84 asanas; the 17th century Hatha Ratnavali provides a different list of 84 asanas, describing some of them. In the 20th century, Indian nationalism favored physical culture in response to colonialism. In that environment, pioneers such as Yogendra, Kuvalayananda, and Krishnamacharya taught a new system of asanas (incorporating systems of exercise as well as traditional hatha yoga). Among Krishnamacharya’s pupils were influential Indian yoga teachers including Pattabhi Jois, founder of Ashtanga vinyasa yoga, and B.K.S. Iyengar, founder of Iyengar yoga. However, the Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System does honor and accept the vitality of Asanas for well-being.

What is Asana?

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, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define “asana” as a position that is steady and comfortable. Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Asanas are also called yoga poses or yoga postures in English.

What are 84 Asanas?

84 is a sacred number in many spiritual traditions, representing a harmonious relationship between the individual and the universe. This harmonious relationship is also fundamental to the practice of yoga, so it is no wonder that yogis incorporate numbers into their systems. The idea of 84 asanas is an ancient one, though most traditions actually teach more than that.

Many classic yoga texts mention 84 classic yoga asanas taught by Lord Shiva, who forms the divine Hindu trinity (along with the gods Brahma and Vishnu). Some of these asanas are considered highly important in the yogic canon: texts that do mention 84 invariably single out the first four as necessary or vital to attain yogic perfection. However, not more than five or so asanas have been mentioned by name in any of these texts. However, a list of all 84 Asanas is mentioned ahead in this article for the information of our valuable readers.

Origin of the 84 asanas

Goraksha Samhita

The Goraksha Samhita or Goraksha Paddhathi is considered the oldest extant Hatha Yogic text and describes the origin of the 84 classic asanas. Observing that there are as many postures as there are beings and that there are 840000 species in all, the text states that Lord Shiva fashioned an asana for each 100000, thus giving us 84 in all, although it mentions and describes only two in detail: the Siddhasana and the Padmasana.

Hatha Yoga Pradipika

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika specifies that of these 84, the first four are highly important, the Siddhasana, Padmasana, Bhadrasana, and Simhasana. In the Shiva Samhita the third and fourth asanas are different; namely, the Ugrasana and the Swastikasana The Hatha Ratnavali (1600 AD) is one of the earliest texts to attempt a listing of all the 84, although 4 out of its list do not have meaningful translations from Sanskrit, and 21 are merely mentioned without any description. In all, 52 asanas of the Hatha Ratna Avail are confirmed and described by the text itself, or other asana sources.

List of all 84 asanas

The complete list of all 84 asanas mentioned in the Hatha Ratnavali follows:

It must be noted that, unlike contemporary classification, classical yoga texts do not make the distinction between meditative and cultural asanas, but classify them merely as part of the 84 asanas of Shiva. The only text that attempts a complete listing, and contains as yet unexplained postures, is the Hatha Ratnavali, distinguishing it as a remarkable text in the Yogic canon.

Types of 84 Asanas

Asanas can be classified in different ways, which may overlap: for example, by the position of the head and feet (standing, sitting, reclining, inverted), by whether balancing is required, or by the effect on the spine (forward bend, backbend, twist), giving a set of asana types agreed by most authors. Mittra uses his own categories such as “Floor and Supine Pose”. 

Darren Rhodes and others add “Core strength”, while Yogapedia and Yoga Journal also add “Hip-opening” to that set. The table shows an example of each of these types of asana with abbreviations, with the title and approximate date of the earliest document describing (not only naming) that asana:

Types of Asana (with dates and examples)

Type	Described	Date	Example	English	Image
Standing	TK	20th C.	Parsvakonasana	Side angle
Sitting Meditation	GS 1:10–12	10th–11th C.	Siddhasana	Accomplished
Reclining	HYP 1:34	15th C.	Shavasana	Corpse
Inverted	HY	11th C.	Sirsasana	Yoga headstand
Balancing	VS	13th C.	Kukkutasana	Cockerel
Forward bend	HYP 1:30	15th C.	Paschimottanasana	Seated Forward Bend
Backbend	HYP 1:27	15th C.	Dhanurasana	Bow
Twisting	HYP 1.28–29	15th C.	Ardha Matsyendrasana	Half Lord of the Fishes
Hip-opening	HYP 1:20	15th C.	Gomukhasana	Cow Face
Core strength	ST	19th C.	Navasana	Boat

Benefits of 84 Asanas

Effects of 84 Asanas 

Asanas have, or are claimed to have, multiple effects on the body, both beneficial and harmful. These include the conscious usage of groups of muscles, effects on health, and possible injury, especially in the presence of known contraindications.

