yoga laws
The father of yoga is referred to as Patanjali, who wrote his thoughts and ideas on how a yogi should live in his book, The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. This book is considered a sacred text for the yoga practice. There are eight parts to the way of living the yoga lifestyle.
The first one is yama, which refers to how you socially interact with others around you, such as practicing non-violence against any living creature, to always be truthful, not stealing either material objects or intangible objects and non-possessiveness of material objects or greed. The second part is niyama, which is how we treat ourselves. For example, keeping yourself pure, meaning keeping a healthy body. Secondly, practicing contentment which refers to being happy with who you are and living in the moment. The practice of self-control of your mind, speech and body is called austerity. It is also important to live with the awareness of a higher power while studying sacred yoga writings.
The third branch is asana, which are the actual yoga poses that are used to prepare the mind for meditation and the day’s events while exercising the body. Another important branch is the practice of breathing while practicing the yoga poses and meditation. This practice is called pranayama, which relaxes the body and refocuses the mind. The fifth branch is the practice of pratyahara that is done during meditation where the individual can withdraw from all five senses and focus on the meditation practice.
The sixth branch is the practice of dharana, where you focus your mind on one object during meditation while dhyana is when you meditate uninterrupted without an object in mind. Once you can achieve all of these practices, you have reached the state of absolute bliss, which is also called samadhi. Every day I try to work all of these ideas into my yoga practice in my personal and professional life. My beliefs and values are based on the ideas listed here and I am faithful to them every day.