Blog-asana: Words on Yoga
What is Yoga: The Eight Limbs
You may have noticed the image now tacked unassumingly to our board in the foyer.
The eight limbs as we know them were originally compiled by Patanjali, in the second book of his treatise on yoga, called the Yoga Sutras, which has been dated to about 400 CE. In them, Patanjali describes ash tanga ("eight limbs") yoga, also called Raja ("royal") yoga. It was the practical side of the philosophy communicated in the first book of the sutras.
The limbs are:
Yama - This is how we relate to the external world, and contains the five self-restrains of 'non-violence', 'non-lust', 'non-theft', 'non-greed', and 'non-falseness'.
Niyama - This is how we relate to our inner world, our observance of ourselves, in 'purity/cleanliness', 'contentment', 'austerity/discipline', 'study', and 'worship/divine awareness'.
Asana - 'Posture'. Asana encompases the physical practice of the body in yoga. (Notice that what we do with our bodies is only a single limb of a full yoga practice!)
Pranayama - 'Breath/Spirit Control', performed through controlled breathing practices.
Pratyahara - 'Detachment'. The withdrawal of the senses from the outside world and focusing inward.
Dharana - 'Holding focus'. This is the ability to turn the lack of distraction that it Pratyahara into a single focus, and is the first step toward Samayama, or 'deep meditation'.
Dhyana - 'Awareness'. This is the meditative state that can be continued through the focus of Dharana.
Samadhi - 'Oneness'. Also called in western thought 'Bliss'. Awareness of the inseparableness of all creation, and therefore of how both the meditator and the object being meditated on are one.
Each limb, like a body, connects to the others. There can be no Pratyahara ('detachment') from the physical world if the body is sick and demanding our attention, through Asana and Pranayama. There can be no Asana if there is no Yama, and we are too focused on the demands of the outside world to focus on ourselves.
Look for more conversation about the Eight Limbs and how they connect our practice to the rest of our lives, and how to actively incorporate each into the time we spend both on and off our mats.
Namaste.
The eight limbs as we know them were originally compiled by Patanjali, in the second book of his treatise on yoga, called the Yoga Sutras, which has been dated to about 400 CE. In them, Patanjali describes ash tanga ("eight limbs") yoga, also called Raja ("royal") yoga. It was the practical side of the philosophy communicated in the first book of the sutras.
The limbs are:
Yama - This is how we relate to the external world, and contains the five self-restrains of 'non-violence', 'non-lust', 'non-theft', 'non-greed', and 'non-falseness'.
Niyama - This is how we relate to our inner world, our observance of ourselves, in 'purity/cleanliness', 'contentment', 'austerity/discipline', 'study', and 'worship/divine awareness'.
Asana - 'Posture'. Asana encompases the physical practice of the body in yoga. (Notice that what we do with our bodies is only a single limb of a full yoga practice!)
Pranayama - 'Breath/Spirit Control', performed through controlled breathing practices.
Pratyahara - 'Detachment'. The withdrawal of the senses from the outside world and focusing inward.
Dharana - 'Holding focus'. This is the ability to turn the lack of distraction that it Pratyahara into a single focus, and is the first step toward Samayama, or 'deep meditation'.
Dhyana - 'Awareness'. This is the meditative state that can be continued through the focus of Dharana.
Samadhi - 'Oneness'. Also called in western thought 'Bliss'. Awareness of the inseparableness of all creation, and therefore of how both the meditator and the object being meditated on are one.
Each limb, like a body, connects to the others. There can be no Pratyahara ('detachment') from the physical world if the body is sick and demanding our attention, through Asana and Pranayama. There can be no Asana if there is no Yama, and we are too focused on the demands of the outside world to focus on ourselves.
Look for more conversation about the Eight Limbs and how they connect our practice to the rest of our lives, and how to actively incorporate each into the time we spend both on and off our mats.
Namaste.