I'm Coach Rose

When someone says the word, “yoga,” your brain might bring up images of lithe figures doing crazy stretches and balances, perfect posture, and classes that seem exclusionary.

However, yoga has always meant to be a practice for everyone. Yoga is meant to strengthen the mind-body connection. In other words, yoga is not made up of just physical poses. Yoga is also a practice of the mind. The word “yoga” means “yoke” which means “union.” If there were an endgame to practicing yoga, it would be joining mind and body together to achieve enlightenment or become fully conscious and one with the universe around us, including the people.

There are different philosophies when it comes to achieving enlightenment (or samadhi) through yoga. My yoga teachers taught us the Eight Limbs of Yoga.  

The Eight Limb path is a set of morals, principles, and practices to incorporate into your life to bring harmony and understanding into your being. They’re not meant to be done in a linear fashion. It isn’t a, “follow this step by step and you are guaranteed full absorption.”  These are practices that, once learned, become a way of life which can bring you harmony and peace even if you do not reach enlightenment.

Around 400-200 CE, an Indian guru named Patanjali compiled the Yoga Sutras. In it, he describes the foundation of yoga: the eightfold path that leads to enlightenment. He didn’t “invent” the Eight Limbs. The Eight Limbs come from his teachings which he learned from his own gurus who learned from their gurus and so on. Patanjali compiled these teachings into the Yoga Sutras in order for gurus to have a foundation to teach from. In fact, some practitioners of yoga have difficulty understanding the Yoga Sutras without a teacher or guru to guide them.

The Eight Limbs of yoga are:

• Yamas– moral disciplines/vows
• Niyamas– duties/observances
• Asana– physical postures/poses
• Pranayama– breathing techniques
• Pratyahara– sensory transcendence
• Dharana– focused concentration
• Dhyana– meditation
• Samadhi– bliss, enlightenment, or sometimes referred to as integration

Each limb has its own set of practices that lead to a purposeful and peaceful life.

I will go on a deeper dive on each limb. If you’re interested in reading the Yoga Sutras, this is an affiliate link to the copy that I own. There are also free versions online that have different translations. This text was originally written in Sanskrit and it’s important to find a translation that resonates with you.

Which of the Eight Limbs are you most interested in learning about?

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