9-The 12 Basic Postures

The no. of asanas in Hatha Yoga are innumerable and we cannot fix a particular number but practically speaking we can see that there are around 84 Yoga asanas .Since learning and practicing these 84 asanas are quite difficult , my Yoga Guru Swami Vishnu devananda , founder Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centres ( www.sivananda.org ) has formed an excellent collection of 12 basic postures that has the essence of the Classical 84 postures .For modern day people who have less time to learn & practice yoga , these 12 basic postures along with Soorya Namaskar and some basic breathing exercises are more than enough for their physical , mental and spiritual well being .


The 12 Basic Postures are :

1) Headstand ( Siras –asan )

2) Shoulder Stand ( Sarva –anga-asan)

3) Plough ( Hal-asan )

4) Fish ( Matsy-asan )

5) Sitting Forward Bend ( Paschi-Motan-asan )

6) Cobra ( Bhujan-asan)

7) Locust ( Shalab-asan )

8) Bow ( Dhanur-asan )

9) Half Spinal twist ( Ardha-Matsya-asan )

10) Crow ( Kak-asan ) , Peacock ( Mayur-asan)

11) Standing Forward Bend ( Pada-Hatsa-asan )

12) Triangle ( Trikon-asan )

These 12 Basic postures are taught in the Sivananda Centres and Ashram’s world over in their beginners course and these 12 postures form a basic foundation to learning the other advanced postures and their variations .

Before we go deeper in to the postures we must know how these postures are classified and that we will see in the next message .