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asana

/ˈɑsənə/
IPA guide

Other forms: asanas

An asana is a specific yoga position. Your favorite asana in yoga class might be "corpse pose" at the end, when you just lie there and breathe.

Anyone who's taken a yoga class is familiar with the term asana, which simply means "pose" or "position." There are 84 classic asanas in yoga, and even more variations on them. When a yoga class does an asana together, the students position their bodies in a particular way, often holding the asana as they breathe. In Sanskrit, āsana means "seat" or "manner of sitting."

Definitions of asana
  1. noun
    (Hinduism) a posture or manner of sitting, especially during yoga practice
    see moresee less
    types:
    matsyendra
    (Hinduism) a religious posture
    type of:
    attitude, position, posture
    the arrangement of the body and its limbs
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