The Eight Limbs of Yoga: How Ancient Practice Lives Inside Modern Therapy

by Chloe Sykes, Art Psychotherapist and Yoga Teacher

(Art Therapy Manchester | Therapy Manchester)— Hey From Within

Yoga is often introduced through movement; a class, a mat, a sequence of shapes. But, beneath the postures is a much wider framework for understanding how we relate to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us.

In my work in yoga spaces and therapy settings, I notice how often the principles of yoga quietly appear even when they’re not named. They show up in moments of pause, in breath held and released, in how someone learns to be kinder to themselves, or how they sit with discomfort rather than pushing it away.

The Eight Limbs of Yoga, described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, offer a way of understanding this. Not as something to “do perfectly”, but as a lived process; one that mirrors much of what happens in modern therapeutic work.

Yama: How We Relate to the World

The yamas speak to our relationship with others and our wider environment, kindness, honesty, boundaries, restraint, respect.

I often reflect on this in my own practice: How am I showing up? What are my intentions behind my actions? Am I acting from a place of care and respect?

In therapy, this maps closely onto attachment-informed practice. Clients often arrive carrying patterns shaped by earlier relationships. Learning where it was safe to speak, where it wasn’t, where they had to adapt to survive.

When these patterns are gently noticed, without judgement, something shifts. The work becomes less about “changing behaviour” and more about understanding why certain ways of relating once made sense.

Niyama: How We Relate to Ourselves

If yamas look outward, niyamas turn inward. They speak to self-reflection, self-discipline, acceptance, and care.

This is often where my art therapy work naturally sits. Being alongside clients as they begin to rebuild or sometimes build for the first time, ways of offering themselves compassion, steadiness, and curiosity.

I notice how unfamiliar this can feel. How quickly an inner critic appears when someone tries to slow down. How hard it can be to allow rest, or gentleness, or not knowing.

Person-centred therapy holds this beautifully: the belief that people move towards growth when they feel understood, accepted, and not rushed.

Asana: The Body as a Place of Information

Asana is often reduced to posture. But at its core, it is about being with the body.

In therapy particularly sensorimotor and trauma-informed approaches, the body is not something to bypass. It holds memory, protection, readiness, and sometimes fatigue from holding it all together for too long.

I often notice moments where someone realises:

“I didn’t know I was holding my breath.”

“My shoulders have been up here the whole time.”

These moments are quiet, but significant. Awareness begins in the body before it reaches words.

Pranayama: Breath as Regulation

Breath is one of the few systems we can influence directly. In both yoga and therapy, noticing breath offers a way back when anxiety rises.

Rather than controlling breath, the work is often about listening to it. Letting it lengthen when it’s ready. Letting the nervous system know it doesn’t have to stay on high alert.

This sits closely with mindfulness-based therapies, where attention is anchored in present-moment experience.

Pratyahara: Turning Inward Safely

Pratyahara is about withdrawing from constant external stimulation.

In therapy rooms, this often happens naturally, the phone is off, the pace slows, attention turns inward.

For adults living with anxiety, this can feel unfamiliar or even uncomfortable at first. Many have learned to stay busy to avoid feeling.

The therapeutic relationship helps make this inward turn feel safer supported rather than isolating.

Dharana & Dhyana: Attention and Flow

Dharana (focused attention) and dhyana (sustained awareness) are often experienced together.

In art therapy sessions, I see this when someone becomes absorbed in making. Time shifts.

Self-criticism quietens. There’s a sense of being with rather than doing to.

This state is not forced. It emerges when enough safety is present.

Samadhi: Integration, Not Perfection

Samadhi is sometimes misunderstood as a final state. In practice, it often looks like integration, moments where things feel more connected, less fragmented.

In therapy, this might be when someone says:

“I still get anxious… but I understand it now.”

“I can notice what’s happening instead of being swallowed by it.”

Not fixed. Not perfect. But more resourced.

Where Yoga and Therapy Meet

Across yoga Manchester spaces and therapy Manchester rooms, I see the same principles again and again:

• ethical relating → yama

• self-compassion → niyama

• body awareness → asana

• nervous system regulation → pranayama

• inward attention → pratyahara

• focus → dharana

• reflective awareness → dhyana

• integration → samadhi

  
  

Ancient language. Modern application.

Whether someone arrives through yoga, therapy, or curiosity, these threads are already present, waiting to be noticed.

This blog connects beautifully with other posts on heyfromwithin.co.uk:

• How Inner Transformation Affects Mental Health – for exploring deep shifts that happen in therapy.

• Art Therapy: Brushstrokes Where the Paper Listens – a look at the art-making process in action.

• Therapy Manchester: Guided Drawing – a practical way we work with themes like the inner critic.

  
  

And don’t miss the Art Therapy for Adults service page to learn more about how sessions work or, the Yoga page for class information