THE ADEPT INITIATIVE

The Eight Limbs of Yoga

Yoga is an ancient spiritual technology, with a precise series of steps and methodologies—and
it doesn’t have much to do with the “yoga” currently in vogue. Yoga means Union in Sanskrit –
Union With God.

In one sense, a yoga is a technique. The yoga which is commonly and popularly practiced is
technically called hatha yoga—the yoga of the body. It is an excellent technique for keeping
the body flexible and healthy… but real yoga is the yoga of the soul, not the body. It is the
technology of harnessing the mind and training it to rest steadily in the Divine. What we
commonly think of as “meditation” is in fact much closer to the classical meaning of yoga.

Patanjali, who composed the Yoga Sutras during the second century BCE, laid down a
scientific framework for following the essential steps and stages of Union. These are the eight
limbs of yoga, and together comprise what is perhaps the most elegant and precise system
of spiritual development known to man. They are a series of practices which exist outside
of the framework of ideology—yoga is not a religion or belief system. Rather, it is a series of
practices and techniques which can be applied within the framework of any belief system (or
without one) to accelerate the soul’s progress to the Divine.

The eight limbs of yoga are as follows, and are meant to be followed successively, building
upon each other, each increasingly focusing the yogi’s life and practice, and aiding the path to
single-pointed focus on God:

1. Yama. Universal morality; rather, living a life free of impurities. Classically, Yama consists of
having compassion for all life, truthfulness, non-stealing, proper focus of sexual energy, and
getting over the need for constantly trying to get more money, wealth, stuff, status, and so on.

2. Niyama. Proper personal habits aimed at living a pure life, including keeping a clean body
and mind, being content and peaceful with one’s lot in life, self-discipline in how one uses
one’s time and energy, introspection into one’s own self, and a holding of the importance of
the Divine as central to one’s life.

These two form the basis of the yogi’s lifestyle. They are concerned with living a balanced and
non-disturbed life – keeping a clean house, as it were – in order to form a good foundation for
meditation, clear from the mental disturbances that come with a chaotic, undisciplined and
unfocused life. The next two form the physical requirements of spiritual practice.

3. Asana. This is the posture of the body—but doesn’t necessarily mean the pretzel-bending
antics of popular yoga. At its most basic, Asana simply means finding a position which
facilitates meditation, and which you can hold still in for long periods of time. If you can’t
do this, the physical fitness routines of hatha yoga can help, but the goal isn’t to touch your
toes to your head. The goal is to be able to sit for long periods of time in still silence, without
fidgeting or otherwise allowing the body to get in the way of one’s meditation.

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4. Pranayama. Pranayama means the way of breath. It is the regulation of the nervous
system by using the breath. As with Asana, there are many complicated forms of Pranayama;
however, at its most simple, Pranayama is simply a slow, steady regulation of the breath,
through the nostrils. Breath is directly linked to the mind. Steady and still your breath, and you
will steady and still your mind.

The next four form the purely internal requirements of meditation.

5. Pratyahara. Pratyahara is the withdrawal of the senses. With a calm life and environment, a
stilled body, and regulated breathing, the yogi’s (five plus) senses will slowly begin to withdraw
from the environment. This is “going within,” turning the senses (and therefore the mind) away
from the outside world. Instead of focusing on something “out there,” the mind begins to
focus on itself.

6. Dharana. Dharana means concentration, and is what most people commonly think of
as “meditation.” With the senses turned inward, and the stimulus of the outside world (the
conditions of the yogi’s external life, the body, the breath, and the senses themselves) stilled,
the yogi begins to focus the mind on one thing, and one thing only: the Divine. This process
is called concentration, but it is not until the mind becomes single-pointedly focused that the
yogi can truly be said to be in meditation.

7. Dhyana. Dhyana means devotion, and this is true meditation—when the mind comes to rest
in single-pointed focus upon its beloved, the Divine itself.

8. Samadhi. The Holy Grail of Yoga, Samadhi is the erasing of the difference between the
Divine and the soul which observes it, between the observer and the observed, subject and
object. From meditating only on the Divine, the soul now merges with it.

This exceedingly amusing party trick can be studied academically in books, but true practice
takes the commitment of one’s life to the path, daily discipline, and a qualified teacher or
Guru, one who has trod the path to its completion.

May all beings in all worlds attain to happiness.

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THE ADEPT INITIATIVE

Frater Achad in
Dragon Asana, c. 1913.

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Asana—Posture.
From Liber E vel Exercitiorum sub figura IX by Frater Perdurabo.

III Asana - Posture

1. You must learn to sit perfectly still with every muscle tense for long periods.

2. You must wear no garments that interfere with the posture in any of these experiments.

3. The first position: (The God). Sit in a chair; head up, back straight, knees together, hands on
knees, eyes closed.

4. The second position: (The Dragon). Kneel; buttocks resting on the heels, toes turned back,
back and head straight, hands on thighs.

5. The third position: (The Ibis). Stand, hold left ankle with right hand, free forefinger on lips.

6. The fourth position: (The Thunderbolt). Sit; left heel pressing up anus, right foot poised
on its toes, the heel covering the phallus; arms stretched out over the knees; head and back
straight.

7. Various things will happen to you while you are practising these positions; they must be
carefully analysed and described.

8. Note down the duration of practice; the severity of the pain (if any) which accompanies it,
the degree of rigidity attained, and any other pertinent matters.

9. When you have progressed up to the point that a saucer filled to the brim with water and
poised upon the head does not spill one drop during a whole hour, and when you can no
longer perceive the slightest tremor in any muscle; when, in short, you are perfectly steady
and easy, you will be admitted for examination; and, should you pass, you will be instructed in
more complex and difficult practices.

(The complete text of Liber E can, and must, be found either in Liber ABA by Aleister Crowley,
William Breeze edition, or online here, as transcribed by Bill Heidrick.)

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