Dattatreya Yoga Shastra

The Dattātreyayogaśāstra, (

The work teaches an eightfold yoga identical with Patañjali's 8 limbs that it attributes to Yajnavalkya and others, and as an alternative, ten exercises, later called mudras, that it attributes to teachers including Kapila.^[3][2]

It claims there are 8,400,000 asanas, though it only describes one or two non-seated postures including Shavasana, corpse pose (as a method of Laya yoga), and the inverted posture of viparītakaraṇī, sometimes considered an asana, sometimes a mudra.^[4]

Its account of pranayama calls for the yogi to sit in lotus position (padmasana) and practice what it calls breath-retention (kumbhaka), now called anuloma or nadi shodhana, alternate nostril breathing. It states that this gives the yogi the power of levitation, followed by a range of powers such as great strength and the ability to overcome the strongest animals, whether tigers, buffaloes, gayals, elephants, or lions.^[5]

The text classifies meditation as being of two types, with and without attributes. Meditation with attributes gives the yogi powers such as becoming very small. That without attributes, such as by meditating on space, confers liberation.^[6]

Mudras

The Dattātreyayogaśāstra teaches