Ashtanga Yoga

Rishi Patanjali provided a structure to Yoga. He divided the discipline of Yoga in to having eight essential practices.

1. Yama : Yama is the practice of exercising the five rules of moral restraint. The five rules of moral restraint are:
Ahimsa - A principle of non-violence
Satya - A principle of Truthfulness
Asteya - A principle of non stealing
Brahmacharya - Continence / celibacy
Aparigah - A principle of non-hoarding or non possessiveness

2. Niyama : Niyama is the practice of exercising the five rules of moral observance. This will help in self purification. The principles of moral observance are:
Shoucha - Purity
Santosh - Contentment
Tapa - Endurance
Swadhyaya- Self study
Eshwar Pranidhan- Dedication

3. Asana : Asana is the practice of Yoga postures
4. Pranayama : Pranayama is the practice of breath control
5. Pratyahara : Pratayahara is the practice of withdrawing the mind from the senses and hence exercising sense control.
6. Dharana : Dharana is the practice of mental focusing.
7. Dhyana : Dhyana is the practice of meditation.
8. Samadhi : Samadhi is considered to be the final state of achieving oneness with the super consciousness. It is a State of Super bliss, great joy and the confluence of individual consciousness with universal consciousness. It is a state of union between Jivatman and Paramatman. Realization of God or Realizing the Bramhan (pure consciousness) is considered to be the ultimate achievement of Human Birth.

This system is called as Ashtang Yoga or the eight fold path of Yoga. Ashtanga Yoga is also divided into three different groups of spiritual exercises.

I will be posting about the different paths of Ashtang Yoga in my next post.