Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
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The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali is a compilation "from a variety of sources" of Sanskrit sutras on the practice of yoga – 195 sutras and 196 sutras. The Yoga Sutras were compiled in India in the early ce
Some pages from a historic Yogasutra manuscript (Sanskrit, Devanagari). The verses are highlighted and are embedded inside the bhasya (commentary).
Statue of Patañjali, its traditional snake form indicating kundalini or an incarnation of Shesha
Ashtanga yoga is Pātañjali's classification of classical yoga, as set out in his Yoga Sūtras. He defined the eight limbs as yama, niyama, āsana, prāṇāyāma, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyāna, and samādhi.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
…one-pointed awareness" (ekagrata) and "content-free awareness" (nirvikalpa samadhi); the means to acquire these, namely kriya yoga ("action yoga") and ashtanga yoga (eight-limb yoga); the results acquired from the attainment of these levels of awareness; and the final goal of yoga, namely kaivalya and liberation…
Modern statue of Pātañjali, the compiler of the Yoga Sūtras, practicing dhyāna (meditation), one of the eight limbs of yoga that he defines.
Lahiri Mahasaya in Padmasana, one of the ancient seated meditation asanas
Alternate nostril breathing, one form of Pranayama
A woman meditating beside the sacred river Ganges in Varanasi