*disclaimer*

I acknowledge that I am not of southeast Asian descent where yoga originated from. My views come from a western prospective while still trying to honor the deep cultural aspect as respectfully as possible.

Say the word yoga and the first thought might be thin, bendy people on a mat, really relaxed and peaceful. It’s a common visual for most of us in the west. However, yoga actually has 8 very distinct aspects that gets lost in today’s modern practice.

When I took my 200hr yoga teacher training one of the prerequisites expected of us was to define what yoga was to us. I found this very challenging because I tend to want to over explain. My first definition was very shallow but simple. More than a physical practice on a mat, a mental practice to help you learn and grow.

Originally yoga was not only a physical practice but a mental and deep philosophical practice as well. There is even archaeological evidence suggesting some form of yoga as far back as 3300-1300 BCE in India.

The 8 distinct aspects making up yoga are: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Yama and niyama are the philosophical aspects. A list of ethical “rules”, moral imperatives, and lists of virtual habits found in one of the most revered yoga philosophy works; The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The yama & niyama is for personal growth, inner perfection & joy, and harmony with others and community around you. (I’ll cover these in more detail in another post)

Asana is the only physical part in yoga. The western yoga studios & yoga clothing & equipment companies have capitalized an monetize this to the extent that in 2024 it was worth and estimated $215 billion. (Forbes 2024) With all this focus on the physical I would’ve assumed yoga philosophy was mostly physical. However the most a “posture”, asana or pose is explained in the Yoga Sutras is the following:

the meditation posture should be steady and comfortable  YS II.46

Asana is to help the practitioner “shake out” all the physical things that get in the way of meditation. If you’ve done a yoga session you might wonder why it felt so good to lay in the final pose at the end. So still after some movement. That’s the whole point of asana.

Pranayama is sometimes simplified by western practice as just breath control. If you look a little deeper its about our very own life force. Breath, yes, but there is all the “electricity”, fluids and more that make up our life force. Breath is our life force. There are specific breath practices that have a reason, a purpose. Mostly to help us get back to our body, our inner self. This, then, leads to second half of what makes up yoga - the mental.

Pratyahara is drawing inward, consciously closing off our senses so our mind can stop being controlled by every whim and distraction. It’s not becoming a recluse, but of recognizing when you are being controlled by uncontrolled senses. (aka: doom scrolling, mindless eating, tv binging). Drawing inward isn’t always comfortable and is definitely harder than any asana.

Dharana is concentration or focus. When we are in that final pose at the end of a yoga session our mind will wander. When we are trying to meditate, again our mind wanders. We’re human, of course this will happen. Dharana is the practice of fixing the mind on one point, a mantra, breath, or even an object to help us not jump from thought to thought.

Dhyana is reflecting on what dharana has shown us. Say you’re meditating and the thought comes “I hate sitting still this long”. Dhyana is reflecting on that that with out judgement, realizing it’s just a thought. You are not your thoughts. Full dhyana is uninterrupted train of thought or flow of awareness. A high achievement indeed.

Samadhi is complete union and state of bliss after the accumulation of all the other practices of yoga. There are voluminous tomes about the levels of samadhi and most the Yoga Sutras cover this final goal for a yoga practitioner. It is a difficult concept but the main reason for yoga. Each person has their own personal level of experience with samadhi.

All this quick definition of the 8 limbs of yoga to say that. The yoga we in the west see today is vastly different than it’s rich origins. However, it is still ancient practice that has given us a deep body of knowledge for living and how to interact in the world.

Sri Swami Satchidanada, (2012), The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Revised ed., Integral Yoga Publications

Ashtanga (eight limbs of yoga). (2025, July 14). In Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtanga_(eight_limbs_of_yoga)