An Introduction To Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

A brief overview of the Yoga Sutras, and of Shruti Parampara, the traditional method of learning to chant the Yoga Sutras.

A good place to start before the chapters that follow.

The start of the Yoga Sutras grabs our attention and appeals to our sense of urgency. Now is the time to start to calm and quiet the mind. These first three sutras set the intention for the rest of the book.

Patanjali starts with a clear description of what yoga is and what happens when we practise it. The third sutra also begins the important process of self-inquiry that leads to an appreciation of our true nature.

Chapter two begins with a description of Kriya yoga, the yoga of action: an active path to engage with, to move closer to yoga.

Patanjali suggests three practices and how we practise them: discipline, study, and surrender into the unknown.

One reason the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali continue to resonate is that they ask questions that stay relevant. These two sutras come back to the essence of the purpose of yoga.

Why do we practise? To avoid future suffering. What causes suffering? Confusion between what is real and what is not.

Patanjali offers different methods for calming the mind, and different paths to suit each person. In this sutra we get a description of classical ashtanga yoga, the eight limbs.

These are the eight parts that make up a full yoga practice, and each one takes sustained practice. The sutra lists the limbs, and the interpretation gives a short description of each and how to practise it.

These sutras expand on the first limb of ashtanga yoga, the yamas: universal principles for how we can interact with the world in a way that supports yoga.

Each yama is discussed briefly, with suggestions for how to apply it to everyday life. In sutra 31, Patanjali stresses the importance of this first limb.

The second limb of ashtanga yoga is the niyamas, the personal principles that guide our yoga practice. We cultivate these five qualities as attitudes towards ourselves: cleanliness, contentment, discipline, study and surrender.

See Sadhana Pada Sutra 1 for a detailed description of the last three niyamas.

Yoga is now mostly thought of as a physical practice, so it is interesting that Patanjali has only one sutra that mentions asana, the postures we make in the physical discipline of yoga.

In this short teaching, Patanjali suggests that asana should have two qualities: strength and ease.

Chapter three of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali moves into more mental practices. In this first sutra of Vibhuti Pada, we explore how Patanjali describes concentration, the sixth limb of the ashtanga system.

Concentration is the preliminary practice for meditation, and meditation grows naturally out of sustained concentration. Along with an interpretation of the sutra, you get a short concentration practice, useful for anyone building a meditation practice.

Chapter four of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali goes deeper into the philosophy of living a yogic life.

This sutra comes about halfway through Kaivalya Pada, and it asks us to consider the nature of perception: how we all see the world from different perspectives.