The School of Yoga
About Ashtanga Yoga
We present classical Ashtanga Yoga as set forth more than 2,000 years ago by Patanjai in the Yoga Sutras. Though asana (seat, or posture) is one limb of Ashtanga Yoga and Hatha Yoga, it is often identified as Yoga in the west. Ashtanga means Eight Limbed (ashta meaning eight, and anga meaning limb) so Ashtanga Yoga means Eight Limbed Yoga.
The eight limbs* are:-
Restraints (Yama):
- Nonviolence (Ahimsa)
- Truthfulness (Satya)
- Non-Stealing (Asteya)
- Continence (Bramacharya)
- Non-Posessiveness (Aparigraha)
- Purity (Saucha)
- Contentment (Santosha)
- Austerity (Tapas)
- Scriptural Study (Svadhyaya)
- Surrender to God (Ishvarapranidhana)
Observances (Niyama):
Posture, Seat (Asana)
Breath Control (Pranayama)
Withdrawing the Mind from Sense Perception (Pratyahara)
Concentration (Dharana)
Meditation (Dhyana)
Higher Consciousness (Samadhi)
Note: Because there has been much confusion in recent years regarding the term Ashtanga, we wish to be clear that we do not teach a contemporary method of asana that has come to be known as “Power Yoga” or “Ashtanga”.
* Ashtanga Yoga Primer © 1981, Sri Rama Publishing, Santa Cruz, CA