text in Sanskrit compiled by Patañjali. It”s a collection of 195/196 s?tras (verses), aphorisms pertaining to the Indian yoga philosophy. The Yogasūtra is divided into 4 chapters (Pāda) Samādhi pāda, Sādhana pāda, Vibhūti pāda and Kaivalya pāda. In the Sādhana pāda, Patañjali describes the Aṣṭāṅga yoga.
Here are the eight “limbs” (aṅga), the steps or branches of Rāja-Yoga.
- Prohibitions yama (यम) or Yamaraja (यमराज), the five precepts
- Injunctions niyama (नियम) there are five of them
- Bodily attitudes āsana (आसन) , there are 8.4 millions attitudes, the most famous of which is padmāsana
- prāṇāyāma (प्राणायाम) breathing technique, regulating strictly the inhalation and expiration in the posturale practice, and the breath holding in the techniques of breath control.
- Retraction of the senses pratyāhāra
- Leading the sage dhāraṇā (धारण)
- Which continues through meditation dhyāna (ध्यान)
- Which finishes with the completion and contemplation of the Spirit Samādhi (समाधि).
