8 Limbs of Patangali's Ashtanga Yoga

'8 Limbs of Patangali's Ashtanga Yoga'

The yoga sutra is the mother book of all yoga. it was written about 2 thousand years ago by Master Patangali. Master Patangali. Master Patangali was a great yogi of both yoga of the body and yoga of the mind.

The yoga sutra says that yoga is harmony/unity and it can be seen by observing the natural world. TO ACHIEVE THIS HARMONY, YOU MUST GET YOUR MIND TO STOP IT'S FLUCTUATIONS. When the mind stops, you can rest in your own true nature. Otherwise, you identify with your mental fluctuations--this is a great mistake and brings on sources of your suffering. Karma is incurred by this outer identification and will not let your mind come to rest. You are then on a cycle called samsara--the cycle of having to learn your lessons through actions in the physical world over and over again which leads to more mental fluctuatuions.

The process of the eight limbed path of ashtanga yoga is a recipe for stopping your mind from identifying with it's fluctuations and allow freedom from mental suffering. The eight limbs are:

1. yama---guidelines for your actions toward others

2. niyama---vows to yourself

3. asana---the physical postures of yoga that relieve the body from strain and allow for the sense of a non-fixed nature of reality(when you can assume shape after shape, you realize your unlimited nature). This should be done with regularity over a period of time.

4.pranayama----controlling the breath and placing your mind on the breath as a vehicle to your ultimate connection with divinity. Because everyone that is living has breath(it's the one commonality), each one of us IS divinty itself.

5.pratyahara----removing your concentration from things outside of yourself and most especially things of a mudane or unhealthy nature, and placing them deliberatly on things beautiful, harmonious,divine in nature pratyahara is also a state of keeping your attention away from the ups and downs of outside circumstances and on yuor own mental pictures and personal truth.

6. dharana----concentration; concentration so the mind can rest on some idea that is beautiful/harmonious--like the ocean or gratitude--and can remain there with out distraction.

7. dyana---meditation or concentration that allows you to merge effortlessly with the object or idea that you are concentrating on.

8. samadhi---realizing ultimate reality, extreme peace, or losing track of the outside environment and merging with divinity itself.