The Eight Limbs of Yoga (Ashtanga Yoga)
Patanjali's Yoga Sutras lay out a complete, step-by-step path to Self-realization known as Ashtanga Yoga — the eight-limbed yoga. Each limb prepares and supports the next, leading from how we live in the world all the way to the silent absorption of the soul in the Divine.
The eight limbs at a glance
The Sanskrit ashta means eight and anga means limb. The eight are not separate techniques but living parts of one body, growing together.
Yama
Niyama
Asana
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
Outer and inner
The first five limbs — Yama, Niyama, Asana, Pranayama and Pratyahara — are bahiranga, the outer or preparatory limbs: they purify the conduct, steady the body, and gather the scattered senses. The last three — Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi — are antaranga, the inner core, and practised together upon one object they form samyama, the master key of meditation.
The royal short-cut
Kriya Yoga is sometimes described as a royal short-cut through this ladder. Rather than climbing the limbs one by one over a lifetime, Kriya works directly with prana and the breath — the fourth limb — to accelerate the natural interiorisation the eight limbs describe, drawing the life-force inward and upward so that pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi unfold far more readily.
How Kriya Yoga moves through the eight limbs
Patanjali's eight limbs map the whole journey from ethics to enlightenment. Kriya does not bypass them; it accelerates the inner ones. Its core Shiva-Shakti Pranayama produces pratyahara — sense-withdrawal — directly, the very stepping-stone the later limbs depend on, so that concentration, meditation and absorption unfold far more readily. The first limbs, right living and a steady seat, remain the foundation.
Explore Kundalini Kriya Yoga →Frequently Asked Questions
What are the eight limbs of yoga?
The eight limbs (ashtanga) are Yama (ethical restraints), Niyama (observances), Asana (posture), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyahara (withdrawal of the senses), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation) and Samadhi (absorption). They were set out by the sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras as a step-by-step path to Self-realisation.
What does “ashtanga” mean?
Ashtanga is Sanskrit for “eight limbs” — from ashta (eight) and anga (limb). It names Patanjali’s eightfold path, and should not be confused with the modern Ashtanga Vinyasa style of physical yoga.
Who created the eight limbs of yoga?
They were codified by the sage Patanjali around the 2nd century BCE in the Yoga Sutras, though the practices themselves are far older.
Do you practise the eight limbs in order?
They are presented as a progression — ethical grounding first, then body and breath, then the inner stages of concentration and absorption — but in practice they are cultivated together, each supporting the others.
What is the difference between the eight limbs and Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga?
Patanjali’s eight limbs are a complete spiritual path covering ethics, breath and meditation. Modern “Ashtanga yoga” is a vigorous posture-based style that borrows the name; asana (posture) is only the third of Patanjali’s eight limbs.