Yoga_Journal_Singapore_FebruaryMarch_2017

ashta = eight · anga = limbs

Ashtanga}

BY SHERRIANN MELWANI

This is the first part in a series of eight articles about what Ashtanga really means,

as derived from Patanjali’s ancient Yoga Sutras (not to be confused with Ashtanga

Vinyasa Yoga, which was a yoga style created by Sri Pattabhi Jois.)

75

february / march 2017

yogajournal.com.sg

ASHTANGA

practice well

MODEL - SHERRIANN MELWANI; PHOTO - ESTHER TAY PICTURES

Part 1

Yoga is being able to see yourself in others.

Ashtanga Yoga, first appearing in the ancient text, The

Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, translates to ‘The Eight Limbs

of Yoga’. Imagine a tree with eight different branches.

Each branch is just as important as the other—yet they

all bear their own fruit. Each connects to the tree trunk,

making up a collective whole, which is then rooted

deep connecting to something larger that we can only

imagine. Most people nowadays associate yoga to be

stretches and fancy poses, but it is so much more. While

asanas, or yoga poses, are surely an integral part of

yoga, they are in fact only one branch (the third) of the

metaphorical tree.

Ashtanga incorporates holistic guidelines and

practices that lead us towards self-realization, thereby

bringing physical, mental and spiritual balance. The

other day, while riding a crowded train in Singapore,

I saw a young man unhesitatingly give up his regular,

unreserved seat for an elderly man. A few days prior

to that, a group of teenage schoolgirls helped tourists

carry luggage up some steps without being asked. Once

I forgot my wallet in a taxi and the driver somehow

tracked me down to return it—without a dollar lost.

While waiting in a long queue at the market, someone

let me go ahead after seeing I had only a few items in

my basket.

Millions of these stories happen every day across

the globe. There is a special place in my heart for these

small yet monumental acts amongst strangers. It is

easy to be kind to people we know, or when we get

compensation or attention. But how do we treat people

we pass on the streets who we don’t know and when

no one is looking? It is this act of choosing to be kind,

without expectation, that is the essence of the First

Limb of Ashtanga: The Yama.

Yama deals with one’s ethical standards and sense

of integrity, focusing on our behavior and how we

conduct ourselves in life. Yamas are universal practices