Updated September 07, 2016

Yoga poses (also called asanas) are at the heart of the physical practice of yoga. Although there are many different types of yoga, the same group of poses ties almost all of them together. However, the yoga pose canon is always expanding. There are only a handful of poses that come from the earliest surviving yoga sources, and they are largely seated poses for meditation. In fact, the word asana means seat.

Yoga is constantly evolvingand has picked up a lot of poses along the way,particularly in the past century. Although each yoga pose has aspecific focus, it's really the consistent practice of a wide variety of posturesthatbuilds a well-rounded practice, which in turn offers the greatest physical and mental benefits.

The postures can be categorized in different ways:by type of pose, by level of difficulty,or by anatomical focus.

The major types of poses are as follows, and there isof coursea lot of overlap among them. For example, a pose like king dancer (natarajasana) is a standing, balancing backbend. In general, the more elements that are combined in a single pose, the more difficult it becomes.

Although classifying poses by level of difficulty makes yoga seem goal-oriented, quite the opposite is true. As you build your practice, more poses become accessible. It's fun to try challenging poses, but don't get attached to the results. Instead, try to tune into your body every time you get on the mat. Every day is different, so let go of expectations and really experience each posture.

Anatomical focus means the area of the body that is targeted the most by a pose. This is a good way to find poses if you know you are looking for hip openers or hamstring stretches, for example. However, as noted above, most poses have several areas of anatomical focus. Even if you have aspecific body part in mind, you'll work other regions of your body as well, resulting in greaterstrength and flexibility overall.

Take a peek into a yoga class at your gym or local yoga studio and you will see students moving through poses as if choreographed. The teacher calls the name of the posture and the students assume the position in unison. If you have never done yoga, this may seem mysterious. But once you get started, you'll soon learn how to join in. Some poses areso simple, you're probably already doing them without realizing it.Remember, however, that the ability to do a difficult pose doesn't make anyone better at yoga.The simplest poses have the same value as the most complex.

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An Index of Yoga Poses and Sequences