Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga)

Ashtanga yoga (अष्टाङ्गयोग, "the eight limbs of yoga") is Patanjali's classification of classical yoga, as set out in his Yoga Sutras. He defined the eight limbs as yamas (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (posture), pranayama (breathing), pratyahara (withdrawal), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption). The eight limbs form a sequence from the outer to the inner. The posture, asana, must be steady and comfortable for a long time, in order for the yogi to practice the limbs from pranayama until samadhi. The main aim is kaivalya, discernment of Purusha, the witness-conscious, as separate from prakriti, the cognitive apparatus, and disentanglement of Purusha from its muddled defilements. Patanjali begins his treatise by stating the purpose of his book in the first sutra, followed by defining the word "yoga" in his second sutra of Book 1: योगश्चित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः ॥२॥ This terse definition hinges on the meaning of three Sanskrit terms. I. K. Taimni translates it as "Yoga is the inhibition () of the modifications () of the mind ()". Swami Vivekananda translates the sutra as "Yoga is restraining (nirodhah) the mind-stuff (citta) from taking various forms (vrittis)." When the mind is stilled, the seer or real Self is revealed: 1.3. Then the Seer is established in his own essential and fundamental nature.1.4. In other states there is assimilation (of the Seer) with the modifications (of the mind). Patanjali set out his definition of yoga in the Yoga Sutras as having eight limbs (अष्टाङ्ग , "eight limbs") as follows: The eight limbs of yoga are yama (abstinences), niyama (observances), asana (yoga postures), pranayama (breath control), pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (absorption)." The eightfold path of Patanjali's yoga consists of a set of prescriptions for a morally disciplined and purposeful life, of which asana (yoga posture) form only one limb. Yamas Yamas are ethical rules in Hinduism and can be thought of as moral imperatives (the "don'ts").