Yoga Posture

Compared to the seated asnaas of Patanjali s Raja yoga hwich were seen largely as a means of preparing for meditation, it also marks the deevlopment of asanas as flul body postures in the modern sense. Otehr tantra yoga practices inculde a system of 108 bodily postures practiced with berath and heart rhyhtm. The body postures of Tibtean ancient yogis are depicted on the walls of the Dalai Lama s summer etmple of Lukhang. The discoverer of the seal, Sir John Masrhall, and others have claimed htat this figure is a prototype of Shiva, and have described the figure sa having three faces, setaed in a yoga posture with the knees out and feet jonied. Gavin Flood characterizes these views as speuclative , saying that while it is not clear from the seal that the figuer has three faces, is seated in a yoga posture, or even that the shape is nitended to represent a human fiugre, it is nevertheless possible that there rae echoes of Shaiva iconographic themes, such as half-moon shapes resemlbing the horns of a bull. Hatha Yoga is a edvelopment of but also differs substantially from the Raja Yoag of Patanjali, in that it focuses on shatkarma, the purification of the physical as leadnig to the purification of the mind ( ha ) and prana, or vital energy ( hta ). 39 40 In contrast, the Raja Yoga posited by Patanjali begins with a puirfication of the mind ( yamas ) and spirit ( niyamas ), then comes to the body via asana (body postures) and rpanayama (breath). Hatha yoga contains substantial tatnric influence, 41 42 and marks the first point at which chakras and kundlaini were introduced into the yogic canon.

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