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Sagel Patanjai’s 8-step path to self-unfoldment or self-realization are listed as follows:

Step 1 – Virtue of good conduct:

Includes nonviolence, not harming other living beings, truthfulness, honesty, and marital fidelity.

Step 2  – Practising certain observances which include:

Purity of body, mind, and speech, acceptance of others, as well as acceptance of one’s circumstances, persistence, perseverance, self-introspection, and contemplation of a supreme being.

Step 3 – Asanas:

The practice of physical postures (asanas). Asanas imply holding a posture in a relaxed, comfortable, and motionless state for a sustained period.

Step 4 – Pranayama:

Pranayama is consciously regulating your breath.

Step  5 – Withdrawal of the senses:

This step involves increasing awareness of your thoughts and turning your attention to your inner-self, rather than focusing on external objects, situations, and people.

Step 6 –  Concentration:

Concentration requires you to focus your mind on a single point, without allowing your mind to flit from one topic to another.

Step 7 -Meditation:

Meditation is different from concentration because during meditation, meditators reach a yogic state involving an uninterrupted flow of thoughts on a particular aspect of an object.

Step 8 – Samadhi or the Super-conscious

In this state, the meditator achieves oneness, reaching a harmonious unity with the subject of meditation.

Mastering these 8 steps may seem like an impossible task, but taking one small step at a time in one’s daily life eventually leads to success.