Eighty Four Postures of Hatha Yoga

It is believed that Hatha yoga was created by the God Shiva and he initially taught 84,000 postures. But there are no records of these 84,000 postures in any of the scriptures. These 84,000 postures are supposed to correspond to the 84,000 life forms which  human beings have to pass through to attain final enlightenment. However there is a wide spread belief that out of the 84,000 postures there are 84 which were distilled by Shiva. These 84 exercises covers and exercises all aspects of the human being. Of course you would need to have a lot of time everyday to practise all of them. Maybe about 2 -3 hours.

The two main sources of Hatha yoga are Swatmarama’s Hatha yoga pradipika and Gheranda Samhita. The hatha yoga pradipika mentions about 13 postures, apart from that it describes the Shat Karmas the six purification exercises, about 8 varieties of pranayama, bandhas and mudras. It is still unclear where and when this ‘84 posture’ legend came about. In modern times there have been many hatha yogis like Swami Syamananda, Shri Yogendra of the yoga institure of Santa cruz in mumbai, Dhirendra Brahmachari, Krishnamacahrya and his lineage, Sivanada and his lineage and many others who have interpreted the 84 postures in their own way. Bishnu Gosh the brother of paramahamsa yogananda and the Guru of the popular yoga teacher Bikram Choudhari also popularised the 84 postures of Hatha Yoga. Following is a list of the 84 postures in the order in which it is performed from the lineage of Bishnu Gosh. He used to teach a pure form of Hatha yoga and was not into much of innovation for which teachers like B.K.S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and others are  famous for. Bikram Chowdhari picked up 26 postures out of there 84 and created his own patented system with other paraphernalia like the hot room and so on. Bikram Choudhri also teaches this 84 posture series in his teacher training. Following are the 84 postures in the classical hatha yoga tradtion. I am giving only the sanskrit names of these postures. In future I will post more details on each of these postures, provided I have time from my busy schedule.

1 Virabhadrasana
2 Suryanamaskara
3 Parshvachandrasana
4 Ardhachandrasana
5 Padhahastasana
6 Trikonasana
7 Dandayamanavibhaktipadajanusirasana
8 Utkatasana
9 Garudasana
10 Dandayamanajanusirasana
11 Dandayamanadhanurasana
12 Tuladandasana
13 Vibhaktipadahasthatuladandasana
14 Dandamaya Bhibhaktipada paschimotasana
15 Tadasana
16 Padangustasana
17 Vamanasana
18 Khagasana
19 Bakasana
20 Angusthasana
21 Pranasana
22 Sukhasana
23 Samasana
24 Sidhasana
25 Bhadrasana
26 Swasthikasana
27 Ardhapadmasana
28 Padmasana
29 Uthithapadmasana
30 Baddhapadmasana
31 Tulangulasana
32 Garbhasana
33 Matsyasana
34 Makarasana
35 Parvathasana
36 Kukutasana
37 Shavasana
38 Pavanmukthasana
39 Bhujangasana
40 Shalabhasana
41 Purnashalabhasana
42 Dhanurasana
43 Suptavajrasana
44 Ardhakurmasana
45 Ushtrasana
46 Sashakasana
47 Janusirasana
48 Paschimotasana
49 Vibhaktipadapaschimotasana
50 Mandukasana
51 Uthithapaschimotasana
52 Purnavibhaktipadajanusirasana
53 ekapadarajakapottasana
54 Dandayamana purnajanusirasana
55 Natarajasana
56 Akaranadhanurasana
57 Chatushkonasana
58 Gomukhasana
59 Ardhamatsyendrasana
60 Ekapadagokilasana
61 Eka pada sirasana
62 Dvipada sirasana
63 Uthithakurmasana
64 Kurmasana
65 Yoganidrasana
66 Omkarasana
67 Samkatasana
68 Purnabhujangasana
69 Purnadhanurasana
70 Purnaustrasana
71 Urdhvadhanurasana
72 Eka Pada viparitha dandasana
73 Mayurasana
74 Badha Mayurasana
75 Ekapadamayurasana
76 ekahasthamayurasana
77 Halasana
78 Sarvangasana
79 Urdhvasarvangasana
80 Sirasashana
81 Urdhvashirasasana
82 Vyagrasana
83 Vyagravrickshasana
84 Hastasana