[2] The pose has also been named Narasimhasana, as in the 19th century Joga Pradipika,[3] from Sanskrit नरसिंह Narasimha, a lion-man avatar of the god Vishnu.
[5] The practitioner kneels with the buttocks on the inner arches of the feet, stretches the arms forwards with the hands outspread just off the ground, and makes a facial expression with the mouth open wide and the tongue out to resemble a lion.
The yoga guru B. K. S. Iyengar notes that this is the traditional pose; he calls it Simhasana I.
[6] Iyengar's Simhasana II begins from lotus position (Padmasana).
[6] Yoga Journal has described a variant "Lion Pose" with the legs as in Muktasana with the facial and hand positions as in Simhasana, suggesting it as a suitable seat for pranayama.