Nyasa

Nyasa can be translated as 'imposition' or 'placing' and refers to a major technique within tantric ritual practice whereby the practitioner sadhaka touches various parts of the body whilst at the same time pronouncing a mantra, and visualising a particular god/goddess (or sometimes an aspect of a god with a particular shakti). Nyasa is one of the techniques for 'divinising' the body.

There are many types of Nyasa, some of which are highly complex and elaborate and involve effectively incribing a yantra on one's own body. Sometimes the 50 letters of the Sanskrit Alphabet are placed on the body, and the practitioner may also use mudra to accompany the placing. Some tantric deities have particular modes of Nyasa associated with their ritual forms.