The foundation for creating your own life philosophy.

This is a quick and easy guide to get to know and understand the 8 limbs of Ashtanga yoga from The Yoga Sutra. This is the guide I wished somebody had written for me back when I studied for my certifications in yoga.

In this guide, I’ve tried to condense the fundamental and vital aspects of each of the 8 limbs of Ashtanga from The Yoga Sutras. Providing you with an easily accessible overview of each limb and giving you practical ways to incorporate them into your life.

The Yoga Sutras can help provide you with the foundation for creating your own life philosophy, determining your values, defining your overall beliefs about life, and deepening your yoga practice. It’s a valuable tool to help you understand and make sense of yourself and how you interact with others.

You do not have to practice yoga to reap the benefits of this wisdom!

Although it is thought to be a foundational text in the study and practice of yoga, it is so much more. It constitutes wisdom that extends beyond the practice of yoga to encompass life advice, encouraging self-awareness, diligence, and overcoming inner obstacles.

What are the yoga sutras?

The Yoga Sutras were written by the Sage and Yogi Patanjali and in it he described the eightfold path to enlightenment normally called “The 8 limbs of Ashtanga yoga” (ashta means “eight” and anga means “limbs”). It is at its core a set of principles and recommendations on how to live life best.

It consists of 195 aphorisms (observations/statements that contain a general truth) and was written in this way, as it was common at the time to learn by oral recitation, repetition, and memory.

Overall, the Yoga Sutra is a text about how to remove the obstacles and blockages you experience in life, internally in your mind and body as well as externally in your interactions with the outside world, which prevent you from living life to the fullest. Rather than giving you the answers, the Yoga Sutra helps you ask the right questions about how you can behave in relation to yourself and others, and what you really need to be you.