Traditional Yoga.

Yoga, in its original sense, is not a workout. It is a deliberate, careful method to integrate body, breath and mind — codified most famously by the sage Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras, but practised in unbroken lineages across India for millennia. To practise traditional yoga is to accept that the body is the entry point, not the destination.

The Eight Limbs of Patanjali

Patanjali described yoga as chitta vritti nirodhah — the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind — and offered an eight-fold path. Each limb is a practice in itself; together, they make the yogi.

1. 01

   Yama

   Ethical disciplines

   Non-violence, truth, non-stealing, moderation and non-possessiveness — yoga's relationship to the world.

2. 02

   Niyama

   Personal observances

   Cleanliness, contentment, austerity, self-study and surrender — yoga's relationship to the self.

3. 03

   Asana

   Postures

   Steady, comfortable seats. The body prepared as a vessel for breath, focus and stillness.

4. 04

   Pranayama

   Breath regulation

   Conscious control of life-force through deliberate inhalation, retention and exhalation.

5. 05

   Pratyahara

   Withdrawal of the senses

   Drawing attention inward, releasing dependency on external sensory stimulation.

6. 06

   Dharana

   Concentration

   One-pointed focus — the mind gathered, no longer scattered.

7. 07

   Dhyana

   Meditation

   Uninterrupted flow of awareness toward a single object — concentration matured.

8. 08

   Samadhi

   Absorption

   The dissolving of the observer into the observed. The aim of the entire path.

Lineage matters

Yoga without lineage is gymnastics in pyjamas. Whether Hatha, Ashtanga, Iyengar or Vinyasa, each authentic stream traces back to a teacher, a text, and a context. At Shivoham we honour that — every asana we teach is cross-referenced with the manuscripts Mayur studied during his Manuscriptology diploma, ensuring that what you learn is not a westernised derivative, but the practice as it was intended.

Why pranayama is non-negotiable

Most modern yoga skips breath work entirely. Traditional yoga refuses to. The breath is the bridge between the autonomic and the conscious mind — train it, and you can change your physiology at will. Every full Shivoham class includes a deliberate pranayama segment.

Manuscriptology — yoga at its source

Manuscriptology is the scholarly discipline of locating, reading and interpreting ancient handwritten texts. Mayur's diploma in this field is what gives Shivoham its unusual depth: rather than referencing a textbook summary, his teaching draws on the very shastras — the source material — preserving subtlety often lost in translation.