Hanumanasana


Hanumanasana or Monkey Pose is a seated asana in modern yoga as exercise. It is the yoga version of the front splits.

Etymology and origins

The name comes from the Sanskrit words Hanuman and asana, and commemorates the giant leap made by Hanuman to reach the Lankan islands from the mainland of India.
The pose is not described in the medieval hatha yoga texts. It appears in the 20th century in diverse traditions of modern yoga, such as in Swami Yogesvarananda's 1970 First Steps to Higher Yoga, in the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga of Pattabhi Jois, in Swami Satyananda Saraswati's 2003 Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, and in B. K. S. Iyengar's 1966 Light on Yoga.

Description

Hanumanasana is an advanced pose. The pose is approached from a kneeling position, stretching one leg forwards, the other straight back, supporting the body on the hands until the full pose is mastered. The hands may then be placed in prayer position. Finally the arms may be stretched above the head, the palms together. Iyengar states that to reach the full pose, one must make "several attempts each day" and be prepared to work at it for "a long time".