An asana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose, and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, ...AsanaFromWikipedia,thefreeencyclopediaJumptonavigationJumptosearchForotheruses,seeAsana(disambiguation).PosturesinhathayogaandmodernyogapracticeAsanasinvariedcontexts.Lefttoright,toptobottom:EkaPadaChakrasana;ArdhaMatsyendrasana;Padmasana;Navasana;PinchaMayurasana;Dhanurasana;Natarajasana;VrkshasanaAnasanaisabodyposture,originallyandstillageneraltermforasittingmeditationpose,[1]andlaterextendedinhathayogaandmodernyogaasexercise,toanytypeofposeorposition,addingreclining,standing,inverted,twisting,andbalancingposes.TheYogaSutrasofPatanjalidefine"asana"as"[apositionthat]issteadyandcomfortable".[2]Patanjalimentionstheabilitytositforextendedperiodsasoneoftheeightlimbsofhissystem.[2]AsanasarealsocalledyogaposesoryogaposturesinEnglish.The10thor11thcenturyGorakshaSatakaandthe15thcenturyHathaYogaPradipikaidentify84asanas;the17thcenturyHathaRatnavaliprovidesadifferentlistof84asanas,describingsomeofthem.Inthe20thcentury,Indiannationalismfavouredphysicalcultureinresponsetocolonialism.Inthatenvironment,pioneerssuchasYogendra,Kuvalayananda,andKrishnamacharyataughtanewsystemofasanas(incorporatingsystemsofexerciseaswellastraditionalhathayoga).AmongKrishnamacharya'spupilswereinfluentialIndianyogateachersincludingPattabhiJois,founderofAshtangavinyasayoga,andB.K.S.Iyengar,founderofIyengaryoga.Togethertheydescribedhundredsmoreasanas,revivedthepopularityofyoga,andbroughtittotheWesternworld.ManymoreasanashavebeendevisedsinceIyengar's1966LightonYogawhichdescribedsome200asanas.HundredsmorewereillustratedbyDharmaMittra.Asanaswereclaimedtoprovidebothspiritualandphysicalbenefitsinmedievalhathayogatexts.Morerecently,studieshaveprovidedevidencethattheyimproveflexibility,strength,andbalance;toreducestressandconditionsrelatedtoit;andspecificallytoalleviatesomediseasessuchasasthma[3][4]anddiabetes.[5]Asanashaveappearedincultureformanycentur