The BIG problem with the 8 Limbs of Yoga.
If you’ve practiced yoga you might have heard of something called “The 8 limbs of Yoga.” Of course this phrase has nothing to do with some sort of complicated yoga posture where you need more arms and legs than usual. It actually comes from an ancient text that was written almost 2,000 years ago by a mysterious sage named “Patañjali.”
Patañjali’s text, written in the language of Vedic Sanskrit, is considered to be the cornerstone of Yogic thought and philosophy. Despite it being a somewhat brief work of only around 1,200 words, it contains an incredibly comprehensive explanation of who we are as individuals, why we are here, how we got here, and how we can achieve eternal bliss through the practice of yoga.
Curious as to what this has got to do with your yoga practice? I was too, before I really investigated this work and got to the heart of its meaning.
Vedic Sanskrit is represented in a script called “Devanagari.” This is the vowel “au".”
Whilst it is not uncommon for ancient ideas to be passed down from generation to generation into modern times, it is fascinating that something conceived of almost 2,000 years ago still has a such a strong influence on a practice (ie, yoga) that has transformed so much over that same time period that Patañjali would scarcely recognise it.
For most of us, especially in the West, yoga is served up as more or less a program of physical exercises (albeit sometimes we are told they have the additional benefits of relieving mental and emotional stress). But the things we are mostly instructed to do in class, these sometimes complicated postures (called āsana), are barely mentioned by Patañjali. In fact he dedicates just eight words in total to āsana - a bare fraction of the total number of words in the entire text. When we translate these eight Sanskrit words into English we get this:
“Āsana (ie, posture) is a steady comfortable seat that arises through relaxation of effort and absorption into the infinite. From this [state of being] one is not disturbed by the dualities." [“dualities” refers to things like hunger and thirst, heat or cold, etc]
Those particular words take up three of the 195 short verses that make up the entire text.
These short verses, called sūtras, is what gives Patañjali’s text its name - ie, the Yoga Sūtras. “Sūtra” shares a similar language root to the English word “suture” meaning “to sew;” or, “a thread.” In other words, something that brings a lot together using very little.
The Yoga Sūtras, then, are a collection of short “threads” designed to explain a lot in a very economical way. This style of writing was common in Patañjali’s day because much knowledge was shared, not in written form, but orally. In other words, knowledge was passed on from teacher to student verbally. And having knowledge condensed into as few words as possible meant that it was easier to memorise. Once the key knowledge was memorised the teacher could then unpack it for their student. Using the example above of Patañjali’s description of āsana, what would usually follow from the teacher would be a further, more detailed explanation of what these lines really meant in a broader context.
You could also think of sūtras in this way - like a bullet point cheat sheet you create when studying a subject at university, so that you can recall all the information you have learned in the semester without having to re-read all your text books and lecture notes.
Now, the Yoga Sūtras were compiled some time around the 3rd-4th century of the Common Era. So how can we know what Patañjali meant by each of those short verses? It’s not like we can ask him.
Luckily for us, someone very close to the original text did write down brief expansions for each of the sūtras. This person is commonly known by the name Vyāsa. Because of the passage of time no one is certain who exactly Vyāsa was, much like no one is exactly sure who Patañjali was. However, it is interesting to note that some scholars believe that perhaps Patañjali and Vyāsa are one and same, meaning that we do have a pretty good guide for unpacking the Sūtras. In any case, the commentary by “Vyāsa” is as close as we can get to an original explanation and expansion of the Sūtras.
I mention all of this because it is only through reading the commentary on the Sūtras that we can get to an understanding of what they mean - what problems they are trying to address; and why each of the 8 limbs of yoga offered by Patañjali are needed, along with what they individually and collectively hope to achieve.
But there is another big problem with trying to understand the Sūtras, and this one is often overlooked, robbing the yoga student (and teacher) of an opportunity to really understand the text and therefore why we might need the 8 limb method in the first place.
This problem is not so much about what is contained within the Sūtras and commentary. Rather, it is about what has been left out. And that which has been left out is very important because it actually provides the entire bedrock upon which the Sūtras stand. This framework is called Sāṅkhya.
Why was it left out? Because Patañjali assumed you already knew it. Again, why? Because it was something that was well known to followers of yoga (and other traditions) in India at the time Patañjali was writing his treatise on Yoga. So he doesn’t see the need to explain it to you.
Throughout all time periods and throughout all cultures there is always a “stew” of religious and philosophical beliefs and ideas simmering in the background. Beliefs and ideas that are “just out there” that everyone has some basic knowledge or understanding of. In our time, for example, most people have a basic understanding of Christianity - God, Jesus, the concepts of heaven and hell, sin and redemption, and so on, even if you’re not religious or a Christian. Likewise most people have a reasonable understanding of what we call “science” - that is, the natural laws of the universe that account for the way things are.
In fact you would be hard pressed to find someone who had absolutely no idea of science, even if they didn’t think they did. The fact that the Earth revolves around the Sun, that there are planets, a solar system, atoms; that water is made up of Hydrogen and Oxygen (ie, H2O). These are “science-y” things that everyone knows, so you don’t have to explain them or even know they come from what we call science. They are just out there, so we absorb them.
