Using the Eight Limbs of Yoga in Psychotherapy: A Phased Model

Abstract The eight limbs of yoga are increasingly discussed as a resource for psychotherapy. Most writing describes what the limbs are and how they might be used but says little about the order in which a therapist should bring them in. The gap matters. Practices such as sustained meditation can unsettle people who are not yet steady and the classical order of the limbs was designed for spiritual aims, not clinical ones. This conceptual paper proposes a phased model that arranges the limbs across three overlapping stages of therapy: stabilisation, exploration and integration. Movement between stages depends on two readiness checks, one about safety and steadiness and the other about capacity and consent. Posture and breath work sit mainly in the first stage, the ethical limbs and early attention practices in the second and longer meditation in the third. The final limb, absorption, is treated as a horizon and not as a treatment goal. The model is cyclical, so a client can return to an earlier stage after a setback without this counting as failure. Two flowcharts and three tables set out the logic, the mapping of limbs to stages and the readiness checks. Seven propositions are offered for testing, together with practical decision rules and ethical and cultural considerations. The paper reports no new data. Its aim is to give clinicians, trainers and researchers a clear and testable way of deciding which limb to use, when and for whom. Keywords: yoga, eight limbs, psychotherapy, sequencing, readiness, conceptual model