What Are The Eight Limbs Of Yoga
The eight limbs of yoga are as follows:
1. Yama (Restraints or don’ts)
2. Niyama (Observances or do’s)
3. Asana (Yogic exercises and poses)
4. Pranayama (Yogic breathing exercises and techniques)
5. Pratyahara (Control of the senses)
6. Dharana (Concentration)
7. Dhyana (Meditation) and
8. Samadhi (A super-conscious state that is more a consequence than a practice)
The father of this school of Yoga, otherwise called Ashtanga Yoga or Yoga of the Eight Limbs is the sage Patanjali who, thousands of years ago compiled the Yoga sutras. These sutras are pithy aphorisms that contain a world of information and have been written on and described at length by hundreds of practitioners and followers. The Yamas and Niyamas constitute a code of ethics and morals that help set the practitioner on the right path and make it easier to practise Yoga. This is because Ashtanga Yoga or Yoga of the Eight Limbs is a holistic science and art of living aimed at uniting the individual self with the Supreme Self which we perceive to be separated and different. Hence, Yoga primarily intends to correct our distorted perceptions.
This is easier said than done, hence the hundreds of thousands of techniques. The Yamas are five in number and are:
1. Ahimsa (non-violence)
2. Satya (truth)
3. Asteya (non-stealing)
4. Brahmacharya (sensual continence) and
5. Aparigraha (non-covetousness)
The Niyamas are again five in number and are:
1. Saucha (cleanliness or purity)
2. Santosha (contentment)
3. Tapah (austerity)
4. Swadhyaya (reflection, introspection and scriptural study)
5. Ishwara Pranidhana (surrender to will of God or a Higher Power)
Asanas (poses) are in thousands and have been devised down the ages in a bid to help us improve our postural alignment and tone up the internal organs.
Pranayamas (breathing exercises) are again innumerable but the seven most important and practised nowadays are:
1. Anuloma-Viloma (alternate nostril breathing)
2. Brahmari (bee breath)
3. Bhastrika (bellows breath)
4. Sitali (cooling breath)
5. Sitkari (again cooling breath but done differently)
6. Ujjayi (ocean sounding breath) and
7. Suryabhedana (right nostril breathing)
These are all preceded by Kapalabhatti (skull cleansing) another breathing technique that helps and facilitates better and easier practise of the breathing exercises.
Pratyahara means control of the senses and entails years and years of practice, according to Yogis, lifetimes of continuous practice, persistence, diligence and devotion. Not everybody finds it easy to do so, but everybody should. According to Yoga the mind is like a charioteer reining in 5 wild horses. These horses are akin to our senses, which, if left loose, drag the mind astray in every direction. The results are better imagined than stated and are clear for us to see in society.
Dharana means concentration which is easier to cultivate once the senses have been controlled and mastered. Dhyana means meditation, which becomes even easier to practise once a certain level of concentration has been successfully achieved. This doesn’t go to mean that we cant practise Pratyahara (Control of the senses), Dharana (Concentration) and Dhyana (Meditation) right away.
As for Samadhi, it is a super-conscious state that is more a consequence than a practice that can never be described, only experienced. In fact, even yogis of the highest order who’ve attained that state have not been able to share the experience.
