Day 13: Sutra 2:28 & 2:29 By the practice of the limbs of Yoga, the impurities dwindle away and there dawns the light of wisdom, leading to discriminative discernment
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It is not just meditation that can help us to connect and become one with out true Self. Patanjali in this sutra gives us different yoga practices that can be used in a practical way to help us come to the realisation that we are more than the small self acting in the world and that the Divine is everything.
Patanjali simplifies and categorizes the practices of yoga into eight limbs or stages called Ashtanga Yoga (not to be confused with the Ashtanga vinyasa style of yoga) or the eight-limbed yoga.
These eight limbs are listed in sutra 2:29. Here they are:
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yama (abstinence)
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niyama ( observance)
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asana (posture)
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pranayama (breath control)
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pratyahara (sense withdrawal)
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dharana (concentration)
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dhyana (meditation)
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samadhi (contemplation, absorption or super-conscious state)
Tomorrow we will look in more detail at the first limb – yama.
