Take a journey along an ancient philosophical path with our series to help you understand the deeper system of yoga & how it applies to modern life.
Each new year, most of us seek ways to remedy our ills and frailties of the previous twelve months. Goals missed, opportunities not taken, topped off with a little festive over-indulgence, and we’re ready to wipe the slate clean and start over.
Almost immediately as the clock strikes twelve on January 1st, we resolve to become better versions of the person we were last year. And there’s no better way to achieve such personal growth and moral rectitude than with yoga.
An ancient spiritual system, yoga is revered in the west as an expedient for inner peace and calm, outer health, vitality, and unfathomable flexibility. While the physical practice of posture – known in Sanskrit (yoga’s mother tongue) as asana – is important for many reasons, it’s only one small step of a longer, philosophical path.
The Meaning of Yoga
When we start practicing yoga, we’re at risk of placing too much emphasis on ourselves, our own path and purpose, unconsciously rewiring ourselves to believe we must go inward and serve ourselves before anyone else.
The truth is, we can’t serve ourselves without serving others first. With internet-based classes on the rise, and ‘flaking’ at home fetishised web-wide, we engage in yoga as an isolatory practice that can become disproportionately self-serving. This creates huge deficits in our lives and detracts from the true meaning of yoga: unity.
Yoga is ultimately a practice of unionising our own mind, body, and soul, but we should challenge whether we can come to understand what that union looks like without involving others, and their experiences of us.
By nature, we’re sociable creatures & yoga honours & respects this.
On others, we project our own experiences of the world and reflect our wishes and desires in life. From their actions and responses, we look at ourselves deeper, magnifying the intentions behind our own motivations and actions, and learn how to be better versions of ourselves.
Through others, we equip ourselves with the tools needed to achieve alignment and union of mind, body, and spirit.
The Eight Limbs of Yoga
Understandably, when we begin a yoga practice, we focus on the physical exercises (asanas) as a tangible means to our mindful ends. Asana is just one spoke of the yogic wheel. And, to achieve inner peace, a flexible mind as well as a flexible body, and elasticity within our spirit, we should take all eight steps of the yogic path.
Established by the Sage Patanjali in their Yoga Sutras, the eight limbs of yoga were determined as the essential tools for preparing the heart, mind, body, and spirit for achieving ultimate enlightenment and surrender to higher divinity. By practicing all eight limbs holistically, we can live by a sound moral compass and understand the importance of who we are as individuals, while understanding and respecting our humility within the universe.
- Yamas – moral and physical abstentions and restraints.
- Niyamas – personal observances and truths.
- Asana – steady postures to prepare the body for deep meditation.
- Pranayama – unity of the self and breath (prana).
- Pratyahara – withdrawal of the senses.
- Dharana – focused concentration.
- Dhyana – meditative absorption.
- Samadhi – ultimate bliss/enlightenment.
First Steps of The yogic Path: Yamas & Niyamas
Yamas
Put simply, the Yamas are vows and considerations about the world around us and how we interact with it. Expressing moral rectitude, they transmute the physical strength, flexibility, and calm we develop on the mat, applying such venerable qualities to other areas of our lives. Through proscription of the Yamas, we avoid displacement and establish a sound moral compass, by which we treat ourselves and the world around us with compassion and respect.
There Are Five Yamas, Which Are:
Ahimsa – ‘non-violence’
It’s natural to assume this simply means to not hurt another person or adopt a vegetarian but ahimsa’s meaning is multifarious and runs deeper than avoiding physical acts of violence. While it’s important to not hurt other people or creatures, it’s equally important to not hurt ourselves. Ahimsa prescribes a life of honour and respect for the self. Acting, thinking and talking to ourselves in a nurturing way, avoiding destructive, negative patterns.
Because ahimsa is a Yama, its philosophy also connects to the world around us. Thinking about our impact on the earth and taking steps to avoid environmental harm are all part of our commitment to a life of compassion and non-violence.
