We Carry All Four Stages: Yoga Practice Across a Lifetime

One of the quiet misunderstandings in modern yoga is the idea that there is one right way to practise — and that if we just find it and stick to it, we’ll be well.

Ayurveda and Yoga never taught this.

Instead, they described life as rhythmic, staged, and intelligent — moving through phases of learning, doing, softening, and letting go. These phases are known as the four āśramas, or stages of life.

And here’s the most important thing to know right from the start:

Just like the three doṣas, we all have all four stages within us.

One or two may be dominant at any given time. Others may be quieter. And across a lifetime — and even within a single year — we move through all of them.

Not neatly.
Not only once.

We move through them forwards, backwards, in order, out of order, seasonally, and through life events such as moves, loves, losses, illness, endings, beginnings, challenges and wins.

Yoga was designed to meet that reality.

The Four Stages — and How Yoga Evolves With Them

1. Brahmacarya — The Student Within

Learning, forming foundations, self-restraint

This stage isn’t only about youth. It appears anytime we are learning, beginning, or rebuilding.

Traditionally, Brahmacarya is a time of:

• Structure and discipline

• Study and repetition

• Containment of energy

• Learning how to direct attention

In yoga practice, this often looks like:

• Clear frameworks and sequences

• Emphasis on form, alignment, and technique

• Building strength, capacity, and consistency

• A willingness to be guided

Strong, structured practices — including classical or Ashtanga-style approaches — make sense here. The nervous system is learning steadiness and containment.

You might feel this stage strongly during training periods, study, recovery phases, or new chapters of life.

2. Gṛhastha — The Householder Within

Responsibility, relationship, contribution

This is the most outward-facing stage of life — and the one most of us inhabit for the longest time.

It includes:

• Work and livelihood

• Family, caregiving, and partnership

• Finances, schedules, and responsibilities

• The ongoing work of being human in society

In this stage, yoga is not meant to be another demand.

Instead, it becomes a support system.

Practice here may prioritise:

• Regulation over optimisation

• Coping skills for stress and fatigue

• Community and connection

• Practices that hold you steady rather than push you harder

This is where yoga helps you digest life, not escape it.

When householder demands are high, practices often need to be shorter, simpler, and more forgiving — without guilt.

3. Vānaprastha — The Forest Dweller Within

Stepping back, simplifying, turning inward

Vānaprastha literally means “one who goes to the forest.” Traditionally this was associated with later life, once children were grown and responsibilities handed over.

Energetically, it can arrive much earlier.

This stage is marked by:

• A natural loosening of identity

• Less interest in status, output, or achievement

• A desire for meaning, rhythm, and truth

• Recognition that constant striving no longer fits

Yoga practice often shifts here:

• Less over-challenging, less proving

• More listening than pushing

• More subtle, rhythmic, and internal work

• Attention to long-held habits and patterns

The question changes from “What can I achieve?” to:

“What is asking to be released?”

Many people enter this stage through illness, burnout, grief, menopause, life transitions, or deep spiritual questioning.

4. Sannyāsa — The Renunciate Within

Letting go, inner freedom, simplicity

Sannyāsa is often misunderstood as withdrawal from life.

In truth, it is about not mistaking yourself for the body, the role, or the story.

This stage may be brief or sustained. It may appear late in life — or unexpectedly early.

It carries:

• Acceptance of impermanence

• Release of attachment to form and performance

• Simplicity in movement and practice

• Strengthening of mind, emotional steadiness, and spirit

Yoga here is often quiet, sparse, and inward.

There may be less physical capacity — and more inner clarity.
Less structure — and more truth.

We Don’t Move Through These Stages Neatly

Just as we all contain Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, we all contain:

• The student

• The householder

• The forest dweller

• The renunciate

One may dominate.
Another may be emerging.
Another may be resting.

A new course of study can awaken the student.
A demanding season of work may call forth the householder.
Loss or illness may open the forest dweller.
Moments of deep insight may bring the renunciate to the surface.

None of this is failure or inconsistency.

It is responsiveness.

The Real Question for Practice

The most helpful question is not:

“What yoga should I be doing?”

But:

“Which stage is alive in me right now — and am I practising accordingly?”

Much suffering arises when we try to practise like it’s still the student years… while life is clearly asking for wisdom, rhythm, rest, or release.

Yoga was never meant to look the same across a lifetime.

It was meant to evolve with you.

Gently.
Honestly.
In rhythm with life itself.