The Eight Limbs of Patanjali, In Plain Language

Eight limbs, one movement

Patanjali's Yoga Sutras describe eight limbs. They are often listed as a ladder, but they behave more like the limbs of a single body — developing together, supporting each other.

• Yama — how we meet the world.
• Niyama — how we meet ourselves.
• Asana — a seat that is steady and comfortable.
• Pranayama — regulation of breath and the energy it carries.
• Pratyahara — the senses turning inward.
• Dharana — sustained attention on one thing.
• Dhyana — attention that no longer needs effort.
• Samadhi — the dissolving of the distance between observer and observed.

The first two are not optional

Modern practice usually starts at the third limb. The text does not. Yama and niyama are the conditions that make the later limbs possible; without them, concentration has nothing stable to rest on.