page_title: Standing asanas
section_title: In yoga as exercise
hierarchical_section_title: Standing asanas / In yoga as exercise
caption_attribution_description: English: Downward-Facing-Dog Български: Адхо Мукха Шванасана/Куче с муцуната надолу
context_page_description: The standing asanas are the yoga poses or asanas with one or both feet on the ground, and the body more or less upright. They are among the most distinctive features of modern yoga as exercise. Until the 20th century there were very few of these, the best example being Vrikshasana, Tree Pose. From the time of Krishnamacharya in Mysore, many standing poses have been created. Two major sources of these asanas have been identified: the exercise sequence Surya Namaskar; and the gymnastics widely practised in India at the time, based on the prevailing physical culture.
  The origin of standing asanas has been controversial since Mark Singleton argued in 2010 that some forms of modern yoga represent a radical reworking of hatha yoga, in particular by adding standing asanas and transitions between them, and by suppressing most non-postural aspects of yoga, rather than a smooth continuation of ancient traditions. These changes enabled yoga to be practised as a flowing sequence of movements rather than as static poses, and in turn this allowed sessions to focus on aerobic exercise.
context_section_description: Standing asanas such as Adho Mukha Svanasana (Downward Dog), Virabhadrasana (Warrior Pose) and Trikonasana (Triangle Pose) are a conspicuous feature of the yoga practised around the modern world. Nearly all the standing poses now practised were unknown in hatha yoga until the 20th century. Many are described in Iyengar's 1966 Light on Yoga. Some, such as Tadasana, appear in the 1896 Vyayama Dipika, a manual of gymnastics, as part of the "very old" sequence of danda (Sanskrit for "staff" or "stick") exercises. Norman Sjoman suggests that it is one of the poses adopted into yoga in Mysore by Krishnamacharya and forming the "primary foundation" for his vinyasas, the flowing movements between poses. The pose would then have been taken up by his pupils Pattabhi Jois and Iyengar.
  In 1924, Swami Kuvalayananda founded the Kaivalyadhama Health and Yoga Research Center in Maharashtra. He and his rival Yogendra began to combine asanas with Indian systems of exercise and modern European gymnastics, having according to the scholar Joseph Alter a "profound" effect on the evolution of yoga. Krishnamacharya, known as the father of modern yoga, studied under Kuvalayananda in the 1930s and created in his Mysore yogashala "a marriage of hatha yoga, wrestling exercises, and modern Western gymnastic movement, and unlike anything seen before in the yoga tradition." Norman Sjoman argues that Krishnamacharya drew on the Vyayama Dipika gymnastic exercise manual to create the Mysore Palace system of yoga. Sjoman further observes that whereas many traditional asanas are named for objects (like Padmasana, lotus pose), legendary figures (like Matsyendrasana, the sage Matsyendra's pose), or animals (like Kurmasana, tortoise pose), many of Iyengar's asanas have names that simply describe the body's position (like Utthita Parsvakonasana, "Extended Side Angle Pose"); these are, he suggests, the ones developed in the 20th century. The yoga scholar Mark Singleton argues that Krishnamacharya was familiar with the physical culture of his time, which was influenced by Scandinavian gymnastics such as the system of Niels Bukh; Krishnamacharya's experimentation with asanas and his innovative use of gymnastic jumping between poses may well explain, Singleton suggests, the resemblances between modern standing asanas and Scandinavian gymnastics.
  The origin of standing asanas has been controversial since Singleton's 2010 book Yoga Body argued that some forms of modern yoga represent a radical reworking of hatha yoga, in particular by adding standing asanas and transitions (vinyasas) between them, and by suppressing most non-postural aspects of yoga, rather than a smooth continuation of ancient traditions. The addition of vinyasas enabled sequences consisting mainly of standing asanas to be practised in a continuous flow. Such a sequence could be performed quickly if desired, making for aerobic exercise, possibly at the expense of a more meditative practice.
caption: Downward Dog is one of the most widely-recognised asanas.[13]
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