A Full Guide to the 8 Limbs of Yoga

Naya Rappaport in Revolved Triangle Pose

You may have already heard of the 8 Limbs of Yoga, but what does that mean? This eight-part path to living a yogic life and finding harmony dates back more than 1,500 years to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, one of the most influential texts that guided yoga as we know it today. Each limb is a step to living a better life and achieving a higher level of consciousness, from codes of ethics to physical practice to how to achieve meditative bliss.

In this guide, you’ll find a primer on the 8 limbs, where they came from, and why they’re important — and learn more on how you can take this wisdom to heart in your own practice.

what are the 8 limbs of yoga?

Who created the 8 Limbs of Yoga?

The 8 Limbs of Yoga come from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a collection of texts attributed to Indian philosopher and sage Patanjali, likely written between 200 BCE and 200 CE, although some say it could have been written as late as 400 CE. Other Patanjali texts date between 100 BCE and around 800 CE, so it’s possible that Patanjali is more than one author — but he’s also viewed as a mythic, divine figure by some.

Regardless, Patanjali didn’t come up with everything on his own. Yoga Sutras merges multiple texts and belief systems that unfolded in the centuries before it. This includes the Vedas, a vast collection of texts that includes some of the oldest Sanskrit literature, the Samkhya school of philosophy, and ancient Buddhist texts on meditation — although none of them used the 8-limb structure. For example, the Yamas and Niyamas first appeared in the Rig-Veda and Jain texts.

The short version is that Patanjali assembled wisdom from a bunch of spiritual traditions to create Yoga Sutras, and launched a combined philosophy that’s one of the biggest influences on what we know as yoga today.

Why are the 8 limbs of yoga important?

Yoga has never been all about the poses. Before and after the Yoga Sutras, books like the Yoga Upanishads describe practice as multifaceted and part of a wider lifestyle. The 8 Limbs are a comparably well-organized look at the different elements of a practice so we can learn a deep lineage of yogis and gurus that came before us.

The 8 Limbs of Yoga, Explained

1. Yama

The first limb is yama, which refers to restraints — the word originally meant “bridle” or “rein” — that help us find balance, live in harmony with the rest of the world, and stay on the right path. Patanjali lists five yamas: Ahimsa means non-harming. Satya governs truthfulness and honesty to yourself and others. Asteya translates to “non-stealing,” but goes a little deeper to promote giving rather than taking. Brahmacharya is about conserving your energy. Aparigraha refers to non-attachment or letting go. This can mean a lot of things, including not being greedy, releasing things that don’t serve you and those around you, retiring old stories, rejecting outdated narratives, cutting unhealthy attachments, and finding freedom from external expectations.

Patanjali calls the yamas “mighty universal vows.”

2. Niyama

While Yamas are restraints, Niyamas are active, positive observances and deeds. While other traditions include more Niyamas, Patanjali describes five.

Saucha means purity of mind and body. Santosha is contentment, or taking people and events as they are.

Tapas is the third niyama, and you may have already heard it referenced in a yoga class as “building heat.” It means self-discipline and persistence: Think about when you’ve been in Chair Pose for what feels like too long. By holding it for those uncomfortable extra seconds, you’ve held your resolve and sharpened your will.

The last two are svadhyaya, which means self-reflection, and ishvarapranidhana — oversimplified, it’s about self-surrender or reverence to a higher purpose.

3. asana

Asana literally means “posture” or “seat” — which is why it’s at the end of every Sanskrit pose name. Patanjali describes asana as “a steady, comfortable posture,” but this doesn’t mean that we should seek out comfortable postures. Rather, we should work to find steadiness and comfort in the postures.

Spiritual leader Swami Satchidananda Saraswati translated Patanjali’s guidance this way in 1978: “by lessening the natural tendency for restlessness and by meditating on the infinite, posture is mastered.” Influential yoga leader BKS Iyengar went this route for his 1966 translation: “Perfection in an asana is achieved when the effort to perform it becomes effortless and the infinite being within is reached.”

Learn more: Deepen your physical practice with step-by-step yoga pose video breakdowns from Dylan Werner and Briohny Smyth.

4. Pranayama

Pranayama is a series of traditional breathing exercises with different goals and purposes. Patanjali names three movements of breath — inhalation, exhalation, and retention — regulated by place, duration, and number.

Earlier texts like the Bhagavad Gita reference pranayama, and it later became a fixture in Hatha Yoga, too.

5. Pratyahara

Pratyahara means withdrawal of the senses. This limb is the next step toward enlightenment: Even if you achieve oneness through pranayama, your senses will still, at some point, pull you out if they’re still aimed at external objects. You’ll smell breakfast cooking or hear a bird chirping, and thoughts instantly spring into your head, even if it’s as simple as “what a pretty song!”

“The senses are like a mirror,” writes Saraswati in the commentary of his translation. “Turned outward, they reflect the outside; turned inward, they reflect pure light… they find peace by taking the form of the mind itself.”

6. Dharana

So you’ve steadied your mind with pranayama and pratyahara. This sets the stage for dharana — dharana is a deep focus that allows divinity to unfold within this inner space. In the Yoga Sutras, this is one step on the way to samadhi, or union with the divine. In practice, this can mean an enthusiastic, daily commitment to your spiritual world.

7. Dhyana

While Dharana is finding and working toward a focus, Dhyana is the full immersion in it. It’s a yogic version of the flow state, or being “in the zone” — there’s only your focus and the present moment, and you don’t even have to think about working to maintain it. You might feel something like it in a particularly gripping yoga class or while working on a creative project you really love.

8. Samadhi

Samadhi is about achieving a sense of oneness — the culmination of practicing Dharana and Dhyana. Together, the three are called Samyaya.

This is the final piece of both the 8 Limbs of Yoga and the Buddhist Eightfold Path. There are many translations of the word “samadhi,” and in his translation Light on the Yoga Sutras, Iyengar offers a few: Perfect absorption, intent attention, union, bringing into harmony, and spiritual absorption.

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