Join us as we systematically move through Patangali's Yoga Sutras. We will develop our asana practice from the ground up. Our pranayama plan will dovetail with that week's sutra and asana focus.
Current:yogascittavrttinirodhah
Probably the most well-known sutra because it defines the principle, technique, and value of yoga. Fundamental ideas underlie these 4 words, only to be understood thoroughly through practice.
Citta refers to the functional medium/instrument of the mind-stuff, as if your mind were some sort of fine substance that you could aim and pore.
Vrtti=fluctuations/modifications/waves (of citta). Nirodhah relates to settling, restraining, directing.
So we could say--the process and state of yoga means focussing without disturbance: thought waves no longer isolate because as a little drop of water, you have returned to the ocean. When you no longer identify with the temporary, waves have to get wet. Whether ice, liquid, steam...it's all the same citta.
Questions to ask yourself: What am I seeking to 'join' in my yoga? Is my mind absolute or produced? What opinions have I borrowed? What tends to distract me? How do you deal with 'thought-waves' (vritti)?
We open with
atha yoganusasanam
Patanajala-Yoga-Darsanam gives us 195 aphorisms in 4 chapters compiled in about 500 BCE. They were chanted as the sound contains the life force (prana) and changes the chanter. Darsan means view or see, so Patanjali indicates he is not the author (No one owns yoga.).
atha means now, as in here we go, here begins initiation. Yoga for yoke, union, join, juncture, jugular, unify.
anusasana means teaching that follows. Questions to ask yourself: where are you now? are you ready for your yoga? This sutra also implies samkalpa, your intention, your promise. Where are you beginning from and what is your purpose?