Eight Limbs of Yoga

1st and 2nd Limbs
”Yamas and Niyama’s”

The Yamas and Niyamas are one popular ethical code (gleaned from other Hindu scriptures) compiled by the Sanatanist/Hindu Sage Patanjali. The Yamas and the Niyamas are the first two steps in the "eight-fold" path known as Astanga ("eight") Yoga. (This progressive path of Classical Yoga is also referred to simply as the Raja Yoga of Patanjali.) Like all true spiritual teachers, Patanjali recognized the absolute necessity of a solid ethical foundation for Spiritual-Realization. Yama and Niyama correspond to Karma and Bhakti Yoga or ethics and devotion. This is the natural spiritual path that leads to meditation or Raja Yoga in Hinduism. The fruit of Raja Yoga is Enlightenment or Jnana Yoga. However, Jnana may also simply mean intellectual study and, in this reference we see the initial stage of Jnana also included in the Niyama

What are they?  .  The Yamas and Niyamas are GUIDES that must be deeply contemplated. Yoga is more than a physical discipline.  Yoga is a path, with a rich philosophy.  Yamas and Niyamas are ten good common-sense guidelines for leading a healthier, happier life – bringing spiritual awareness into a social and internal context.  Focus on the ones that resonate with you today.  Consider their application in your life.  Use your rational mind to question them, ponder them, and examine them from all angles. Yoga is not about mindlessly accepting externally imposed rules – it is about finding the truth for yourself.  So question, challenge and contemplate the guidelines that resonate with you today.  Let the rest go. Eventually, we find that all of them apply to our lives, and we choose to live by these guidelines.  For now, consider each one carefully.

Note
Yamas and Niyamas are not about right and wrong. They are about being honest with ourselves. Living these principles will change us in the moment. Not about being "bad" or "good" – they are about living our lives in a better way, thinking and being better, moving towards understanding rather than separation. Bad things happen in everyone’s life s.

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 3rd Limb “Asana”

The first two limbs, yama and niyama, regulate the social and personal life of yogins in an effort to reduce the production of unwholesome volition and action, which would only increase yogins’ karmic stock.  The objective is to eliminate all karma—that is, all the subliminal activators (samskara) embedded in the depths of the psyche.  For this transformation of consciousness to be successful, yogins must create the right environmental conditions, within and without.  Yama and Niyama can be seen as the first steps in this direction. Posture, or asana (lit. “seat”), takes this effort to the next level, that of the body

John Friends tells us  the Performance of asana reflects attitude, mindfulness, balance of action, strength/stamina, flexibility, alignment/form, knowledge, and understanding of the postures.  The most important thing to express  is our attitude which is the force behind every action or expression in an asana. This is the source of the energetic expression of the pose.

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