What are the Eight Limbs of Yoga?

Each limb relates to an aspect of achieving a healthy and fulfilling life, and each builds upon the one before it.

1. Yama:

Five ethical guidelines regarding moral behavior towards others:
Ahimsa: Nonviolence
Satya: Truthfulness
Asteya: Nonstealing
Brahmacharya: Nonlust
Aparigraha: Noncovetesness

2. Niyama:

Five ethical guidelines regarding moral behavior towards oneself:Saucha: Cleanliness
Santosa: Contentment
Tapas: Sustained practice
Svadhyaya: Self study
Isvara pranidhana: Surrender to God

3. Asana:

Practice of yoga postures.

4. Pranayama:

Practice of breathing exercises.

5. Pratyahara:

Withdrawal of the senses, meaning that the exterior world is not a distraction from the interior world within oneself.

6. Dharana:

Concentration, meaning the ability to focus on something uninterrupted by external or internal distractions.

7. Dhyana:

Meditation. Building upon Dharana, the concentration is no longer focused on a single thing but is all encompassing.

8. Samadhi:

Bliss. Building upon Dhyana, the transcendence of the self through meditation. The merging of the self with the universe. Sometimes translated as enlightenment.

(info from about.com)