asana
American Heritage Dictionary:
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a·sa·na
(ä'sə-nə) 
n.
Any of various bodily positions assumed in yogic excercise.
n.
Any of various bodily positions assumed in yogic excercise.
[Sanskrit āsanam, a sitting posture, from āste, he sits.]
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(Sanskrit). A yogic posture which provides a seat for meditational practice. The most common example is the ‘lotus posture’ (padmāsana) in which both feet rest on top of the thigh of the opposite leg.
The physical positions, or postures, of hatha yoga. Many of these are named after living creatures, e.g., cow, peacock, locust, cobra, lion. Early yoga treatises state that there are 8.4 million asanas, of which 84 are the best and 32 the most useful for the health of mankind. Hatha yoga should properly be combined with spiritual development.
Sources:
Hittleman, Richard L. Richard Hittleman's Yoga for Total Fitness. New York: Bantam Books, 1983.
Kuvalayananda, Swami. Popular Yoga Asanas. Rutland, Vt.: Charles E. Tuttle, 1971.
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American Heritage Dictionary
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Oxford Dictionary of Buddhism
A Dictionary of Buddhism. Copyright © 2003, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.
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