Flow Study: The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Practice of Integration by Kathryn Smith
For the duration of this year, we have covered the eight limbs of yoga in our Flow Study blog: one limb per month through the eyes of YOE teachers. These limbs are Yamas (outer world), Niyamas (inner world), Asana (postures), Pranayama (breath control), Pratyhara (sense withdrawal), Dharana (concentration), Dhyana (meditation), and Samadhi (bliss). With each of the limbs introduced, we turn our attention toward integration. How do the limbs of yoga work together? Are they intended to be approached as a ladder of progression from one limb to the next, or is each limb to be approached independently?
We learn the answer to this question from Desikachar in The Heart of Yoga. “The order of presentation (of the limbs) is from the external relationship to a very intense and refined state of introspection,” he writes. “This order, however, is not necessarily the sequence for practice. There are no set rules or definitive routes. Whatever is the route most suited for the individual to reach the state described in Sutra 1.2 (ceasing the fluctuations of the mind) should be followed.” In other words, we don’t first master one limb, then move on to the next. Through practice, our behavior gradually changes and we progress along the path. That said, we can comfortably understand that the order does have meaning. As Desikachar states, the limbs move our attention from the outer world towards an increasing awareness of our inner world.
While graphics or descriptions of the eight limbs are often presented in a horizontal or linear fashion, with one leading to the next, Rolf Gates writes in his daily guide to living the path of yoga, Meditations from the Mat, “The plan, or path, has eight limbs, which work more like spokes on a wheel than like steps on a ladder.” In The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy, this idea is similarly expressed: “A valid way to look at the relationship between the limbs is as a sort of wheel with many spokes that mutually reinforce one another. From this perspective, every limb of yoga supports the others.”
Just as our personal yoga practice is malleable, shifting, and growing alongside us, we can draw from these roots of yoga both individually and collectively, working toward transformation and greater harmony between our inner and outer worlds. But this raises another question: Is there a right way to practice yoga?
Certainly, yoga has traditions, lineages, and established methods of study that offer important guidance. The eight limbs themselves come to us through Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, a foundational text of yoga philosophy. And yet, in a contemporary vinyasa yoga community, we encounter these teachings through the lens of individual teachers, each shaped by their own experiences and studies. There is much to learn from tradition without assuming that every person must experience or apply its teachings in precisely the same way.
In Bringing Yoga to Life, Donna Farhi writes: “Counter to the plethora of seven-step solutions and quick-fix formulas offered by so many contemporary self-help guides, the ancient science of Yoga does not pretend to be simple, quick, or easy. It is a practice that takes into account the very messy and often complex phenomenon of what we call a human being and the equally challenging task of everyday living. What yoga does promise, however, is that through sincere, skillful, consistent practice, anyone can become peaceful, happy, and free.”
I appreciate this reminder that yoga is not another formula to master. The eight limbs offer a framework for exploration, not a checklist we must complete before moving forward. Their teachings can meet us where we are, whether we are learning to practice non-harming in a difficult relationship, cultivating contentment amid uncertainty, or simply noticing our breath before reacting in a challenging moment. Perhaps the invitation is less about getting yoga right and more about becoming curious about what it can teach us.
Which of the eight limbs feels most relevant to you right now? Which challenges you? Where might you already be living these principles without even realizing it? And how might your relationship with the limbs change as you move through different seasons of life?
Above all, the limbs show us how to integrate yoga into a peaceful, happy, and liberated daily life. We can honor the tradition, remain students of its teachings, and give ourselves permission to discover how those teachings take shape in our own experience.
How you experience the limbs is the gift of your practice.