Muscle usage

A 2014 study indicated that different asanas activated particular groups of muscles, varying with the skill of the practitioners, from beginner to instructor. The eleven asanas in the Surya Namaskar sequences A and B (of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga) were performed by beginners, advanced practitioners, and instructors. The activation of 14 groups of muscles was measured with electrodes on the skin over the muscles.

Among the findings, beginners used pectoral muscles more than instructors, whereas instructors used deltoid muscles more than other practitioners, as well as the vastus medialis (which stabilizes the knee). The yoga instructor Grace Bullock writes that such patterns of activation suggest that asana practice increases awareness of the body and the patterns in which muscles are engaged, making exercise more beneficial and safer.

Claimed benefits of 84 Asanas

Medieval Hatha yoga texts make a variety of claims about the benefits brought by the asanas, both spiritual and physical. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (HYP) states that asanas in general, described as the first auxiliary of hatha yoga, give “steadiness, good health, and a lightness of limb.” (HYP 1.17) 

Additional benefits

Specific asanas, it claims, bring additional benefits; for example:

•  Awakens Kundalini and makes the semen steady; (HYP 1.27)
• Paschimottanasana “stokes up the digestive fire, slims the belly and gives good health”; (HYP 1.29)
• Shavasana “takes away fatigue and relaxes the mind”; (HYP 1.32)
• Siddhasana “bursts open the door to liberation”; (HYP 1.35)
• Padmasana “destroys all diseases” (HYP 1.47), and if done together with retention of the breath in pranayama confers liberation. (HYP 1.44–49)

Practitioners can gain supernatural powers

These claims lie within a tradition across all forms of yoga that practitioners can gain supernatural powers, but with ambivalence about their usefulness, since they may obstruct progress towards liberation. Hemachandra’s Yogashastra (1.8–9) lists the magical powers, which include healing, the destruction of poisons, the ability to become as small as an atom or to go wherever one wishes, invisibility, and shape-shifting.

Popular in the Western World

The asanas have been popularised in the Western world by claims about their health benefits, attained not by medieval hatha yoga magic but by the physical and psychological effects of exercise and stretching on the body. The history of such claims was reviewed by William J. Broad in his 2012 book The Science of Yoga. Broad argues that while the health claims for yoga began as Hindu nationalist posturing, it turns out that there is ironical “a wealth of real benefits”.

Improves birth outcomes

• Physically, the practice of asanas has been claimed”
• To improve flexibility, strength, and balance;
• Alleviate stress and anxiety, and
• Reduce the symptoms of lower back pain. 

Claims have been made about beneficial effects on specific conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and diabetes.

There is evidence that the practice of asanas improves birth outcomes and physical health and quality of life measures in the elderly, and reduces sleep disturbances and hypertension. Iyengar yoga is effective at least in the short term for both neck pain and low back pain.

Contra-indications

The National Institutes of Health notes that yoga is generally safe “when performed properly”, though people with some health conditions, older people, and pregnant women may need to seek advice. For example, people with glaucoma are advised not to practice inverted postures. The Yoga Journal provides separate lists of asanas that it states are “inadvisable” and should be avoided or modified for each of the following medical conditions: 

• Asthma;
• Back injury;
• Carpal tunnel syndrome;
• Diarrhea;
• A Headache;
• Heart problems;
• High blood pressure;
• Insomnia;
• Knee injury;
• Low blood pressure;
• Menstruation;
• Neck injury;
• Pregnancy; and
• Shoulder injury.

A 2015 study

The practice of asanas has sometimes been advised against during pregnancy, but that advice has been contested by a 2015 study that found no ill effects from any of the 26 asanas investigated. The study examined the effects of the set of asanas on 25 healthy women who were between 35 and 37 weeks pregnant. The authors noted that apart from their experimental findings, they had been unable to find any scientific evidence that supported the previously published concerns, and that on the contrary there was evidence including from a systematic review that yoga was suitable for pregnant women, with a variety of possible benefits.

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