Gorakshasana

The Gheranda Samhita names this pose after Gorakshanath himself, the fountainhead of the Nath tradition: sit with the heels crossed beneath the perineum, hands on the knees, and remain steady. That the tradition gave its founder''s name to a sitting pose tells you what it valued most — not spectacle, but a seat stable enough to disappear into. The posture presses the mula region, which the texts connect with the awakening of kundalini and the restraint of the downward-moving energy, apana. It is a working pose: a place from which to practise pranayama and meditation for hours, not minutes.

1. Sit with the legs extended, then bend the knees and bring the soles of the feet together in front of the groin.
2. Draw the feet in and turn the soles upward, tucking the heels so one presses the perineum and the other rests above it against the pubic bone.
3. Settle the knees toward the floor; sit on a folded blanket if the spine rounds.
4. Rest the hands on the knees, lengthen the crown of the head upward, and breathe steadily.
5. Stay for one to five minutes at first, building gradually; change the crossing of the heels between sittings.

Like all cross-legged meditation seats, Gorakshasana externally rotates the hips and demands openness in the hip joints. Studies on long-term meditators show that a stable, symmetrical seat measurably reduces the postural fidgeting and discomfort signals that interrupt sustained attention. The firm perineal pressure is unstudied in clinical literature, but the pose''s symmetry and grounded base make its ergonomic logic clear: a broad, low triangle of support.