Eight Limbs of Yoga Deep Dive

Samadhi

I have been resistant to writing this post because who am I to write about Samadhi!? It seems to me that there is something to teach in the other seven limbs. They are actionable, and even though my practice of them is far from perfect, I can understand and explain them. Samadhi is a result. […]

Dhyana

We have spent the last couple of months systematically working our way through the eight limbs. Slowly and effortfully trying to concentrate. Getting our minds under control, only to arrive at the penultimate sutra which, essentially, is to stop thinking. It makes sense. After all, the goal of meditation is to live in the space […]

Dharana

Dharana means concentration or meditation on a single point. When we achieve Dharana, we are actively concentrating on a point of meditation, whereas we release all of the effort fully in Dhyana (next week!).

Pratyahara

When we practice Pratyahara, we withdraw the senses. It’s not that there is nothing to taste; it’s that we are choosing not to taste it. Sounds will inevitably happen around us. We choose not to hear them. Taste doesn’t just happen. Neither does smell. How we process, label and experience them is wholly done in the mind.

Pranayama

Breath is connection. It brings the outside world, quite literally, in. We consume it in much more intimate way that we do food. Think about it: food is chewed, swallowed and goes through a lengthy digestive process.

Asana

It is surprising to a lot of Westerners to learn that the third of Patañjali’s Eight Limbs is Asana. Of course, he had no sense of the modern meaning of that word. He just meant “steady seat.” We bring the mind under fuller control if we can sit still.

The Niyamas: Iswara-Pranidhana

If you simply reframe your current activity — the thing you’re doing right now (presumably reading this blog) — as being in service rather than self-serving, you’ve done it. You’re there. Sutra 45 tells us that if we do something fully in service, we gain Samadhi.

The Niyamas : Swadyaya

The more you study a deity, the more attuned with it you will become. The more you will feel its sway on your life. Some people choose to study secular “deities” like political figures or causes. They spend their time and intellect on earthly things and are, therefore, bringing these Earthly influences closer.

The Niyamas : Tapas

Tapas has a few different translations — I’ve usually heard “heat.” But I’ve also heard “pain,” “suffering” and “austerities.” Why do I want to be hot? Heat purifies. Boiling water makes it potable. Smelting metals removes impurities. Ironing clothes removes wrinkles. Now think about the last time someone said something hurtful to you. Something that really […]

The Niyamas : Santosha

Santosha means “contentment.” “Contentment,” it seems to me, is not the same thing as “happiness.” “Happiness” sometimes implies a kind of delusion. To be “happy” all the time means to deny that struggles of daily life; to completely ignore that there is sadness, famine, war, disease. To be “happy” with how things are might be […]

The Niyamas : Saucha

So Saucha, Purity, is about how you regard and purify (and keep pure) your body. But it’s about more than that. We all think of the same “pure” imagery, I’m sure: virginity, doves, driven snow.

The Yamas : Aparigraha

The fifth (and final) of the five Yamas is Aparigraha, which can be translated as “non-greed” or “non-grasping.” I had never considered before that grasping non-material things — like my need to “win” in competitive cycling classes or my need to advance my career — might be a form of greed. I’m also more and more […]

The Yamas : Brahmacharya

Brahmacharya means “continence” or “moderation.” It’s clear that Patañjali is referring to sexual abstinence, at least in large part, but it’s also about moderation in all things. Specifically, it’s about moderation in all things that give us pleasure. But I just want to do yoga and have a ‘yoga body’ and have all of my […]

The Yamas : Asteya

“Nonstealing.” Easy, right? Super easy to not shoplift. No big deal to avoid picking someone’s pocket or snatching their purse.

The Yamas : Satya

If I am dishonest, my mind knows I am being dishonest. However subtle or “harmless,” the mind knows it’s lying, and that knowing creates an obstacle.

The Yamas : Ahimsa

The first of the Yamas sounds simple. It’s usually translated, “Do No Harm” or “Cause No Pain.” Easy, right? Don’t punch anybody in the face. Don’t be rude to waiters. Be “nice.”