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The word yoga, from the Sanskrit word yuj means to yoke or bind and is often interpreted as "union" or a method of discipline. A male who practices yoga is called a yogi, a female yoga practitioner, a yogini.
The Indian sage Patanjali is believed to have collated the practice of yoga into the Yoga Sutra an estimated 2,000 years ago. The Sutra is a collection of 195 statements that serves as a philosophical guidebook for most of the yoga that is practiced today. It also outlines eight limbs of yoga.
Eight Limbs of Yoga
The eight limbs of yoga are:
- the yamas (restraints),
- niyamas (observances),
- asana (postures),
- pranayama (breathing),
- pratyahara (withdrawal of senses),
- dharana (concentration),
- dhyani (meditation), and
- samadhi (absorption).
As we explore these eight limbs, we begin by refining our behavior in the outer world, and then we focus inwardly until we reach samadhi or liberation or enlightenment.
Today most people practicing yoga are engaged in the third limb, asana, which is a program of physical postures designed to purify the body and provide the physical strength and stamina required for long periods of meditation.
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