Practicing Ashtanga Yoga regularly, one learns the art of living life. You can able to fight every trouble. This brings physical strength, mental peace as well as spiritual growth to your life.

To bring stagnation into your life and to live happily, yoga is an important contributor. If you keep such a desire then you should resort to Ashtanga yoga. In this article, we are going to tell what is Ashtanga yoga, what are its essential parts and benefits.

Patanjali’s Ashtanga Yoga

A combination of eight limbs of yoga is called Ashtanga yoga.

Maharishi Patanjali has explain it in detail in his Yoga Sutras decsription. It has eight parts, by following which a person can achieve his physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual progress. So let’s now understand Ashtanga Yoga in detail.

Essential Parts of Ashtanga Yoga

1- Yama Yoga

Yama means to keep one’s mind situated in religion. There are five types of Yama. Its description has given the following-

• Ahinsa (non-violence)- This is the feeling of not hurting any person through our mind, word, and deed. In other words, the love of all living beings in this world is non-violence.
• Satya (Truth)- Your mind understands what you look from your eyes and listens to the ear, it is true to say as it is understood. But the truth is not only external but also internal.
• Asteya (strong determination)- Asteya is a state in which you do not keep a desire for something bad things to happen to other’s life. You do not covet the wealth of other people.
• Brahmacharya (Celibacy): A state where you do not keep a desire of sexuality and do not make your own family, is a Brahmacharya life.
• Aparigraha (renunciation): A renunciation of the means of pleasure attained spontaneously. In Asteya, theft is sacrificed, but charity is accepted. But charity is also rejected in Aparigraha. Accumulation of wealth, property, and other material items is self-interest and lack of it is renunciation.

2- Niyama (rules)

There are five types of rules also: –

Defecation: Body and mind purification brings the defecation process. The body can be kept clean by bathing, sattvic food, etc. The purification of the mind is done by discarding the raga, malice, etc., and purifying the dirt of the mind.

Contentment: Man should be honest about his deeds. Satisfaction is what you get while doing the same karma is called contentment.

Tapa: Meditating mind and body is austerity while enduring duality like happiness, sorrow, cold heat, hunger, and thirst.

Swadhyaya: Swadhyaya is the practice of learning, purification, and the exchange of ideas for the purification of ideas and the attainment of knowledge.

Ishvara (God) Pranidhan: Devotion to God by mind, speech, deeds, and hearing of his name, form, qualities, etc., in all the deeds, Kirtan, contemplation, and all deeds, is the God Pranidhan.

3- Asana

You should have to perform physical and mental asanas until you attain a state of high power. Yogis have described such types of asanas, pranayama, etc., whose actions bring restraint to the body and mind. “Esthyram Sukhmasana”, the body remains stable and the mind gets happiness, this type of situation is easy. It is very important for a human being to keep the body healthy while doing tasks. Asana is very beneficial for a healthy body and mind.

4- Pranayama

The fourth part of  Ashtanga Yoga is Pranayama. This brings the light of knowledge due to the sinful detachment etc. of sin and sensory retirement of the senses. Knowledge leads to the destruction of ignorance. The mind is capable of perception. Manu Bhagwan has also emphasized the combustion of the dosha by Pranayama with legislation like “Pranayamaardheet Doshan”. The practice of pranayama affects the Sushumna pulse and brings consciousness to the pulse chakras and develops a variety of powers, also known as siddhis, and are known as the miracles of yoga.

5- Pratyahara

When the senses turn into the inner world from the outer world, then that state is called Pratyahara. Generally, the power of the senses becomes strong. With the accomplishment of Pratyahara, the senses are empowered, the mind is calm and one gets the power to enter samadhi.

6- Dharana

To stop your eyes upon any object, on a circle to focus at a point. This work is done easily. Being in control of the senses from pranayama to Pranavayu and Pratyahara does not cause any disturbance in the mind so that the quiet mind can be successfully placed in any one place. Those who want to increase the strength of the practice of Dharna, which is the sixth part of Ashtanga Yoga, should make dieting very regular. As a rule, we should practice cultivation practice faithfully.

7- Dhyana (Meditation)

The Dhyana Point Upanishad states that even a mountain like high and expanding sin can be penetrated by meditation, not by other means. It is said in Vivek Chudamani that just as gold poured into alkali leaves it pure and bright qualities so that the meditation alkali dissolves the rajas of the mind, tamas mal, and contains the light of sattva.

8- Samadhi

This is the eighth part of Ashtanga Yoga when the feeling of meditation is over and the mind is completely absorbed in the divine, that is samadhi. When mindful of the meditator.

Except only the goal takes the shape of the object, then it is called samadhi. Samadhi is the tallest limit of meditation. When there is an exaggeration of meditation, a meditative condition, then the duality of the mind and the corresponding attitude disappears from the mind.

Meditation stops the flow of meditative instinct. Samadhi is attained as soon as it is finished. One has to practice more meditation to get into this position.

Ashtanga Yoga Benefits

1. Physical Benefits –

• We can increase our physical strength with Ashtanga Yoga.
• This results in good blood circulation in the muscles.
• Helps tone the body.
• There are many postures through which weight can be controlled.
• Ashtanga yoga can make the body flexible and tolerant.

2. Mental benefits –

• Mental peace can be attained by doing pranayama, which is a part of Ashtanga Yoga.
• Ashtanga yoga is a very good medium to reduce stress.
• Concentration can also be increased by this, which is very useful for students.
• It sharpens your brain and helps in understanding the subjects.
• It also develops our intellectual level.

3. Spiritual benefits –

• With Ashtanga Yoga you can achieve spiritual progress.
• This gives you a chance to know yourself.
• Ashtanga yoga brings tremendous confidence in you.
• Ashtanga yoga has endless benefits, it also gives us emotional strength us.

Conclusion

Ashtanga Yoga information which is given above, you will get endless benefits by adopting it into your life. Although it is not easy to practice this yoga, nothing is impossible if you have determination. Ashtanga yoga is not a yoga asana, but a complete yoga formula, which a person becomes a divine man by practicing.

Along with this, If you keep a desire to in-depth your knowledge about yoga asana, so you could become a part of Yoga Teacher Training in Rishikesh, India.