Yoga Philosophy and the 8 limbs of yoga
The 8 limbs of Yoga are guidance and inspirational source to live a balanced and ethical life on and off the mat.
These incorporate moral standards and practices that set us up on how to attain liberation from suffering and for living a satisfying happy life.
“From the sustained practice of the limbs of yoga, the impurities of the mind are destroyed, leading to the illumination of discriminative wisdom”.
Yama – Self Restraint
This word means restriction and implies practicing limitation from activities, words and musings that can cause damage to ourselves or others.
The five Yamas are Ahisma non-violence, Satya truthfulness, Asteya non-covetousness, Brahmacarya conservation of vital energy and Aparigraha non-attachment.
Niyama – Observances
They are five personal virtues: Sauca purity, Santosa contentment, Tapas self-control, Svadhyaya self-study and Ishvara Pranidhana attunement to the supreme consciousness.
Asana – Yoga Movements and Posture
Asana means comfortably seat and it refers specifically to seat wellbeing and softness of the body for practicing od meditation.
Pranayama – Regulation of life force through the Breath
Pranayama is formed by two words: Prana means the energy or pretentious life-power that pervades and supports all life; and Ayama means to control or broaden. Pranayama refers to the breath as a guideline of the power through stilling the breath, literally controlling the breath for getting to the Prana or controlling the life-power inside the body.
Pratyahara – Withdrawing the Mind from the Sense
It is formed by two words: Prati signifying switch heading and ahar meaning to eliminate or pull out. It is setting up the brain for fixation and reflection. It is the withdrawal of the psyche from the five senses and it is the first step to meditation switching our brain turning into stillness.
Dharana – Concentration
The word Dharana means to hold firm or concentrate focussing your mind. The mind is a continuous flow of thoughts and emotions like a wave on a lake and Dharana is the ability to contrate one object avoiding other thoughts finding stillness and softness the wave of thoughts until dies on the surface to see ourselves clearly in the calmness in the water of the lake.
Dhyana – Meditation
It involves concentration and meditation and it is the freedom of the psyche from every upsetting idea with the aim to encounter profound quiet and satisfaction.
Samadhi – Divine Union
The word Samadhi is composed of Sam meaning great or complete and Dhi signifying cognizance. In the condition of the Samadhi the psyche is in the highest state of mental concentration while still bound to the body and which unites the person, body and mind all in one.
The 8 Limbs of Yoga are the essence of practical wisdom, they direct our lives toward one’s health and help us to acknowledge the spiritual aspects of our nature.
