Patanjali's Eight-fold Yoga Path

I have found that Patanjali's Yoga sutras encompass most of the traditional religious and spiritual paths followed around the world today. I highly recommend familiarisation with this work. The eight steps are as follows:

Yama - "restraint", the don'ts. Abstinence from injury, falsehood, stealing, lust, and avarice.
Niyama - "observance", the do's. Cleanliness of body, contentment, austerity, study, and devotion to God and guru.

Asana - posture. Perfection of the body ready for meditation, eg lotus position, or a straight back sitting in a chair in the Egyptian position. May include hand mudras (hand/finger positions). Hatha yoga is a system of asanas, and you may spend all your time doing asanas without moving on to more advanced steps.
Pranayama - breath control. Actually, it is prana control, and usually employs breathing exercises as means of regulating pranic flow. Prana control is very important and spending ones time in mental and other advanced meditation exercises is futile if prana control techniques are not being practised.
Pratyhara - withdrawal of the senses from external objects, to rest in the mind. At this stage the student must be able to free themselves from external distractions.

Dharana - concentration, ability to hold the mind on one thought/object for long periods of time. This is a preparatory exercise for the next step.
Dhyana - meditation, which is defined as concentration of the mind on God. Also a pre-requisite for this step is that the student must have a concept of God - this will vary from student to student.
Samadhi - mergence into Superconsciousness, where the student perceives himself and the object of meditation as one. There are further stages of Samadhi defined, the two basic ones being Sabikalpa and Nirbikalpa Samadhi. Sabikalpa Samadhi is attained first, and 8 steps are defined:
- Om Samadhi - union with the cosmic sound of Om
- Mahaprana Samadhi - union with cosmic life force
- Astral Samadhi - perception of the cosmic light
- Ananda Samadhi - union with the cosmic joy
- Jnana Samadhi - attainment of cosmic wisdom
- Devotional Samadhi - cosmic devotional state
- Prema Samadhi - love for all creatures
- Sundara Samadhi - perception of glory/beauty in everything

Nirbikalpa Samadhi is the highest state of self-realisation, also known as Nirvana, or God realisation. Some sources refer to Sabikalpa Samadhi as self-realisation, and Nirbikalpa Samadhi as God realisation, but there is considerable confusion and these states are well above the normal states of human conscious experience.

Attending Christian churches on Sunday mornings will instruct you in Yama and Niyama - the Do's and Don'ts; the Ten Commandments. This forms a foundation for a stable society and good moral conduct. But that is barely the start of spritual practice. The next three steps - Asana, Pranayama and Pratyhara - are more often taught in schools following the Eastern traditions. Hatha Yoga is all about Asana. Many yoga or meditation groups will teach students how to sit properly, and some breathing and mantra meditation exercises. The higher steps come with practise, and are mastered by very few. Leading on to Sabikalpa dn Nirbikalpa Samadhi, some students obtain glimpses of these states. However, there are always masters on this planet who have mastered these states. Patanjali described many different way of achieving these steps, and there are masters from all religions and traditions who have advanced through all 8 steps.

I find this 8-step path particularly useful, and most encompassing. Most of the religions and groups on the planet today teach methods by which these steps are gradually advanced. For example, you may begin learning the first two steps, Yama and Niyama, through a common religion such as Christianity/Moslem/Judaism. You may then start going to (Hatha) Yoga clases, then join a Raja Yoga or Buddhist/Zen meditation school. There you will learn mantra meditation and pranic breathing (covering steps 3 - 5). This may lead on to more advanced schools teaching the higher steps (Dharana, Dyana, Samadhi) with direct guru contact, such as through Kriya Yoga.