What Exactly Are the Eight Limbs of Yoga?

If you’ve been practicing yoga for an extended period of time, it’s likely you’ve heard at least some mention of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Depending on where you practice or who your teacher is, you may have also even learned one or two of them.

Whether you know what they are or not, here’s A quick Rundown:

Yamas - represent control or restraint
Niyamas - represent virtuous habits or behaviors
Asana - represents the physical practice of yoga
Pranayama - represents the breathwork practice of yoga
Pratyahara - represents the turning away or withdrawal of the senses
Dharana - represents concentration
Dhyana - represents contemplation, meditation, and our stream of consciousness
Samadhi - represents harmony, bliss, and putting it all together

Okay, so, that’s great and everything, but… what does any of that mean?

Think of the Eight Limbs of Yoga as the holistic system aimed at achieving harmony between your mind, body, and spirit. They act as a roadmap to inner peace and self-realization.

Here’s a bigger breakdown of what each of these limbs represent:

Yamas

The Yamas are the first limb and are a collection of restraints as outlined in the Yoga Sutras. It is broken down into five different parts (we’ll get there in a second) that are not meant as suggestions but as actual strict rules you should aim to follow at all times.

The Niyamas, which we’ll talk about next, complement the Yamas in a yin and yang balance, with the former referred to as a list of “do’s” and the latter as a list of “don’ts.”

As outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, the five sutras are:

1. Ahimsa: Nonviolence or Compassion

The practice of yoga calls on us to practice nonviolence and compassion not only to ourselves, but also to those around us. The word “Himsa” means to cause pain, whereas “Ahimsa” means to not cause pain and have compassion. It is meant to define compassion and kindness across all living things.

When you practice Ahimsa with yourself, specifically within your practice, think about har far you may push yourself in certain challenges. Sometimes, we know we’re pushing ourselves further than our body allows. When we do so, we are not practicing Ahimsa.

2. Satya: Truthfulness or honesty

Sometimes honesty and transparency are difficult, and Satya explores the truthfulness in our relationships, again with others and ourselves. Hand in hand with Ahimsa, if we are truthful in a way that causes harm, we are not practicing the Yamas. Being honest clears your conscious, which in turn helps to clear your mind.

One of the people we lie to the most is ourselves. Where are you holding yourself back, or what barriers are you causing in your own life? How are you the problem? Be kind to yourself when you come to realizations that may be less than pleasant, because if you use cruel words, even with yourself, you are causing your mental state harm. This brings you out of Ahimsa, which makes Satya impossible to attain.

3. Astaya: Non-stealing

This isn’t as much about stealing a candy bar at a convenience store, though you should still refrain from doing that. Throughout every day we exist, we take something. It may be a physical gift or it may be as simple as the air you breathe. The purpose of Astaya is to find gratitude within all of the gifts and to not take without reciprocating.

One thing you can also steal is time. You can steal time from yourself by wasting it doing things you know you shouldn’t be. You can steal it from others by arriving late to plans, or in a yoga class even arriving late or leaving early. Do not steal from others, do not steal from yourself.

4. Brahmacharya: Continence or moderation

Oftentimes, Brahmacharya is said to promote celibacy, but it is in fact rooted in the belief that we all have an energy, vigor, or “Virya” that should be preserved. Instead of a focus on celibacy, it promotes moderation, as Virya is transformed into “prana,” or our life force. Overindulging in our desires can allow us to grow dependent on other people, places, or things for our own happiness.

Brahmacharya also represents moderation when it comes to physical activity. Many people have a hard time letting themselves have a rest day so their bodies can recuperate. Doing so steals strength from yourself, which puts Astaya out of alignment, and thus means your Yamas are automatically out of line.

5. Aparigraha: Non-greed, non-hoarding, non-grasping

Expanding on Astaya, Aparigraha provides the notion that greed is a form of theft. It promotes a focus more on what we need as opposed to what we feel we need to hoard or latch on to. It also asks us to look at how our greed may deprive others and assess where we need to share more.

In your practice, this could be something as little as getting upset if someone takes your normal spot in the class. They may be new, they may not, but work to detach yourself from material and spatial things so you can be happy with whatever you have, both on and off the mat.

Niyamas

The second limb on the Eight Limbs of Yoga is the Niyamas, which are often paired with the Yamas. As mentioned before, the Yamas represent the “Not To Do List” and the Niyamas represent the “To Do List.”