In the same way, Patañjali assumes his readers know what Sāṅkhya is, so he doesn’t feel the need to explain it. It would just take up more space and therefore mean more to memorise.
But for us who do not know about Sāṅkhya this missing information greatly effects our ability to decode the Sūtras and its true meaning.
Without going into too much detail, Sāṅkhya is to yoga what the theory of the Big Bang and evolution are to Western Scientific thought. That is, it explains the framework of how the universe comes into being, how and what it is made up of, and what our place and role within the universe is and means.
This is what the Yoga Sūtras address - the age old questions of “who am I, how did I get here, what happens when I die?” …And we can add to these, “how can I achieve eternal happiness?”
This last question in particular is why Patañjali gives us the 8 limbs of yoga. They are the progressive steps towards true knowledge of our eternal Self - a something (like a soul) that is everlasting, blissful self-awareness.
But without the context that provides the framework for the universe and our place in it, all we are left with is these 8 steps to practice without knowing exactly why we are doing them. It’s a bit like practicing the Ten Commandments laid out in the Bible without knowing that doing so leads to getting into Heaven. Sure, the Ten Commandments will lead you to being a better person, but really, they are a recipe towards everlasting happiness.
So, what are these 8 limbs for those that don’t know?
Yamas (restraints): These are a guide to how to live with our fellow beings without causing harm. This is very important because any actions we take lead to outcomes. This is called karma; and it is the fruits of our karma that follow us through birth after birth ( a concept called saṃsāra) - at least until we reach our final liberation. Karma is kind of like the law of cause and effect in physics; or, “what you sow, so you reap” from a Christian point of view. Obviously we would prefer to do good things and receive good karmic outcomes than do bad things and receive bad outcomes.
Niyamas (observances): If the yamas are rules we can follow to avoid harming others, the niyamas are actions we can take to internally to positively improve ourselves. They include things like cultivating contentment and purifying our minds, amongst others.
Āsana (posture): With our moral compass sorted we can work on the internal practices that lead us to bliss, starting with creating a calm and relaxed state from which our practice can progress. We have already explained what Patañjali has to say about āsana; but as a reminder it is a state of being we cultivate - a quiet, seated posture that is undisturbed and expansive.
Prāṇāyāma (breath control): Breath control follows āsana. It stands (or rather sits) to reason that in order to focus on our breath it’s better if we are already calm, steady, and in a posture where we can sit for as long as we need. Patañjali tells us that by controlling and regulating our breath we create conditions that are conducive to concentration (limb no. 6).
Pratyāhāra (withdrawal): Before we can get to step 6 we must first learn to control our senses because how can we possibly concentrate if we keep getting distracted by the scent of that delicious cake that’s cooking in the other room, or by the sound of that bird or traffic outside. Controlling the senses is difficult to achieve but a good teacher can show you how.
Dhāraṇā (concentration): Having created physical and mental stillness through controlling the breath we are now fit to fix our attention on any object we wish so that we can truly experience it for what it is, not what we think it is.
Dhyāna (meditation): The difference between concentration (Dhāraṇā) and meditation is that in meditation our concentration does not waiver. What we are focusing on remains fixed in our minds without changing, and without our minds wandering off whatsoever. I’m sure you can imagine that this is a very difficult undertaking that takes a lot of practice to master. It’s why, when we think we are meditating, we are probably mainly trying to concentrate. This is why Dhyāna is more advanced than Dhāraṇā.
Samādhi (meditative absorption): The best way to describe the difference between meditation (dhyāna) and meditative absorption is that when we are simply meditating on an object we are aware of: the object we are meditating on; our self as the meditator; and the process of meditation that is taking place. But when we are truly absorbed in meditation these distinctions disappear and we come to a point where we merge with the object so that we can experience it from the inside out. This is where true knowledge of something arises, and it is critical to Patañjali’s method - which is why samādhi is the 8th limb.
Now, imagine if we just left everything at that - the outlining and description of each of the 8 limbs. Would that be helpful? Would you now be able to find your eternal happiness. I doubt it. But sadly, that is often as far as most yoga teacher trainings and courses on the Yoga Sūtras take you. And worse, they don’t even explain the framework behind everything in the first place - ie, the Sāṅkhyan model of the universe and the history and concepts behind karma and re-birth.
This will not do and is why we create our How To Know Bliss course. In this three day, immersive experience we give you the entire history and context building up to Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras, including an explanation of how Sāṇkhya describes the universe; as well as how, where, when and why theories of karma and re-birth came about and why they are so crucial to the reason for practicing yoga in the first place.
Without all of this it is not possible to understand what the 8 limbs of yoga really are, how to practice them effectively, and why you would bother in the first place. Without all of this it’s not even really possible to understand what Yoga is, or at least what it originally meant.
Naturally there is so much more to unpack for you. But if you are ready to learn, and have a burning desire to really know Yoga, then please check out How To Know Bliss. It’s an incredible journey filled with insight and practical learning.
Love and light
Jamie