The eight-limbed Yoga described in the Sutras by Patanjali is usually referred to as Classical Yoga. The Yoga Sutras where most likely written around year 100-200 A.C. and consists of about 200 aphorisms (words of wisdom). Here Yoga is presented in a systematic and approachable way, and many yogis see it as an important source of yogic understanding. Almost all serious Yoga practitioners will at some point study this literature and it has been published with commentary many times since it was first published.

Patanjali thought that every individual consists of two parts - matter (prakiti) and soul (purusha), and that the goal of Yoga is to free the soul from the material world in order to take it's original, pure form. This is often characterized as philosophical dualism, which is quite remarkable considering that most Indian philosophy is of a non-dualistic nature. The world as it is perceived is generally thought to be different aspects of the same pure, shapeless but conscious existence.