The Eight Limbs of Yoga: Beyond The Mat

When most people hear the word “yoga”, they usually picture a body moving through a series of postures: Warrior II, Downward Dog, a twist, perhaps a long, quiet Savasana at the end.

But the physical practice is only one part of yoga.

More than 2,000 years ago, the sage Patañjali described yoga as a much larger path of practice. In the Yoga Sutras, he outlined eight interconnected limbs, known in Sanskrit as Ashtanga - “ashta” meaning eight and “anga” meaning limb or part.

Patañjali writes:

“The eight limbs of yoga are: restraint, observance, posture, breath-regulation, withdrawal, concentration, meditation, and absorption.” - Yoga Sutra 2.29 (Satyori)

These eight limbs are not eight levels to reach and check off a list. They are more like parts of a living body of philosopny. They support one another, and each one gives us another way to practice awareness.

The first two - yama and niyama - ask us to look at how we live and how we relate to ourselves and others. Asana brings us into relationship with the body. Pranayama brings our attention to breath and vital energy. Pratyahara teaches us to turn inward. And the final three - dharana, dhyana, and samadhi - take us progressively deeper into concentration, meditation, and profound absorption.

Underlying all of this is one of yoga's central aims: learning to see clearly.

Patañjali famously defines yoga this way:

“Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ” or “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” - Yoga Sutra 1.2 (VedKosh)

The goal isn't to stop having thoughts or to become impossibly calm. Rather, yoga gives us practices that help us become less identified with every thought, emotion, impulse, and reaction that passes through us.

This is where the eight limbs become remarkably practical.

These Eight Limbs of Yoga teach us how to communicate, how to listen (and truly hear), how to consume (mindfully), how to breathe (intentionally), how to rest, how to pay attention, how to relate to discomfort, and ultimately how to become more intimate with our own awareness.

Yoga doesn't end when we roll up our mat. It begins there.

We’ll explore each of the Eight Limbs of Yoga in future posts. Stay tuned…