Yoganidrasana


Yoganidrasana, or Yogic Sleep Pose is a reclining forward-bending asana in modern yoga as exercise. It is sometimes called Dvi Pada Sirsasana, but that name describes the balancing form of the pose.
In hatha yoga, the pose, Pasini Mudra, was a mudra, a seal to prevent the escape of prana, not an asana.

Etymology and origins as a mudra

The name of this pose comes from योग​ yoga meaning "uniting", निद्र nidra meaning "sleep", and आसन āsana meaning "posture" or "seat". The asana's name derives from the yogic sleep mentioned in the Hindu epic Mahabharata:
Yoganidrasana is described in the 17th century Haṭha Ratnāvalī 3.70.
The pose is illustrated in an 18th century painting of the 8 yoga chakras in Mysore.
The pose is illustrated as "Pasini Mudra" in Theos Bernard's 1943 book . Pasini Mudra is described in the Gheranda Samhita 3.84: "Throw the two legs on the neck towards the back, holding them strongly together like a noose. This is called Paśini Mudra; it awakens the Shakti."
The pose appears as an asana in the 20th century in works such as the 1966 Light on Yoga.

Description

In Yoganidrasana, the back is on the ground, the feet are crossed behind the head, and the arms are wrapped around the legs and body, the hands clasped behind the lower back. The effect is of a strong forward bend; B. K. S. Iyengar rates its difficulty as 18 out of 60. The practice is said to warm the body rapidly.
In Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, the pose is in the intermediate series.
In Sivananda Yoga, as described by Vishnudevananda Saraswati, the pose is named "Dwipada Sirasan" and "head-knee pose"; other authors treat Dvi Pada Sirsasana and Janusirsasana as quite different poses.

In literature

The pose appears in Barbara Henning's 2005 novel You, Me and the Insects, where the protagonist travels to India to study with a meditation and hatha yoga master.