The 8 Pieces of the Yogic Pie
When I was working on my initial 200 hour yoga teacher training, with Stephanie Keach via the Asheville Yoga Center, I didn’t take nearly as much time to work on the 8 Limbs of Yoga as I should have looking back, nor (as I shamely say) do I when I practice. This evening when I was taking yet another yummy class through Yoga Vibes (this time it was a class with Shawn Shaw – and yes, it’s a girl), I listened intently as she spoke of them throughout the practice and then all of sudden my divine light began to sparkle even more when I realized, oh my gosh, now I get it! Not that I didn’t get it before, but she tied it in so nicely to the practice that she taught that I began to see all the connections and see how as a yogini and teacher I must know more. Thus, after practice I began to mull over the books and resources that I had and reflected on this:
- Yama – Universal Morality
- To me this means being respectful not just to myself, but to others. Non judgment.
- Niyama – Personal obserevences
- Noticing things about myself in quiet, stillness and in meditation and learning from those things noticed.
- Asanas -Body Postures
- Just one of the 8 Limbs, but boy is this what I tend to work on.
- Pranayama -Breathing exercises
- Breath through my entire practice another element of life, energy, prana and another limb.
- Dharana – Cultivating and concentrating on inner perceptual awareness
- What do I need, what do I do about what is needed by my body, my mind. My intuition, my third eye.
- Dhyana – Devotion- Meditation on the Divine
- I can do this as I look outside myself and my ego in tough shapes and especially balances
- Samadhi – Union with the Divine
- Resting with this union through my practice in Savasana
So, I am no expert by any means, but its a start and hey – we all have to start somewhere.