Satya – ‘truthfulness’
Honesty is the best policy, and society is rapidly embracing congruence in many aspects of life. Positive, constructive criticism is part of that. It helps us learn about ourselves and grow more profoundly. As long as we are not distorting who we are, and remain authentic to ourselves, then we are productively practicing truthfulness. If you listen to your heart, while respecting other people, then Satya will seamlessly flow through your life.
Asteya – ‘non-stealing’
Just like Ahimsa and Satya, the meaning of Asteya – non-stealing – is more complex than we might think. While it’s true we shouldn’t physically steal items that aren’t ours, so we should avoid stealing abstract things from others (and ourselves). For example, this might include someone’s right to voice their opinion or follow a passion that we might not share.
We should promote choice, respect decisions and actions, and not steal others, rights to choose. Similarly, we shouldn’t deprive ourselves of things that are important to us – it’s a similar concept to stealing. If we mute the callings of our hearts, we’re stealing happiness from ourselves.
Brahmacharya – ‘control of physical and spiritual energy’
Often interpreted as ‘celibacy’ or ‘chastity’, we often think this limb is irrelevant to our modern age. We’re more in touch with sexuality and sensuality than ever before – forming an important part of our health and wellbeing. But the Yama Brahmacharya doesn’t actually aim to enforce abstention from intimate relationships. Rather, it encourages control of our desires and lusts and channelling excess sexual energy towards our progression on the yogic path.
Intimacy is a natural and important part of being human but superfluous sexual desires can be destructive and lead to insatiable thirsts, bad motivations, and harm towards others. Through the discipline of yoga, we learn to control these desires and also understand the importance of monogamy and congruent, beneficent relationships. In our modern times, Brahmacharya is a useful tool for observing our energy and assessing our contributions to relationships and the treatment of the people we love.
Aparigraha – ‘non-covetousness’
Devout yogis are often depicted in simplistic habiliment, pious and obeisant in humility to a higher power. While celibacy from worldly pleasures and abandonment of material possessions has moral benefits and is still practiced in religious orders around the globe, realistically, it’s not part of modern life for most of us. Many eminent yoga masters and gurus are now contesting the meaning of Aparigraha and how it authentically applies to modern life.
The conclusion is still in progress but we’re now starting to think of it in terms of attachment, rather than what we own. And over-consumption and overindulgence forms part of that. The more we buy, the more our egos become attached to what we “own” and continuously need to supersede that. So, conscious consumption and favouring independent, small companies is a small drop that creates big ripples in the Aprigraha bucket.
Niyamas
Referring to intrinsic duties and personal observances, the Niyamas are parallel to the extrinsic responsibilities determined by their sibling Yamas.
A malleable mandate for calibrating the physical self and developing character, the five Niyamas are:
Saucha – ‘cleanliness’
Many religious orders observe ablutions before prayer or attending places of worship. While we may deem it important to take a similar approach to our yoga practices (our spaces and mats are sacred platforms for deep exploration, after all), the Niyama Saucha doesn’t necessarily refer to personal hygiene or how mucky your mat is. Many yogic philosophers have come to understand Saucha as a cleanliness of mind and spirit.
When we practice yoga, we invite and work with higher frequencies and stronger waves of energy. If we meet said energy with an adverse disposition (aggression, for example), we quickly become displaced and struggle to harvest the positivity of our practices. It’s important to ‘cleanse’ ourselves of ingrained impurities before we practice, otherwise we’ll spend a good portion of our practices wading through inner pollution before we’re permitted to reap the real rewards of yoga.
Santosha – ‘contentment’
The second of the Niyamas, Santosha echoes inner peace and acceptance of one’s position in life. In Sanskrit, Santosha stems from the prefix Sam, meaning ‘completely’, ‘altogether’, or ‘entirely’, and the suffix Tosha, translating as ‘contentment’, ‘satisfaction’, or ‘acceptance’. Together, these roots form Santosha, and the concept of being wholly satisfied with who and where we are. Through Santosha, we make amends with the past and accept ourselves for who we truly are. We surrender to higher forces and find pockets of comfort within each circumstance and situation that life presents us. By adopting Santosha, we develop a unique sense of inner strength and accept the highs and lows of life with grace and aplomb.
