Did you know that there is so much more to discover about the yoga practice than just poses and meditation?
When most people think about yoga, they think about the physical practice of yoga, meditation and maybe breathing techniques. While these are all important parts of the yogic practice, there is a lot more beyond that, beyond the mat, that is.
Let’s start at the beginning. About 2500 years ago, the wise Patanjali, often referred to as the founder of yoga as we know it today, wrote the „Yoga Sutras“. He described a spiritual path that, at the time, has been well known for centuries. In his life work, he refers to the 8 limbs of yoga as a way towards enlightenment, the so-called Ashtanga Yoga. This has nothing to do with Ashtanga Yoga as a physical yoga practice that we know today, Ashtanga simply translates to „eight limbs“ in Sanskrit.
What are the Yoga Sutras?
The sutras offer a plan of life, a codex of a yogi*ni if you will. Here are the eight steps towards enlightenment, according to Patanjali:
1. Yama (interaction with our environment)
2. Niyama (interaction with the self)
3. Asana (physical poses)
4. Pranayama (breathing technique)
5. Pratyahara (withdrawal of senses)
6. Dharana (concentration)
7. Dhyana (meditation)
8. Samadhi (enlightenment)
Throughout this series, I will go into more detail about the individual steps. However, before we move on, these steps are not to be seen in a linear way, that you start at one and slowly end up at eight. While enlightenment is, in a way, the „goal“ – or, better, the natural result of steps 1 to 7 – all other steps can be taken simultaneously.
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