hubert,
I could be very well be wrong but the reason I believe that they talk about spending three hours in a posture is because if you can do it for three hours you have transcended time so to speak. If you can sit in meditation for three hours, you could probably sit there all day, if you can do headstand for three hours, you could probably do it all day, that is my personal take on it and I dont take the time as a literal 3 hours but as a figure of speech, if I could sit in meditive posture for 2.5 hours, I woudl imagine I could do it for 5 hours, 10 hours, etc… but then again maybe they were literal. Who knows,
seeker
One note to add to this thread…my reference to asana was to the codified system of asana put forth by Iyengar in Light on Yoga. I was not saying that there was no historic references to “asana”.
References to Patanjali’s Sutras and the one or two mentions of asnana should be prefaced with the fact that it is likely those references were to sitting postures and perhaps referencing padmasana only. Though scholars, I am certain, disagree.
Most people do not spend an hour in Padmasana then post that they have an hour long asana practice.
I am sorry for any confusion I added to the thread initially.