Āsana is a generic term for postures used in the practice of yoga, derived from the Sanskrit word for ‘seat’. While many of the oldest mentioned asanas are seated postures for meditation, asanas may be standing, seated, arm-balances, inversions, prone and supine postures as well. There is limited uniformity in naming postures since there are many competing schools of postural yoga. Different authors or schools of yoga may have different names for the same asana while many asanas have multiple names among different practitioners.
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