The Eight Limbs of Yoga — the Patanjali path
The canonical 8-limb path from the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (c. 200 BCE-200 CE). Hand-written guides to each limb. From yama (the ethics underneath everything) to samadhi (the absorption that gives yoga its name). The frame that holds every practice gab44 publishes.
How to use this page
The sequence matters. Patanjali wrote the limbs in this order deliberately: yamas (1) before niyamas (2), niyamas before asana (3), asana before pranayama (4), pranayama before pratyahara (5), pratyahara before dharana (6), dharana before dhyana (7), dhyana before samadhi (8). Each limb prepares the next. The practitioner who tries the higher limbs without the lower will collapse back; the practitioner who attends to the lower will find the higher arrive on their own.
The two zones. Limbs 1-4 (yama, niyama, asana, pranayama) are the outer zone — the ethical and physical foundation. Limbs 5-8 (pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi) are the inner zone — the mental and meditative work. Pranayama (limb 4) is the hinge between the two; it is the most-outer practice and the most-inner practice at the same time.
This is the frame. Every body-practice on gab44 — asanas, pranayamas, mudras, mantras, chakras — lives inside one of these eight limbs. Read the limbs to see where each practice belongs in the path, and what comes before and after.
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