I believe that there is more to Ashtanga yoga than just the sequences of postures. The postures make up only the third Limb.

Ashtanga means eight limbs,  Ashtau - 8, Anga - limbs, and the idea is to practice all of the eight limbs when you are on your mat and for the rest of the day. 

The first two limbs are  the Yamas and Niyamas which are ways to live your life. 

The Yamas start with Ahimsa, which roughly translates as kindness, or non harming, to yourself, to others and to animals. Kindness in thought and word, and in the actions that you take in life. Many people practice vegetarianism, but it can go so much farther than this. As with everything it is best to start slowly, and gradually over time, as you get deeper into your practice you will start to give up the things that you feel are not serving you, and once you embrace the principle of ahimsa you find you really can change your life.

You can bring Ahimsa to your mat by being kind to yourself during your practice, by not pushing your body to it’s limits every day and listening to your body, and not working through pain. Pain is your body’s way of telling you there is something wrong, so pay attention and rest when you need to. There is no rush to get more postures, you have the rest of your life, so just do what feels right and chip away slowly at the postures and you will avoid injury and enjoy your practice, and your practice will serve you. 

The second Yama is Satya, truthfulness. So being honest, with yourself and others, in words and actions. Again you can bring this to your mat as well as your daily life. Being honest on your mat is being aware of how you feel on any given day and only working as hard as you feel fit to. Every day will be different and you will feel different from day to day, some days you will have the energy for a “full” practice with loads of postures and some days you will just not have the energy, so be honest with yourself, and only do what feels right for you. You should also be honest with the postures and only push your body as far as it will go. Again this will help to avoid injury and you will enjoy your practice. 

The third Yama is Asteya , non stealing. It speaks for itself really and goes hand in hand with honesty. It is often referred to as not doing postures that you haven’t been ‘given’ and there is some value in this because the system is intelligently set up so that each posture leads onto the next one and they open your body slowly so that it is ready for the next one. Your teacher knows your body and your practice, and will know when you are ready to move to the next posture. 

The fourth Yama is Brahmacharya, or continence, in the past it was aimed at the young men who practiced yoga and was about celibacy, but can be translated for our age as moderation. Everything in moderation, so bringing this to the mat involves dong the practice that suits you on any given day and not forcing your body to do any more than it is capable of.

The final Yama is Aparigraha ,   not grasping, not being greedy. On the mat this refers to letting go and not striving to get to the “end Stop” of the posture even when it is clearly not working for you; or not striving for the next posture, or series even if you are not ready for it. This inevitably leads to injury. If you practice without striving you will enjoy your practice and feel relaxed afterwards. Off the mat aparigraha refers to moderation in all things, such as food, etc. clearly if you are not greedy or grasping for things that are not in your reach you will be happier. 

The Niyamas are more ways to live your life; and start with Saucha, cleanliness, referring to purity of the body. So when this is related to our practice, we can make sure the body is clean before practice. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika has various different kriyas that can be performed before practice to cleanse the body. The most basic one of these is to have a shower which has the added bonus of making the body warm before practice if you have a hot shower in winter.

Other methods of purifying the body are to do Neti, which is done by pouring lukewarm salty water through each nostril, to clean the nasal passageways; very useful for taking deep breaths and especially useful if you have a cold or live in very polluted areas. Another method of purifying your body is to watch what you put into it, such as food and drink. Only eating pure, sattvic food and abstaining from drugs and alcohol, including caffeine. The purer your body is the easier the practice becomes. However, everything in moderation, you are allowed to have fun ! 

The second Niyama is Santosha , or contentedness. On the mat this translates to being happy with where you are and not beating yourself up if you still can’t get that posture or you could do something last week and you can no longer do it today. The body changes every day, so your practice will change too and the wonderful thing about Ashtanga yoga is that we practice the same postures over and over so we get to see how the body changes and how the mind changes towards those postures. If you can be content with where you are on any given day you will enjoy your practice, and of course when taken off the mat if you can be content with your life then you will be happy. 

The third Niyama is Tapas , discipline, austerities. Tapas also means to burn, burning away all of the impurities. The practice creates heat to burn away the impurities in the body. The practice itself is a discipline, and an austerity. This is why we practice 6 days a week. We have a day off to rest the body and break the addiction. This self discipline will always stand you in good stead when you are off the mat.

The fourth Niyama is Swadhyaya , translated as self study. On the mat we should be looking inwards with awareness to what is going on in the body, or at least with awareness of the breath. This  is the ultimate self study. This is where the real transformation comes from. Off the mat you can put these insights of yourself into practice in how you react to the world and other people. And you can also choose to study some of the sacred books of yoga such as the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, or the Yoga Sutras, which actually help your practice . 

The final Niyama is Ishvara Pranidhara which means surrendering to God. Now, God can mean whatever you believe it to mean; from the wise old man sitting on a cloud, to a woman, to a pantheon of gods, to the Universe, to a greater force for good. The idea is that you surrender yourself in meditation to this greater force and you will achieve Samadhi. 

The third Limb, as already discussed, is Asana.  This translates as the postures that most yoga practitioners are familiar with. In fact most people start their yoga practice with Asana and then over time the Yamas and Niyamas start to organically just happen. 

The postures make up only the third Limb. Over time, and with the popularity of yoga, the other limbs have become forgotten, and Ashtanga yoga has been branded as the fast and challenging ‘hardcore’ athletic practice.  

We aim to move away from this way of thinking and bring Ashtanga back to its roots. When taught with care and compassion, this practice can be life changing and suitable for everyone. I strongly believe that this is a practice for life. So most people have literally got decades of practice in front of them, so there is plenty of time to collect more postures. Therefore it is fine to take your time and practice gently without hurting your body. There is no rush. Just chip away at the postures bit by bit and one day they will come.

The fourth Limb is Pranayama  which means Breath control. Pranayama is often considered as a practice on its own. However, Ujayi breath is a pranayama so it is already incorporated into the Ashtanga system from the first day! Over time your breath will become more even and long and fine. Eventually you will be able to stay focussed on the breath for longer parts of your practice, and then it becomes a meditation. 

The fifth Limb is Pratyahara which means looking inward. We should be looking inward while doing our practice, the drishti is there to help us to concentrate and not look around at other people in the room. Ultimately, by concentrating on breath, bandha, and drishti, and being aware of what the body is doing and feeling, we are looking inwards at ourselves. We need to practice with awareness, of the breath, and of the body.

The sixth limb is Dharana, which translates as concentration. All the other limbs lead us to this concentration. The practice itself, when done with full awareness leads us to a deep concentration.

The seventh Limb is Dhyana , or meditation. Through working with the other limbs, and with perfection of concentration, the practice becomes a moving meditation. We can continue this by sitting in meditation at the end of the Asanas. In fact, the practice of Asana opens your body to make it easier to sit for long periods in meditation.

The eighth limb is Samadhi . Contemplation; absorption; a state of bliss or superconsciousness. This is the main point of Yoga and what we are aiming for when we practice. This is the state of union of mind and body and spirit that Yoga is about. It comes with practice; and it can be fleeting. So do your practice!

These are the eight limbs of Yoga and these are the reasons why we make the shapes on our mat every day. By making these shapes; and incorporating the other limbs; and practicing with awareness, the yoga shines a light on our ways of thinking and habitual reactions to the world around us. By being aware of how we face the different postures, which become more difficult and challenging as we move through them, we become aware of how we react to different situations in our lives; and we learn how to face the postures, and life with equanimity. This is where the true transformation happens. And you thought you were just making fancy shapes!