padmasana

Alternative forms

• padmasan

Etymology

From Sanskrit पद्मासन (padmāsana, “lotus seat”), from पद्म (padma, “lotus”) + आसन (āsana, “asana”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /padˈmɑːsənə/

Noun

padmasana (uncountable)

1. (yoga) A pose in which one sits cross-legged with each foot sole-upwards on the opposite leg; the lotus position. [from 19th c.]
   • 1997, Kiran Nagarkar, Cuckold, HarperCollins 2013, p. 127:

     When he was a child of four, he sat in padmasan, his backbone a relaxed ninety degrees to the ground, for five or six hours while the singer or instrumentalist expounded a raga.