Eastern Wisdom + Contemplative AI
Which asanas are specifically taught in the Gheranda Samhita?
Within the Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā, the teaching on āsana is presented as a distilled selection from an immense traditional repertoire, highlighting thirty-two postures as especially beneficial for human beings. This list is not random; it moves from stable seated poses suitable for meditation to more demanding postures that cultivate strength, flexibility, and energetic balance. The text frames these thirty-two as a kind of representative mandala of bodily discipline, sufficient for serious practice within its sevenfold path of yoga. In this way, the body is not treated as an obstacle but as a finely tuned instrument, prepared through specific forms.
The thirty-two āsanas named in this tradition are: Siddhāsana, Padmāsana, Bhadrāsana, Muktāsana, Vajrāsana, Svastikāsana, Siṁhāsana, Gomukhāsana, Vīrāsana, Dhanurāsana, Mṛtāsana, Guptāsana, Matsyāsana, Matsyendrāsana, Gorakṣana, Paścimottānāsana, Utkatāsana, Saṅkaṭāsana, Mayūrāsana, Kukkutāsana, Kūrmasana, Uttāna Kūrmasana, Uttāna Maṇḍūkāsana, Vṛkṣāsana, Maṇḍūkāsana, Garuḍāsana, Vṛṣāsana, Śalabhāsana, Makārāsana, Uṣṭrāsana, and Bhujangāsana. Each of these is given a place within the sequence, suggesting a progression that moves from grounding and centering to more expansive and powerful expressions of embodied awareness. The presence of both meditative seats and dynamic postures points to an integrated vision of practice, where stillness and movement support one another.
Taken together, these āsanas can be seen as a practical theology of the body. Seated postures such as Siddhāsana, Padmāsana, and Vajrāsana stabilize the practitioner inwardly, while postures like Dhanurāsana, Mayūrāsana, and Śalabhāsana challenge habitual patterns and awaken latent capacities. Animal and bird forms—Gomukhāsana, Kūrmasana, Garuḍāsana, Vṛkṣāsana—symbolically invite a re-alignment with natural forces, suggesting that spiritual maturation involves learning from the wider field of life. The careful preservation of this specific set within the Gheraṇḍa Saṁhitā indicates that, for this lineage, a well-chosen few postures, practiced with understanding, can serve as a complete doorway into the deeper limbs of yoga.