In the Yoga Sutras Patanjali gives us the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Most yoga students have heard of these. Sometimes they are referred to as the Ten Commandments of Yoga. Patanjali not only tells us what to practice in order to reach enlightenment, but why we should practice. Here I will discuss the first two limbs. They are the Yamas and the Niyamas.
The Yamas are moral and ethical restraints in your interactions with others. There are 5 of them.
Ahimsa – non violence. To one who is steeped in non-violence, in their presence all hostilities will cease.
Satya – truthfulness. To one who is steeped in truthfulness, their words will have the power to make things manifest.
Asteya – non-stealing. Non-covetousness leads to desirelessness and this in turn brings worldly and spiritual wealth without a hankering for them.
Brahmacharya – control of sensual pleasure. One who controls sensual pleasure, and does not let sensual pleasure control them, develops vigor and energy
Aparigraha – non-hoarding. One who lives free from attachment to possessions and lives without greed, finds that all their needs are met and they reach the path of knowledge and wisdom, which is real and permanent.
The Niyamas make up the second limb of yoga; they are observances for your self.
Saucha – cleanliness, purity. With purity of body, interest in sensual pleasures or contact with other’s bodies fades and the urge towards spiritual knowledge dawns. By maintaining cleanliness and orderliness, the wandering mind is transformed which brings cheerfulness, single-focused attention and control over the senses of perception, which leads towards realization of the soul.
Santosha – contentment. By practicing contentment a joyful awareness needed to realize the inner self arises.
Tapas – effort, burning zeal. By practicing tapas one develops control over the body and the senses.
Svadhyaya – self-study with the help of scriptures or sacred texts. Self study from the skin to the Self with the guidance of sacred scriptures leads toward the realization of God, or communion with te longed for deity.
Ishvara Pranidhana – Surrender to a higher power. This leads to Samadhi, or the realization of God in whatever form the practitioner deems God to be.