Tapas – ‘discipline’ or ‘burning desire’/’burning of desire’
While all Niyamas are interconnected and work synergistically with each other, Tapas is an excellent precursor for the observance of Saucha. Tapas is the key to achieving Saucha because it offers us the drive and desire to adhere to the discipline needed to achieve a purer lifestyle.
While the Niyama Tapas invokes notions of hardy, solemn discipline, and rigid devotion to wider yoga practice, these ideas of strictures are misplaced. Tapas can apply to our lives in many different ways. From discipline to not conform to aspects of society that do not serve us, to stoking the embers of the passions that burn within our hearts, Tapas is another step on the yogic path to living an intentional life that truly serves us.
Svadhyaya – ‘self-study’
Often cited as the hardest Niyama to master, Svadhyaya truly extends our practice beyond our mats. Inviting us to investigate deeper into the self (our physical beings) and the Self (our spiritual essence), Svadhyaya is contemplative and educational, highlighting the importance of understanding who we are in our physical forms and educating ourselves on the intricacies of our souls.
In Patanjali’s yoga sutras, it is stated “Study the self, discover the divine.” (II.44)
This educational branch of yoga recognises the importance of studying the Self in liberation of the ego. Ego often creates foggy perceptions of who we really are – clouding judgement of who we are not. It’s important to take time to understand both who Self is and who they are not. With this approach, we can identify habits and patterns in thinking and acting, realising that much of what we do and think stems from the ego and doesn’t accurately reflect who we are.
By eschewing the ego, and digging deeper, we become more intuitive with Self, shirk fears, doubts, and unfair criticisms, and abandon things that do not serve us.
Isvarapranidaha – ‘surrender to God/higher power’
In Patanjali’s eight limb yogic philosophy, the Niyamas are integral to affirming virtuous habits, ethical observances, and moral behaviours to achieve Samadhi (ultimate enlightenment/eternal bliss). As one of the Niyamas, Isvarapranidaha recognises the position of the self in relation to the universe and God.
Yoga is often conflated with religion, but it differs mainly through the conception of ‘God’. In yoga, there is no single entity considered to be the divine power, or ‘God’.
Instead, yoga recognises God as energy that connects each and every one of us. We are the potential of the higher power and fragments of the divine. Within Patanjali’s sutras, Isvara is cited as a part of Self that is unaffected by the trials and tribulations of life and human complexities.
Subtle and relatively silent, this part of us remains faithful and pure to the higher order of the universe. Through exercising the rest of the Niyamas – and Yamas – we encourage this unattenuated part of us to speak up and support us on our path to Samadhi.
A Mandate For Modern Life
Patanjali penned his yoga sutras and established the eight limbs of yoga in an age drastically different to the twenty-first century – with different problems and different priorities.
Even though the wisdom and ethical theory of the eight limbs has been routinely passed down through generations of teachers, like everything, how yoga is practiced has been subject to evolution and moulded to fit the needs of the moment.
Today, in the west, we’ve adapted yoga to ameliorate the stresses and tolls of our hectic lives – largely favouring asana and meditation. But as yoga’s reach expands (thank you, world-wide web), we’ve started to reignite the eight limbs and exercise curiosity about the deeper spiritual meaning of yoga.
Lifting the veil, we’re now looking beyond the surface and exploring the deeper echelons of yoga and finding more elasticity in our practices by broadening our minds and embracing yoga as a system for living with intention.
And we’ve come to recognise the fantastic caveat of philosophical systems, like yoga – their teachings aren’t prescriptive. Instead, they are impetuses for deeper consideration, new perspectives, and offer us avenues for adapting ethics and morals to any given situation or circumstance. The philosophical teachings of yoga are open to interpretation and wholly subjective – they’ll always mean something unique to each of us. But they’ll always have the same intention…
…to help us change for the better & feed that change to the world around us.
Main – Photo by Mikhail Nilov
