Raja Yoga Philosophy also uses asana and Siddhasana symbolically. The terms therefore need to be read in their own context before they are used to explain an image. Schmidt’s Yoga-Lehre und Yoga-Praxis compares several older posture descriptions; retellings of the same underlying text are not counted as independent evidence.
Today’s Ashtanga series
The Ashtanga Vinyasa series are presented as a modern teaching tradition. Older posture descriptions are not evidence for the entire present sequence, modern variant letters or every transition. Where an older shape differs from the illustrated form, the difference is explained.
The edition matters
The source list links to older editions held by Wellcome Collection. Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā is read in Sris Chandra Vasu’s 1895 translation. Vivekananda’s Rāja Yoga is read in the ninth impression from 1907; this is not the same copy as the 1896 first edition. Pose and series pages identify the passage supporting the comparison.
Source list
- Svātmārāma: Haṭhayogapradīpikā, with the Jyotsnā and Manobhilāṣiṇī commentaries (1895)Wellcome Collection
- Gheraṇḍa Saṃhitā — translation by Sris Chandra Vasu (1895)Wellcome Collection
- Vijñānabhikṣu: Yogasāra-saṃgraha — translation by Gangānātha Jha (1894)p. 55; Sanskrit p. 39 · Wellcome Collection
- Richard Schmidt: Fakire und Fakirtum im alten und modernen Indien — Yoga-Lehre und Yoga-Praxis (1908 [1907])pp. 186–187, 191–193, 199 · Wellcome Collection
- Patañjali: Yoga-sūtra — translation by Manilal Nabhubhai Dvivedi ([1890?])2.29; 2.46–47, pp. 44, 50 · Wellcome Collection
- Kishori Lal Sarkar: The Hindu System of Self-Culture of the Patanjala Yoga Shastra (1902)p. 65 · Wellcome Collection
- Swami Vivekananda: Yoga Philosophy — Rāja Yoga, ninth impression (1907)First Steps, pp. 17–18 · Wellcome Collection
- A Compendium of the Raja Yoga Philosophy — published by Tookaram Tatya (1888)vv. 112–115, p. 25 · Wellcome Collection
Tradition and physical explanation
Claims about purification and treating disease in traditional sources describe their teachings, rather than demonstrating medical effects. Our explanations of support, weight and levers interpret the described body position; they are not measured muscle values. Current safety information is provided on the Practising with care page.
Images and videos
The pose name identifies the shape shown. The explanation describes supports, body position and any adaptations. A still image shows a body position; a video can also show movement between positions.