In Sanskrit Yoga means ”yoking”, which refers to the method’s goal of joining the individual with God, first by uniting the various parts of the body with one another, then making the body as a whole work together with consciousness as part of an ordered system. To achieve this aim, the basic text of Yoga, compiled by Patanjali about fifteen years ago. Yoga has been proved to be a great tool for giving mind body connection by the researches . It has several benefits like it helps in mindfulness, increasing concentration of mind and also others health benefits. Patanjali divides the yoga in eight stages of increasing skills. The first two stages of ”ethical preparation” are intended to change a person’s attitudes. We might say that involves “straightening out of consciousness’’ ; they attempt to reduce psychic entropy as much as possible before the actual attempts at mind control begins.
Below the overview of all the eights limbs of yoga given –
Yama – In practice the first step Yama, requires that one achieve ‘’restraint’’ from acts and thoughts that might harm others – falsehood, theft, lust and avarice. There are five principle of Yamas and they are Ahimsa(Non harming), Satya(Truthfulness), Asteya(Non Stealing), Brahmacharya(Abstinence), Aparigraha(Non Hoarding).
Niyama – The second step Niyamas involves ‘’obedience’’ , or the following of ordered routes in cleanliness, study and obedience to God, all of which help to channel attention into predictable patterns, and hence make attention into predictable patterns and hence make attention easier to control. The five principles of Niyamas called Saucha(Cleanliness), Santosha(Contentment), Tapas(Heat), Svadhyaya(Self Knowledge), Ishvarapranidhana(Full Surrender to Divine).
The next two stages involve physical preparation, or development of habits that will enable the practitioner or yogin to overcome the demands of senses and make it possible for him to concentrate without growing tired or distracted.
Asana – The third stages consists in practicing various asana ways of sitting or holding postures for long periods without succumbing to strain or fatigue. This is the stage of Yoga that we all know in the west exemplified by a fellow in what looks like diapers standing on his head with his shanks behind his neck.
Pranayama – The fourth stage is pranayama or breath control which aims to relax the body and stabilizes the rhythm of breathing . This can be done in various way like inhaling , exhaling and retention of breath in a cyclical manner with various time periods. Practice of pranayama helps us t bring our concentration in present moment i.e practicing of Mindfulness.
Pratyahara – The fifth stage the hinge between the preparatory exercises and practice of Yoga proper is called Pratyahara( Withdrawal). It involves learning to withdraw attention from outwards objects by directing the input of the senses – thus becoming able to see, hear, and feel only what one wishes to admit int awareness.
Dharana – It is the ability to concentrate for long periods on single stimulus, and thus is the mirror image of the earlier stage of Pratyahara; first one learns to keep things out of the mind, then one learns to keep them in.
Dhyana(Meditation) – Here one learns to forget the self in uninterrupted concentration that no longer needs the external stimuli of the preceding phase. So dhyana is a state of mind in which one consciousness is singly focused on single objects without any distraction from other objects or images.
Samadhi – Finally the practitioner may achieve the state of Samadhi, the last stage of “Self Consciousness” when the meditators and the object of meditation become as one. Those who achieved it describes Samadhi as the most joyful experiences in their lives.
Source – “Flow” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.