1.Yamas (Social Discipline)

Yama means how to behave or interact with others. These days there are so many conflicts in relationships. 5 steps of Yama will help you breeze through these relationships.

Ahimsa – Non-Violence towards self and others in thought, words and deeds
Satya – Always live and speak your own truth
Asteya – Do not steal or take what is not freely given. Also do not exploit others
Brahmacharya – Use your energy wisely by doing everything in moderation
Aparigraha – Do not hoard. Have only as much as you need and follow minimalism

2. Niyanamas (Self Discipline)

We have borrowed this body and mind from Nature, one day we have to return it. Till the time we have it, we must know how to treat it well. There are 5 steps that will make you fall in love with yourself.

Shauch – Keep your body, emotions and thoughts pure
Santosh – Being grateful and content for what we have and who we are
Tapas – Using will power to overcome the laziness of the mind. Stepping out of comfort zone
Svadhyaya – Self study through self awareness and the study of spiritual texts
Ishwara Pranidhana – Surrending the fruits of our actions to a higher power & devotion

3. Asanas (Body Discipline)

In the Patanjali yoga sutras, the only yoga asana mentioned is sthira sukam asanam : a posture is one which brings stability & stillness. Later on, yogis devised many kinds of postures that allowed for the mind to become still.

Allowing stretches to remove built-up toxins in the body. Stretching improves flexibility
in the body and the mind. Asanas build strength and endurance.

When a yogi develops a highly purified body, he becomes free from disease, his youth is prolonged and his life is extended and the experience of super-smell, super-taste, super-sight,
super-touch and super-sound occurs.

4. Pranayama (Breath Discipline)

PRANA is our life force. Whatever movement is happening within
the body right now is happening because of the Prana. Blood flow, heart
pumping, organs functioning, everything is possible due to Prana.

Prana is responsible for all our body movements, the thoughts that come into our
minds, and ideas. Our breath is our charging cable! The Body cannot move by itself.
The more unstable the breathing, the more unstable the mind.

Pranayama is the stabilization of breathing. Inhalation and exhalation with retention. Optimizes the use of oxygen within the body, calms the mind and slows down the aging process.

5. Pratyahara (Sense Discipline)

Pratyahara means withdrawal of senses. Turning them inwards.

We understand the world through our 5 senses but everyday we get so much information through these that our minds are constantly running.

Pratyahara helps to bring the senses under control to avoid day-to-day distractions. Once the senses are turned inwards, one can prepare for the next stage.

6. Dharana (Aim Discipline)

Dharana is focussing our awareness on one point and bringing it back to that point when concentration wavers.

Focus and concentration to tame the monkey mind. We can attain this by working towards a goal with one-pointed focus. Focus can be on a mantra, idol or point in the beginning.

Our mind is a storehouse of so many different things, it’s like a playground. In our mind, we decide what action to take, we go back to memories, create thoughts, words, and sentences,
refine our work, and think of creative ideas. One part of this mind is awareness, and it can be taken to different parts. Awareness is what needs to be focused and concentrated, not our mind. Mind is very vast, it cannot be focused.

7. Dhyana (Meditation Discipline)

In dhyana, there is a keen awareness. We’re absolutely in the present moment but without effort
with very few or no thoughts.

A state of few or no thoughts. We can attain this by engaging in activities that take us into ‘the flow’ state. This is where time stops and one experiences peace.

Example: When someone is learning how to drive a car, in the beginning, there are so many things to be taken care of, but once they master it, almost no effort is required. They start driving on their own, automatically without thinking much about the controls. That is when that person is in dhyana.

When we are in a flow state, we have no awareness of time. It feels like time has stopped.
Hence when we’re enjoying doing something, it feels like time has flown or gone by.

Dhyana is different for different people. Since we have few or no thoughts naturally, it is a state
of healing of body and mind. It is a state of deep restfulness without being asleep. In this state, the mind is also at peace. This is a time when we get recharged and our aging process is reversed. This is also the time when our Karma dissolves.

Meditation is silence. As soon as the mind becomes silent, we are in dhyana. The default state
the mind seems to be negative/ chaotic, but the supernatural state is bliss, and that is the journey of yoga which helps us reach the state of bliss.

It is extremely important to take out time for dhyana every single day. Just like everybody takes a bath alone because that is their cleansing process, Dhyana is the cleansing process for our minds. This takes time and we have to have patience.

8. Samadhi (Bliss) (Self Realization)

A state of Sat-Chitt-Ananda, truth-consciousness-bliss. This is where one transcends
the mind and feels a sense of one-ness with the universe.

Dharana and dhyana are of the mind, but samadhi is beyond intellect. There is no logical
understanding of this experience.

Samadhi is an expansion of ourselves where we feel ourselves beyond the body. A yogi wants to be in this state of pure bliss all the time. Doing that in a way where we are not damaging the body, where we are still functioning fully and contributing to the world, and still remaining joyful.
That is what a yogi aims for.

When we are consciously working on the first 7 limbs, the state of samadhi naturally comes. We must not chase it.