r/yoga
Books for learning asana origin stories?
This is Ashtanga Yoga Tech Support. Real questions from the yoga community, answered.
The Question
In my regular class the other day, my teacher told us the narrative of the warrior series and mentioned that every asana has a corresponding lesson/story. As a former mythology nerd who loves learning these kinds of cultural stories but so far has only used yoga for its physical practice, does anyone know of a book or resource that lists asanas and their respective origin story? submitted by /u/Efficient-Ant-8039
— via r/yoga
Our Response
Okay. So here's the thing.
Not every asana has a story. Most don't.
The warrior poses? Yeah. Those come from the Virabhadra myth. Hanuman has a story. Matsyendra has a story. But most poses are named for what they look like. Crow looks like a crow. Tree looks like a tree. No epic tale.
Your teacher might've been speaking poetically. Or loosely. That happens.
If you want the actual mythology behind the poses that do have stories, check out Myths of the Asanas by Alanna Kaivalya. It's solid. Not comprehensive, because again — most poses don't have myths. But it covers the good ones.
For Ashtanga specifically? The poses are a twentieth-century sequence. They're not ancient. The names come from older sources, but the series itself is modern.
So enjoy the stories where they exist. But don't go searching for meaning in every single shape. Sometimes a dog is just a dog.
[END — 1:30]
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