The eight limbs of Ashtanga Yoga:

Yama – self restraint

Niyama - fixed observance, rules of raja yoga

Asana - a steady and comfortable meditatifve pose according to Patanjali. A specific position of the body which channelizes prana, opens the chakras and removes energy blocks.

Pranayama -technique of breathing and breath retention which increases the pranic capacity

Pratyahara - sense withdrawal; the first stage of concentrating the mind.

Dharana – practice of concentration

Dhyana – meditation; one-pointedness of mind through concentration on either form, thought, or sound. Absorption in the object of meditation.

Samadhi – culmination of meditation, state of oneness of mind with the object of concentration; supramental consciousness

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Definitive Writings:

Bhagavad Gita – universally renowned as the jewel of India's spiritual wisdom. Spoken by Lord Krishna, the supreme personality of God Head, to his intimate disciple Arjuna. The Gita's seven hundred concise verses provide a definitive guide to the science of self-realization.

Yoga Sutras - A treatise written by Patanjali on raja yoga, built on the foundations of Samkhya and Hindu Scripture of the Bhagavad Gita, helping to define yoga and a systematic process in assisting its evolution for the individual.

Teachers and founders:

Shri T Krishnamacharya – was born in the village of Miuchukunte, Karnataka State in 1888 of a family that can trace it's origins back to the South Indian yogi Nathamuni of the 7th and 8th centuries. His studies include degrees from several North Indian Universities followed by years of study under a yogi in Western Tibet: Rama Monana Brahmachari who instructed him on the therapeutic uses of asana and pranayama. He then returned to South India and established a school of yoga in the palace of the Maharajah of Mysore in1924. His three most noted students are K. Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar and his son T.K.V. DesiKachar.

K. Pattabhi Jois – developed ashtanga yoga; www.ayri.org

B.K.S. Iyengar - developed Iyengar yoga; www.bksiyengar.com

T.K.V. DesiKachar – developed Viniyoga; Son and student of the great master T. Krishnamacharya. Starting his career as an engineer, he was inspired by this father's teaching and became his student in the 1960s. He remained his student for nearly 30 years until his fathers death 1989. He founded the Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram in 1976 to share and propagate the techniques of his great teacher.

Patanjali – Propounder of ashtanga yoga and author of Yoga Sutras; contemporary of Lord Buddha.

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