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Most Indians identify the ancient seer Patanjali as the father of all yogas. Traditionally, they have viewed Patanjali as a semi-divine being, a manifestation of Ananta, the serpent of infinity. Patanjali displayed an incredible level of mastery in compiling the Yoga Sutra; he also published texts on Sanskrit grammar and Ayurvedic medicine. Thus you can think of Patanjali as a master of advanced yoga techniques, a professor of various branches of classical knowledge, and a mythological, semi-divine being all wrapped in one. The Indian masters I have studied with report that Patanjali lived six thousand years ago, though some Western scholars claim that he lived more recently.

Ashtanga Yoga can be traced all the way back to Patanjali. Ashtanga Yoga is mentioned in many ancient texts, such as the Mahabharata, the longest Indian epic. These references make it clear that the term Ashtanga was always used to refer to Patanjali’s yoga. Ashtanga is derived from the Sanskrit words ashtau, meaning “eight,” and anga, meaning “limb.” These words describe the essence of Ashtanga Yoga — a discipline built of eight distinct practices, or limbs. The postures, or asanas, that most Westerners associate with the term yoga make up only one of these eight limbs.

The following are the eight limbs as described by Patanjali:¹

1 Restraints (Yamas)

2 Observances (Niyamas)

3 Postures (Asanas)

4 Breath extension (Pranayama)

5 Internal focus (Pratyahara)

6 Concentration (Dharana)

7 Meditation (Dhyana)

8 Ecstasy (Samadhi)

I say more about these limbs in short order.

One of the outstanding features of Indian spiritual traditions such as yoga is that through the ages their practices have adapted to meet the changing requirements of an evolving society. Ashtanga Yoga is no different, and in the past few millennia it has taken many forms. For example, a fairly recent form, only about one thousand years old, is Hatha Yoga, a Tantric yoga that focuses on the body and proper execution of elaborate techniques. One of Hatha Yoga’s defining texts, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, calls the practice a “ladder” for those who want to reclaim the heights of Ashtanga Yoga.²

Another school or mode of Ashtanga Yoga is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga — the practice that is the subject of this book. Today this school is often called simply Ashtanga Yoga. This abbreviated form of the name is a bit confusing because it could refer to either Ashtanga Yoga as a whole or the subdivision that is Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga. The term Ashtanga Yoga is now universally accepted, and that’s the one I use in this book. The reader will have to judge from context whether Ashtanga refers to the general mantle of Patanjali’s yoga or the specific discipline of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was founded by the seer Vamana, who according to my Indian preceptors lived four thousand years ago. During that period, cities in India were growing rapidly, and as a result the people felt increasing demands on their time.³ The society needed a practice that encompassed all the elements of Patanjali’s original yoga but took up less time. Rishi Vamana fulfilled this need by introducing the concept of vinyasa in his text Yoga Korunta.

In vinyasa, postures (asanas, the third limb) are combined with internal muscular contractions (bandhas) and breath control or extension (pranayama, the fourth limb) to form what are called “seals” (mudras). The postures are performed in particular sequences and further combined with focal points (drishtis) for the eyes. These modifications “turbo-charge” the postures. When practiced correctly with the fifth and sixth limbs (pratyahara, the sense withdrawal technique, and dharana, the concentration technique that involves listening to the breath), the postures lead to a meditative state (dhyana, the seventh limb). Over time the regular practice of these integrated limbs purifies the mind and body and eventually leads to ecstasy (samadhi, the eighth limb).

The following section presents an overview of the eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga; a more detailed exploration appears in chapter 1.