YAMA

Yama is the first element of yoga and Yama is a type of attitude that a Yogi should take towards the world. Yamas are really Yogic ethical principles, a set of behaviors with a purpose to help a Yogi to be a moral being, a person with consciousness and strong values to live by. Yama consists of five types such as:

Non-violence

Truthfulness

Non-theft

Sexual Moderation

Detachment

NIYAMA

Niyama is a type of attitude that a yogi should take towards oneself. Niyamas are yogic approaches to oneself that are used to build self discipline, will power, determination, and trust in oneself and one’s path. Niyama consists of five types:

Purity

Contentment

Austerity

Self-study

Surrender

ASANA

Asana is the physical posture in yoga. There are hundreds of sanas used today, many of which are variations on each other with little adjustments and add-ons. This is also physical posture and asanas can be of easier type, suitable for all levels, and they can get harder and harder as one progresses in his or her practice. However, all asanas have to be practiced with a certain attitude.

PRANAYMA

Pranayma is a type of yogic breathing exercise used to prepare a yogi for meditation. There are so many benefits of pranayama and positive effects on one’s body and one’s mind. First of all, pranayama helps a yogi to improve his or her breathing pattern. Second, pranayama allows for more oxygen to feed the brain, improving its functions, especially its capacity to stay awake and concentrated (for meditation and introspection). It helps a person become more conscious of the breath, of the body, and of the mind, bringing in more awareness of oneself as a result.

PRATYAHARA

Pratyahara is translated as the “withdrawal of the senses”. Pratyahara is also sense and It is a natural process that occurs when a person is extremely aware of oneself in the present moment, completely concentrated and absorbed in one’s activity. It is something that artists and other creative people refer to as “the flow”: being so focused on one’s creative process that everything else disappears and no distractions reach the mind.

DHARANA

Dharana is a type of single-pointed concentration. Dharana is a mental fixation but also the flow of consciousness is directed exclusively towards one object (internal or external) and is sustained there for a long time. This type of mental fixation should be uninterrupted and without interfering mental activities of any kind. As you can imagine, Dharana is something that takes years of practice and determination for most of us, although some people are born with an innate ability to concentrate like that. Some people, due to their profession, also may develop this type of concentration.

DYANA

Dyana is meditation. It is a technique of  Meditation used to calm down and control the mind, limiting its activity, reaching a state of high concentration, focus, and ultimately – awareness of oneself. When the mind is completely quiet and no mental activity disturbs a Yogi, a certain state is reached, a state in which one taps into one’s essence, underneath all of the layers and layers of conscious and subconscious mental representations that have to be eliminated. Meditation is really not something that you do, it is rather something that happens when all the conditions for it are met.

SAMADHI

It is also the element of Yoga and Samadhi is probably the most mysterious, misused, and misunderstood element of the Yoga path. It is definitely something that, in its initial stages, completely personal as to the way one can experience it and describe it. Hence, all of the confusion. It is a state beyond words and beyond mental concepts. This is why metaphors, poetry, and art have been the best mediums for the descriptions of Samadhi.