Just like the Yamas, the Niyamas are also made up of five parts, which are:

1. Saucha: Purity

Saucha explores the purity in our minds and bodies. When you stop to think about it, our bodies purify themselves in many ways, from breathing out carbon monoxide to sweating out toxins.

Looking past the physical body allows us to gain a new perspective on ourselves and our beauty. When we do bring in a physical perspective, pranayama and the asanas help contribute to physical purity.

2. Santosa: Contentment or Acceptance

The contentment found with Santosa is different from general satisfaction. Contentment leads to joy, yes, but that does not mean that we have to like everything. It simply means we must accept our surroundings and circumstances for what they are.

Part of this means that we seek happiness from within ourselves, first and foremost. We don’t rely on outside people, places, or things to create any of that happiness for us. This helps us move toward inner peace.

3. Tapas: Accepting and Non-harming

Tapas translates into “to burn,” and when we use this metaphor, we can think of fiery imagery to represent the burning sensation of our pain. Pain and suffering, however, can help create positive outcomes when we view our painful moments as an opportunity to learn and grow. This allows us to gain a healthier perspective of our lives.

Just like cleaning your clothes or your physical body, our minds and spirits also benefit from a cleanse. Outside of accepting difficult circumstances, this also means we have to accept those who may say or do mean things to us. We must never allow the negativity to affect us.

4. Svadhyaya: The study of spirituality or self-exploration

Svadhyaya asks us to have a continuous study of spirituality. This means we’re able to gain a different or better insight into familiar concepts or philosophies. The Yoga Sutras discuss God often, but it doesn’t have to be taken in a traditional religious sense. God represents pure consciousness in yoga, whereas religious spirituality is one pathway toward God. Other pathways exist as well.

This particular study of spirituality also includes an exploration of ourselves and who we are. The more we understand ourselves, the better able we are to gain new perspectives on the world around us, as well as how we fit into it.

5. Isvarapranidhana: Worship or self-surrender

Isvarapranidhana allows us to gain freedom through self-surrounder. We cling to our possessions if we cannot mentally detach from them. This, of course, does not mean we have to physically detach, but moreso allow our mentality to learn how to detach from them.

The mind should be calm and clear if your ultimate goal is Samadhi, and our attachments can deter us from that progression. When we learn how to surrender to “what is,” we are surrendering to God, the Universe, our higher selves, or anything else that represents something greater than ourselves. Ever heard of trusting the process? This is it.

Asana

Asana is the third limb of yoga and represents the physical postures that make up the practice. “Asana” means “pose,” so anytime you hear an instructor using a Sanskrit name for the pose, it will end in “asana.” If it doesn’t, that simply means it’s shortened (one example of this would be Prasarita, or Standing Wide-Legged Forward Fold, being shortened from Prasarita Padottanasana.)

Practicing the asanas helps us rid our bodies of physical and mental toxins. The physical exercise improves our health, which improves our emotions and well-being. The goal of practicing the asanas is to find a comfortable variation of the postures that can be maintained in stillness. By keeping our bodies still, our minds will soon follow. As stillness is different than stiffness, asanas strive to build flexibility, and a stiff body will break easily in comparison.

Many people underestimate the toxins the postures actually remove from our bodies as well. Even something as simple as a Forward Fold stimulates your core, which helps to detoxify our liver and intestines. Those who spend hours at a computer or sitting down are creating more injury in their bodies, which creates physical pain that weighs down our mental and emotional states.

Proactively engaging in the asanas allows us to improve how we feel, as well as our overall emotional health. It also leads us toward better and more improved versions of ourselves.

Pranayama

Many people have heard the word “prana,” or life force, in the practice of yoga (if you’ve read this article from the top, you’ve already heard it at least once). Pranayama is a combination of the words “prana” and “ayama,” which means stretching, restraining, or regulation. It supports our asana practice by encouraging us to explore our physical boundaries through breathing practices.

Practicing pranayama allows us to gain control over and awaken our inner life force. Think of how a car uses gas, or how a light bulb requires electricity as a source of power. Just as gasoline or electricity powers a vehicle or a light bulb, prana powers us.

The three types of pranayama are as such:

Inhale
Exhale
Retention

Regulating your breath impacts the rest of your body and improves your cardiovascular circulation. Controlling your breath allows you to gain better control over your body.

A fourth type of pranayama happens unconsciously when we unintentionally pause our breath while we’re concentrating or meditating on something. This unintentional breath retention is called “kevala kumbhaka.” We breathe to replace the energy that has been used when we experience physical energy in a posture, even one when we are still. Kevala kumbhaka causes the body and mind to become still, allowing the breath to stop unconsciously because no further energy is required, but instead, we retain the breath or energy we have.

