The Eight Limbs of Yoga, Explained

The Sanskrit word ashtanga means 'eight limbs'. In the Yoga Sutras, the sage Patañjali describes yoga as a path with eight parts — not eight steps to climb in order, but eight interconnected areas of practice that support one another and lead, ultimately, to samādhi, a state of clear, absorbed awareness.

The eight limbs

1. Yama — ethical restraints: how we treat others (non-harming, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation, non-grasping).
2. Niyama — personal observances: cleanliness, contentment, discipline, self-study and surrender.
3. Āsana — posture: a steady, comfortable seat, and by extension the physical practice.
4. Prāṇāyāma — regulation of the breath and, with it, the life-energy it carries.
5. Pratyāhāra — withdrawing the senses inward, no longer pulled by every sight and sound.
6. Dhāraṇā — concentration: holding attention on a single point.
7. Dhyāna — meditation: attention flowing steadily, without effort.
8. Samādhi — absorption: the sense of a separate self dissolving into the object of meditation.

A path, not a checklist

The first four limbs are often called the outer limbs — they work with our behaviour, body and breath, and are where most people begin. The last three (concentration, meditation and absorption) are the inner limbs, cultivated together and sometimes described as a single continuous process. The postures most people meet first are just one limb of eight; the framework is a complete method for living, not only a way to move.