The eight limbs of yoga, Patañjali's aṣṭāṅga

In the middle of the Yoga Sutras, after explaining why the mind suffers, Patañjali gives a method in one line. It has eight parts, and it has organised yoga practice ever since: in Rishikesh ashrams, in teacher trainings all over the world, and in the order of almost every traditional class, from ethics to stillness.

The sutra that lists them

यमनियमासनप्राणायामप्रत्याहारधारणाध्यानसमाधयोऽष्टावङ्गानि ॥

yama-niyamāsana-prāṇāyāma-pratyāhāra-dhāraṇā-dhyāna-samādhayo 'ṣṭāv aṅgāni ||

Restraint, observance, posture, breath regulation, withdrawal of the senses, concentration, meditation and absorption are the eight limbs.

The sutra before it gives the reason: "From the practice of the limbs of yoga, as impurity wanes, the light of knowledge shines, up to discriminating insight" (2.28). The word is aṅga, a limb of a body, not a rung of a ladder. Vyāsa, the oldest commentator, explains each limb in turn but never says that one must be finished before the next begins.

The outer limbs

1. Yama, the restraints

अहिंसासत्यास्तेयब्रह्मचर्यापरिग्रहा यमाः ॥

ahiṃsā-satyāsteya-brahmacaryāparigrahā yamāḥ ||

Non-harming, truthfulness, not stealing, continence and non-grasping are the restraints.

The next sutra calls them a "great vow" (mahāvrata) when they hold "regardless of birth, place, time or circumstance" (2.31). Patañjali puts them first because a mind busy with harm, lies or envy cannot sit still. Each one is explained, with its daily practice, on yamas and niyamas and ahiṃsā.

2. Niyama, the observances

शौचसंतोषतपःस्वाध्यायेश्वरप्रणिधानानि नियमाः ॥

śauca-saṃtoṣa-tapaḥ-svādhyāyeśvara-praṇidhānāni niyamāḥ ||

Purity, contentment, discipline, self-study and surrender to Īśvara are the observances.

The last three of them, tapas, svādhyāya and īśvara-praṇidhāna, are exactly what Patañjali had already called kriyā yoga, the yoga of action, at the opening of the chapter (2.1). Svādhyāya traditionally means recitation of sacred texts and mantra; Patañjali says it brings contact with one's chosen deity (2.44).

3. Āsana, the seat

स्थिरसुखमासनम् ॥

sthira-sukham āsanam ||

Posture is steady and at ease.

Patañjali gives three words for the whole of posture. Its aim is a seat for meditation, reached "by relaxing effort and by merging the mind with the infinite" (2.47), after which one is "no longer struck by the pairs of opposites" such as heat and cold (2.48). Vyāsa names a few seated postures, lotus among them. The dozens of standing and inverted poses taught today come later, from the hatha texts and the twentieth century: see the asanas and hatha yoga.

4. Prāṇāyāma, regulating the breath

तस्मिन्सति श्वासप्रश्वासयोर्गतिविच्छेदः प्राणायामः ॥

tasmin sati śvāsa-praśvāsayor gati-vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ ||

When that is achieved, prāṇāyāma is the interruption of the flow of inhalation and exhalation.

"That" is the stable seat: breath work comes after posture. Patañjali then describes the breath as outer, inner or held, measured by place, time and number, becoming long and subtle (2.50). The fruit he names is mental: the veil over the light thins, and the mind becomes fit for concentration (2.52-2.53).

5. Pratyāhāra, withdrawing the senses

स्वविषयासंप्रयोगे चित्तस्वरूपानुकार इवेन्द्रियाणां प्रत्याहारः ॥

sva-viṣayāsaṃprayoge citta-svarūpānukāra ivendriyāṇāṃ pratyāhāraḥ ||

Withdrawal is when the senses, no longer joined to their objects, seem to follow the very form of the mind.

Vyāsa gives an image: when the king of the bees flies up, the other bees fly up after him; when he settles, they settle. When the mind is quiet, the senses follow it. Pratyāhāra is the hinge between the outer and the inner limbs.

The inner limbs

देशबन्धश्चित्तस्य धारणा ॥ तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम् ॥

deśa-bandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā || tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam ||

Concentration is binding the mind to one place. There, the uninterrupted flow of a single thought is meditation.

तदेवार्थमात्रनिर्भासं स्वरूपशून्यमिव समाधिः ॥

tad evārtha-mātra-nirbhāsaṃ svarūpa-śūnyam iva samādhiḥ ||

That same meditation, when only the object shines, as if empty of its own form, is absorption.

• Dhāraṇā (6): the "place", Vyāsa says, can be the circle of the navel, the lotus of the heart, the light in the head, the tip of the nose, the tip of the tongue, or an outer object. Each time the mind leaves, you bring it back.
• Dhyāna (7): the bringing back is no longer needed; Vyāsa describes "a flow of similar thoughts, untouched by any other thought".
• Samādhi (8): the sense of "I am meditating" falls away and only the object remains.

Patañjali calls the three together saṃyama (3.4) and says they are "inner" compared with the first five (3.7). The detail, with a practice for each, is on dhāraṇā, dhyāna and samādhi.

Eight limbs or Ashtanga: clearing up the name

Patañjali's eight limbs are also called raja yoga, a name popularised by Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga (1896).

Living the eight limbs: a week to begin

1. Monday: choose one yama for the week, for example truthfulness, and notice each time you bend it.
2. Tuesday: add one niyama: ten minutes of reading a sacred text before sleep (svādhyāya).
3. Wednesday: sit for ten minutes in a comfortable cross-legged seat or on a chair. Steady and at ease is enough.
4. Thursday: after sitting, breathe slowly through the nose, a little longer out than in, for five minutes.
5. Friday: close the eyes and let sounds come and go without following them (pratyāhāra).
6. Saturday: rest the attention on the breath at the nostrils; count ten breaths and start again whenever you lose count.
7. Sunday: repeat the whole sequence in 30 minutes and finish with three Om.

The full text of the second and third chapters, word by word, is in the Yoga Sutras; to see where this path fits among the others, return to the paths of yoga.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Patañjali, Yogasūtra, Sanskrit text, ed. Āgāśe 1904, entered by Philipp A. Maas (GRETIL, University of Göttingen) checked October 17, 2026
2. Patañjali, Yogasūtra with the Yogabhāṣya attributed to Vyāsa, Sanskrit text (GRETIL) checked October 17, 2026
3. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translated by Charles Johnston (1912), Project Gutenberg checked October 17, 2026

Read next