Manipulating our breath helps us set the foundation for increased control of our mind, which in turn helps improve our concentration.

Pratyahara

Pranayama may help us work toward settling our minds, but after that, the rest of our senses need some control. Every sense — sight, touch, smell, sound, and taste — is constantly working to take in information about our surroundings. These also contribute to an overactive and busy mind, which pratyahara works to quiet. With pratyahara, we learn how to withdraw our senses from the outside world to focus our gaze more inward.

The important thing to understand with pratyahara is how our senses impact our mental, emotional and spiritual health. Our senses take in so much from the outside world that can provide either pain or pleasure for us. Delicious food or awesome music may be enjoyable activities, but they should still be met with gratitude and moderation.

Placing too much importance on activities causes our senses to crave them more, which causes our minds to have trouble resting until those cravings have been satisfied. Conversely, our senses might take on negative experiences in our lives, which also causes our minds to become overactive.

Pratyahara allows us to withdraw from these external senses and turn more toward our inner peace.

Dharana

The foundation of meditation is set with concentration, and it all begins with Dharana. It might be easier to focus on something physical, as our minds grasp physical objects easier than abstract concepts. When we start to concentrate on something, we can stop our racing mind and encourage it to slow things down.

Trataka, or Yogic Gazing Meditation, is a practice where you focus your gaze on a singular object, such as a lit candle. When you concentrate and focus on something physical, you’ll eventually be able to close your eyes and see the exact same object without actually looking at it. When you learn to focus and concentrate with your eyes closed, you might be able to find more abstract concepts to concentrate on.

Don’t be discouraged if you have a hard time with dharana — it takes practice and it’s far from easy. Our minds wander naturally, and when we try to focus on a singular object, we naturally start to move between different thoughts. Don’t let this discourage you. Concentration takes practice, just like anything else.

Dhyana

Dhyana comes after you learn concentration through Dharana. Dhyana allows us to further contemplate the object(s) you’ve been focusing on.

Up to this point, all of the previous sutras are vital to perform dhyana properly. Dharana is practice for dhyana in many ways, as it works toward the singular focus of an object. Dhyana, on the other hand, looks to build a stream of thoughts around an object to meditate on.

When we learn how to move away from physical objects and concentrate on more abstract concepts, dhyana allows us an opportunity to explore the concept of God in meditation.

Although there are many types of meditation, dhyana builds on all of the previous sutras to practice meditative reflection or contemplation.

Samadhi

Samadhi is what every other limb is working toward, and the difference between it and all of the other sutras is that it is not something that is practiced, but rather is a result of the culmination of all of the prior sutras. When we practice the sutras in order, the outcome is samadhi, or harmony and inner peace. It is the state of bliss that comes through meditation.

Samadhi can also be broken down, for the most part, into two different kinds: distinguished and undistinguished.

Distinguished samadhi (Samprajnata Samadhi) is broken down into four forms, practiced in order:

The Gross Material (Savitarka Samadhi): When you concentrate on a physical object. This is the first and easiest stage for the mind to focus on a physical, concrete, and visible item.
The Subtle Elements (Savicara Samadhi): This is when the subtle elements move beyond a physical object and take on more abstract concepts. These could be things like “love” or “beauty” that are being contemplated instead of a physical or concrete object.
Tranquil Mind (Sa-ananda Samadhi): The citta represents the totality of the mind. Within the mind, we find our ego or the individual which provides intellect. This is the basic mind, but another stage of the mind is the part that houses desire and is attracted by our senses. We stray away from reflection and into a blissful state as we go into more subtle objects.
The Ego/The “I” (Sa-asmita Samadhi): The intellect retreats completely in the fourth samadhi, and we are thus left without any purposeful thought or reflection. We are only able to see the “I.”

On the flip side, Undistinguished Samadhi (Asamprajnata Samadhi) happens when self-consciousness slips away and samadhi is achieved without any object.

Final Thoughts

Although this is just a brief introduction to the Eight Limbs of Yoga, it’s still a great starting point to start to learn and implement them into your lives.

Take some time to reflect on what you’ve learned so far. Which of the Limbs reach out to you the most right away? Why? Which do you feel the least connection or most hesitancy to? Why?

As you practice yoga, incorporating the Eight Limbs will help you deepen your practice, which in turn will help you deepen your connection to yourself and your body.

Have you heard of the Eight Limbs before? What are your thoughts? How will you incorporate them into your practice? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments!