Yama
The discipline of yoga doesn’t begin—or end—with asanas. Just as a tree can bear flowers only with its roots deep in the earth, the yoga aspirant must carefully cultivate certain foundational values without which the flower of meditativeness won’t bloom. Sage Patanjali has grouped them into five yamas (restraints) and niyamas (observances), which purify the mind and prepare the ground for sadhana. In this article, revered Gurudev Anandmurti Gurumaa’s profound insights guide us...
As per sage Patanjali, yoga is an eight-fold path. It is like climbing a staircase which has eight steps: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and the final step is samadhi. In order to become a yogi, the aspirant needs to follow these eight limbs, meticulously and step by step. To many people, yoga means just asanas. Thus, they jump straight into the practice of asanas without understanding what the word ‘yoga’, actually means. That is why even...
