CLASSICAL YOGA: THE EIGHT-LIMBED PATH

1.  YAMA: restraints, ethical precepts

Ahimsa: non-harming, non-aggression to other living beings
Satya: truthfulness with the spirit of welfare for all beings
Asteya: non-stealing and avoiding misappropriation
Brahmacharya: to walk on God's path, to conserve one's sexual and other energies appropriately
Aparigraha: non-hoarding, developing non-attachment and realizing that all beings must share earth's resources

2.  NIYAMA: observances, ethical precepts

Shaucha: cleanliness of body, mind, and surroundings
Santosha: equanimity of mind
Tapas: to be willing to undertake hardship for the purposes of spiritual evolution or to serve others
Svadyaya: study of the Truth, through satsang, scriptures, Self-inquiry, etc.
Ishvara Pranidhana: surrender to God or Truth

3.  ASANA: seat, to be able to sit undistracted for spiritual practice, also yoga postures to develop this ability

4.  PRANAYAMA: expansion of life force, to acquire the energy to go deeper

5.  PRATYAHARA: withdrawal of one's awareness from the senses

6.  DHARANA: effort to concentrate that awareness on one object only

7.  DHYANA: effortless and sustained flow of attention to the object

8.  SAMADHI: the meditative mind merges first into the object, then its Cause, through a process of deepening stages

With gratitude to my teacher:
Sarasvati Buhrman, Ph.D., Ayurvedic Medicine and classical Yoga Therapy
P.O. Box 1121, Boulder, Co. 80306