Ashtanga Yoga: The 8 exercises from the Yoga Sutra of Patañjali

The Yoga Sutra of Patañjali addresses the topic of suffering as the driving force behind all human action and thought and shows a path to liberation.

The path is divided into 8 steps. In this follow-up to his successful Yoga Sutra commentary, R. Sriram goes into more detail about this eight-fold path of practice. He explains in a contemporary way and with clear examples what these developmental steps can look like for people today and how we can find support from these source texts of yoga for any kind of problem or challenge.

The eight limbs of the path of practice are: the rules of interpersonal behavior (Yama), personal discipline (Niyama), postures (Asana), regulation of breathing (Pranayama), awareness of the senses (Pratyahara), ability to concentrate (Dharana), silent reflection (Dhyanam) and complete knowledge (Samadhi). Each stage is about discipline, but it always means a discipline that helps us to become free.