आसन का शाब्दिक अर्थ है - संस्कृत शब्दकोष के अनुसार आसनम् (नपुं.) - आस् (धातु) +ल्युट (प्रत्यय) । जिसके विभिन्न अर्थ हैं जैसे - 1. बैठना, 2. बैठने का आधार, 3. बैठने की विशेष प्रक्रिया, 4. बैठ जाना इत्यादि।

An āsana is a body posture, originally and still a general term for a sitting meditation pose, and later extended in hatha yoga and modern yoga as exercise, to any type of position, adding reclining, standing, inverted, twisting, and balancing poses. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali define "asana" as "[a position that] is steady and comfortable". Patanjali mentions the ability to sit for extended periods as one of the eight limbs of his system. Asanas are also called yoga poses or yoga postures in English.