Ashtanga Yoga - The Eight Limbs of Yoga
A note for context: My perspective is based in the Viniyoga/Desikachar lineage. Viniyoga is a traditional Indian lineage of Yoga taught by TKV Desikachar, who was the son of Krishnamacharya.
My teacher, Chase Bossart, was a 20+ year private student of Mr. Desikachar. I have studied this text with Chase, word for Sanskrit word, for over three years.
The famous Eight Limbs or Ashtanga Yoga that most long-term yogis hear or learn about is located in chapter two of the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali. (Check out my previous blog post on the Yoga Sutras, which gives an overview of all four chapters here.)
The chapter containing the Eight Limbs is called Sadhanapadah (practice and procuring), and is the focus for most teachers and dedicated practitioners.
In the preceding chapter, Patañjali has explained that Yoga is about the mind and sustained attention — and, that sustained attention is the result of our systems operating well (meaning we are balanced). In chapter two, Patañjali explains how to achieve some balance in our life.
In the Viniyoga lineage, we break down the chapters into sections: Chapter two is broken down into three sections as follows: Kriya Yoga (Sutras 2.1 - 2.16), Viveka Khyati (Sutras 2.17 - 2.27), and Ashtanga Yoga (Sutras 2.28 - 2.55).
In Kriya Yoga (Yoga in action), Patañjali discusses how we, ourselves, cause most of our own problems. He then outlines a process for identifying how we do that and how to escape it.
In Viveka Khyati (discriminative discernment), Patañjali discusses the experience of discerning — discerning what is mind or matter (prakriti), versus what is spirit (purusha). I call this spirit our Knowing.
In Ashtanga Yoga, or the Eight Limbs, Patañjali offers a set of practices we can do and work on which are very helpful to maintain balance.
The purpose of Ashtanga Yoga, is to facilitate Viveka Khyati, discriminative discernment, and to provide context for getting better (and more consistent at) correctly identifying that version of You which has a different quality than all the other versions — our spirit (purusha) or our Knowing.
If we want to engage in this discernment more regularly, then Patañjali explains that we should do these sets of practices (Ashtanga Yoga). They will provide a foundation for the main goal of Yoga, which is trusting and following our Knowing and learning to operate from it.
Basically, the practice of Ashtanga Yoga is to balance out the gunas, which loosely translates to qualities. The gunas are three attributes we, and all things have: rajas, sattva and tamas. They are essentially the qualities of energy in nature.
1. Rajas: activity, passion, desire, energy, expansion, movement, passion, craving, anxiety, etc.
2. Sattva: harmony, balance, light, peace, goodness, upward flow, calmness, intelligence, consciousness, joy, purity, etc.
3. Tamas: inactivity, inertia, delusion, ignorance, mass, matter, heaviness, downward flow, heaviness, dullness, aversion, depression etc.
Practicing Ashtanga Yoga is not about the generation or increase of sattva, but rather to reduce rajas and tamas. This is very important, because as you reduce rajas and tamas, you will be left with sattva — and sattva is necessary for Viveka Kyathi (discernment).While each of the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga are important, the critical piece is that we understand why they are important, why we are practicing them, and what we are trying to accomplish through them. Essentially, the answer is to be stable, alert, and still, or sattvic (this does not mean no activity but rather that whatever activity is happening is not rajasic or tamasic).
The Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga are:
1. Yama (social restraints)
2. Niyama (personal observances)
3. Asana (posture)
4. Pranayama (breath exercises)
5. Pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyanam (meditation)
8. Samadhi (liberation/absorption)
The first five limbs are in chapter two of the Yoga Sutras, and the last three are in chapter three — this is extremely significant!
The first five limbs are practices we have some immediate capability, or power, to do. For example, the yamas, social restraints, are decisions and actions we can practice immediately, like non-harming (ahimsa) and appropriate relationships (brahmachayra), which will bring more peace and balance within our social circles. The niyamas (personal observances), are actions we can take daily to care for our bodies, minds, and surroundings which help keep our systems balanced and healthy. It’s the same with asana (posture): You may not be in a balanced state when you first step on the mat, but something usually shifts after you start practicing postures, and the ability to become more balanced and focused is achievable. The same principles apply with pranayama (breath control) and pratyahara (sense withdrawal); we have some level of control over doing them effectively.
However, to practice the last three limbs effectively, we need to already be balanced or sattvic (in a state of Yoga) to some extent. Practicing dharana (concentration), dhyanam (meditation), and hopefully samadhi (liberation/absorption) all require a very deep level of focus. Being in a state of Yoga from the start is necessary to help us direct our minds, otherwise it’s not going to happen no matter how hard we try. This is why the last three limbs are located in chapter three, Vibhuipada (Contemplation): Once you’ve practiced and procured a state of Yoga, the ability for profound contemplation and deep meditation is possible (chapter three).
In other words, the first five limbs set you up for better success with the last three limbs, and they are not mutually exclusive.
By practicing the Eight Limbs, and thus maintaining a more constant state of sattva, we are facilitating our ability to discern (Viveka Kyathi). We have more active stability and a greater capacity to be present with whatever we are doing, or what is actually happening to or around us in a situation, and act upon it appropriately and with refinement — from our Knowing. We respond versus react.
Stay tuned to learn more about each of the Eight Limbs in my upcoming blog articles.
Namaste,
Kelly