Ashtanga is it a yoga practice style or 8 limbs towards a purposeful life?
It turns out it’s both.
Ashtanga is it a yoga practice style or 8 limbs towards a purposeful life?Recently I wrote about Hatha yoga and its core definition, sometimes with all the various styles spoken about, trademarked or invented it simply is confusing at times. From that, I’ve decided to keep posting some simple graphics to help sort out a lot of yoga terms and ideas.
Ashtanga was confusing to me since I’ve heard the word in various contexts. So to help clear that up, today I am sharing a new graphic, one that sums up Ashtanga or the 8 fold path from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. This is different than the hatha yoga physical practice and style developed by K. Pattabhi Jois. Ashtanga as a hatha yoga practice links breath with posture and is physically intense.
Getting lost in the world of yoga terms and language
I chose to highlight this one as well because there are also ‘branches of yoga’ which are different and this refers to ‘limbs’ and there are 8…yep tree limbs popped into my mind (not my body limbs.) Thus, with so much information accessible to us and I’m a visual person thought it would be helpful to make another graphic guide to sort out the language around these definitions.
There is a lot of detailed information on the internet and in books. This guide is to help sort out terms and try to keep it simple and in order.
The names of each ‘limb’ or path and its’ focus —
- Yama — Ethical conduct, living with integrity
- Niyama — Self-discipline, spiritual studies
- Asana — Practicing yoga postures, body is a vessel
- Pranayama — Respiration, breath regulation
- Pratyahara — Transcending the physical senses
- Dharana — Unencumbered mind, concentration
- Dhyana — Beyond focus, meditation
- Samadhi — Transcendence, ecstatic experience
There are more links below for more detailed definitions and descriptions as well. If you find these graphics helpful and want to see more of them, please let me know in the comments.
You can delve deeper by reading this book –
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Sri Swami Satchidananda (Paperback — Sep 14, 2012) Rated 4.5 out of 5 by 306 reviewers on Amazon.com
Or learn more by reading expert articles —
Yoga Journal’s brief and simple answer to the question What are the 8 limbs of yoga? or for a more detailed explanation click here to read Expressions of Spirit’s article.
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About The Author
My name is Amy Adams, no, not the actress :-) I write about art, dogs, life and yoga. Trained as a fine artist (MFA), I am also an avid fan of the fur creatures we call dogs, a balcony gardener and self-proclaimed yoga goddess — because one of the things that yoga reminded me of is that ‘I am not this body.’ You can also read more of my articles on Medium here. Find me on on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram or visit my art website.
You can also connect with me on Conscious Life Space, a blog that I created to share my own personal experiences and information, as well as other contributors’ insights and articles to help people live a conscious life.
The jpeg images in this post are licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), you are free to use them even commercially. Any questions contact us.
You can download the list of YOGA Styles here, or the branches of Yoga hereand be sure to link back to http://consciouslife.guru. PCs right click to download, Macs ctrl+click for menu of options to save
Originally published at consciouslife.guru
