Ethical and Moral Principles – The Eight Limb Path

low section of man against sky

Happy Sunday! I hope 2024 has been kind to you. It’s been a while since I have been on here. At some point in my yoga training I reached a place that required silence. I believe I am finally in a space to come back and share my experience and things I’ve learned during my final weeks in yoga training. I am also back at work full-time and that also provides an area that overlaps with why I started this site to begin with. I hope to bring some experience and insights to a life better lived (if that makes any sense). But first, I am going to begin this year with an introduction to the eight limb path of yoga. Each week I will break down a different aspect in its simplest for in hopes that someone out there can benefit, thrive, and/or find freedom.

In yoga, the ultimate goal is samadhi also known as freedom. To achieve freedom, the introduction of ethical and moral principles were put into practice. If one could set principles and abide by them, the result would be to create a pathway to success towards freedom. 

Freedom is a multi faceted approach to freedom from restraints, judgments, fear, suffering and pain to name a few. 

The goal of yoga is the study of self, while bringing together the union of opposites, use of the body to free the mind and to find equanimity because the only true obstacle is you. If you can clear the mind and place focus on principles or guidelines for living a healthier, kinder, more loving life, logically everything else will follow. 

In Deborah Adele’s book The Yamas & Niyamas, she explores yoga’s ethical practice through the first two limbs of the eight limbs path. The first two, referred to as the moral restraints “Yamas” and the observances “Niyamas”.  

The yamas include: nonviolence, truthfulness, nonstealing, nonexcess, and nonpossesiveness. The Niyamas are: purity, contentment, self-discipline, self-study, and surrender. 

Then follows the remaining six limbs: Asana|postures, Pranayama| breath control, Pratyahara| turning inward, Dharana| concentration, Dhyana| meditation, and lastly Samadhi| freedom. 

When all eight limbs are taken as a whole, it helps create ownership of your life and leads to a what Deborah says is a wisdom that gives direction to a well-lived and joyful life. 

Ultimately, the eight limb path are rituals created for a better life through accountability and awareness. If and when, we as a self begin to choose betterment as a daily practice, true transformation is inevitable.

I hope you come along for the ride…and somewhere along the way, a path to freedom. Have a great week!