Heard of the 8 Limbs of Yoga?

Contributed by Tammy Horn, Attorney & RYT 200 Yoga Teacher, Darling Yoga

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No doubt you’re familiar with the poses of yoga. Downward dog. Warrior. Triangle. And you’ve probably heard that yoga is an ancient practice that originated in India. But did you know the poses as we know them today are less than 200 years old while the practice of yoga is over 5000 years old?

For thousands of years after yoga’s beginning, the only physical pose was resting in one place. The yogi simply sat or reclined to become still and to breathe. The myriad physical poses as we now know them were created at the dawn of the 20th century by gymnasts and bodybuilders and as physical training for some militia.

While the poses, or asanas, are extremely beneficial to your body’s health and wellbeing – indeed, countless scientific studies extol the benefits of a regular asana practice – they are just a small part of the practice of yoga. The poses are but a single limb on what is known as “the 8-limbed practice of yoga.”

On another of yoga’s 8 limbs is breath regulation. The breath should sound like the ocean – or Darth Vader – and should be loud enough to take the place in the mind of any other thoughts, stresses or to-dos. Regulation of the breath is just as important as the physical poses. Three more limbs are made up of different forms of meditation. Two limbs include beautiful guidelines on how to treat others and ourselves.

The 8th and final limb or step on the path of yoga is “samadhi.” Samadhi is the end goal of yoga. It is a state of bliss and oneness with the Divine, God, Source, the Universe, Infinite Wisdom, Creative Intelligence, or whatever you want to call that greater power. It’s that power that makes the sun rise and set, seeds turn into flowers and embryos turn into babies. Samadhi is a truly blissful form of meditative absorption in which individual and universal consciousness unite, and indeed the word “yoga” means to yoke or unite. Samadhi symbolizes the ultimate connection with the Divine.

As incredibly beautiful and powerful as that 8th limb is, it’s the 2 limbs that include the guidelines on how to treat others and ourselves that I find so helpful in my daily life off my yoga mat. These guidelines are referred to as the “yamas” and “niyamas.”

The yamas sit on the 1st limb of yoga. They include 5 guidelines on how you should treat others: with non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, moderation, and non-possessiveness. The 2nd limb of yoga includes the 5 niyamas, which give guidance on how you should treat yourself: with purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-study, and devotion and surrender. These very short descriptions of the yamas and niyamas truly do not do them justice. Each of them is so rich and beautiful and deserving of its own blog post.

As an example of the guidelines’ beauty and complexity, the yama against violence goes well beyond doing physical harm. A subtle way we do violence is thinking we know what is better for others, including our family members. We often allow worry to be masked as caring. Worry is lack of faith in the other and comes from arrogance. It’s like saying, “I know better what should be happening in your life,” and “I don’t trust you to do your life right.” Similarly, we tend to confuse help and support. Help says, “I am more skilled at life’s decisions and challenges than you.” Support, however, meets the other person on equal playing ground with equal ability and allows the other’s life and journey to be as important as our own. The yama of non-violence teaches that there is nothing to fix or save in another. We simply need to offer the gift of listening and to trust the other person’s journey.

Together the 10 yamas and niyamas are like helping hands moving us deeper into a life that is richer and fuller, simply because we are living with more awareness. And this takes practice. By practicing yoga and following the guidance of the yamas and niyamas, the turbulence and drama that are often a familiar part of our lives begins to disappear. What’s left is joy: not the kind of joy that comes when things are going our way and goes away just as quickly; but the kind of joy that comes from within, no matter what life brings.

Practicing the 8-limbed path of yoga simply is a way of living joyfully. Yes, it can include movement. But mainly it includes an overall perspective on the world that emphasizes universal love, generosity, honesty and compassion. It equips us on and off our yoga mats to meet whatever life gives us with grace and gratitude.

To learn more, check out The Yamas and Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practices by Deborah Adele.

“We are not human beings trying to be spiritual; we are spiritual beings trying to be human.” ~ Jacquelyn Small

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"Tammy Horn has been a lifelong student of health and wellness and a yoga practitioner for almost 2 decades. She became a yoga teacher to deepen her understanding of all of yoga’s 8 limbs and now shares with her students the joyful gift of the 8-limbed path of yoga. She proudly wears the hat of yoga teacher along with her other hats as an attorney, mediator, wife and mother. She believes she is better in all of these roles because she practices the 8-limbed path – on and off her mat – as taught to her at Darling Yoga."