"Ashtanga Yoga" ("Eight-Limbed Yoga")

26-06-2011 03:11 JhankiRani#1




Yama (The five "abstentions"): non-violence, non-lying, non-covetousness, non-sensuality, and non-possessiveness.

Niyama (The five "observances"): purity, contentment, austerity, study, and surrender to god.

Asana: Literally means "seat", and in Patanjali's Sutras refers to the seated position used for meditation.

Pranayama ("Suspending Breath"): Prāna, breath, "āyāma", to restrain or stop. Also interpreted as control of the life force.

Pratyahara ("Abstraction"): Withdrawal of the sense organs from external objects.

Dharana ("Concentration"): Fixing the attention on a single object.

Dhyana ("Meditation"): Intense contemplation of the nature of the object of meditation.

Samādhi ("Liberation"): merging consciousness with the object of meditation.