Asana
āsanaThe word behind every pose name: Trikonasana, Savasana, Virabhadrasana. It simply means seat, or posture. The third limb.
For a word that now fills whole class schedules, the Yoga Sutras spend exactly three lines on it. Here is the entire definition:
The entire classical instruction on posture: it should be steady and comfortable. Everything else about āsana is elaboration on this line.
“Stable-and-easy posture.”
The original Sanskrit
sthirasukham āsanam
Steady and easy. Not deep, not advanced, not photogenic. The next line says how that steadiness comes about:
By lessening the natural tendency (for restlessness) and meditating on the unlimited, posture becomes firm and pleasant.
The original Sanskrit
prayatnaśaithilyānantasamāpattibhyām
The Hatha Yoga Pradipika, written centuries later, puts posture first in its sequence and says why:
Being the first accessory of Haṭha Yoga, âsana is described first. It should be practised for gaining steady posture, health and lightness of body.
The original Sanskrit
haṭhasya prathamāṅgatvād āsanaṃ pūrvam ucyate / kuryāt tad āsanaṃ sthairyam ārogyaṃ cāṅga-lāghavam