Simple Yoga Blog

Articles on the sutras in chapter two, Practice (sadhana), of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra.

July 3, 2020

2.20 Witness

Yoga Sutra 2.20 Witness The ability to witness experiences in their endless changes. How are you cultivating your presence? Are you aware of the space, the stillness and the silence in which all your experiences take place? What happens when you choose to immerse yourself fully in the pause, silence and stillness?
June 22, 2020

2.19 States of manifestation

Yoga Sutra 2.19 States of manifestation From unmanifest to manifesto to subtle to apparent Where do your ideas originate and how do they become your actions in the world? Are you aware of the states of manifestation of life all around you? What happens when you examine anything through these lenses of apparent, subtle, manifest and unmanifest? What do you discover?
June 22, 2020

2.18 Experiences leading to liberation

Yoga Sutra 2.18 Experiencies leading to liberation Anything and everything that can be experienced is either active (kriya), resting (sthiti) or in a state of equilibrium (prakasha) between activity and inertia. When you conflate the experiences with the awareness witnessing them, you may believe that all that there is in life is to chase after experiences or you can choose to see all experiences as vehicles offering a pathway to free yourself from misidentification and its effects. Are your experiences creating more attachments and reactivity, or are they creating greater clarity?
June 14, 2020

2.17 The cause of suffering

Yoga Sutra 2.17 The cause of suffering Do you confuse your conscience with what you feel? When the identifications are released, the awareness that animates your body and that also enables you to think, feel, see and interact, is what remains. That awareness is consciousness flowing through you. That awareness uses the body and all experiences as an instrument, yet it is not the instrument.
June 8, 2020

2.16 Avoiding suffering

2.16 Avoiding suffering Are you aware of the difference between pain and suffering? Is your life an emotional roller coaster? The pain you feel is a sensation that offers you potentially useful information. Does your suffering originate in not being willing to be with what is, just as it is? Is it possible to choose not to suffer?
June 1, 2020

2.15 Suffering

Yoga Sutra 2.15 Suffering What would you need to love your life exactly as it is right now? All experiences and sensations are temporary. The wise person knows that anything that can be earned will eventually be lost and that anything that can be bought or sold is unlikely to bring lasting joy and happiness.
May 24, 2020

2.12 2.13 & 2.14 Karma

Yoga Sutras 2.12 2.13 & 2.14 Karma Afflictions create impressions that influence experiences and life according to our intentions Interaction between afflictions (kleshas), actions (karma), impressions (samskaras) and life both in the present and in the future. How have your decisions, actions and interactions influenced your identity, perspective and circumstances? How are you contributing to enhance the quality of life?
May 16, 2020

2.11 Meditation counteracts active afflictions

Yoga Sutra 2.11 Meditation counteracts active afflictions What afflictions emerge during your meditation? The second way to deactivate afflictions, meditation. What happens when you try to be with what is just as it is? Have you noticed patterns in your ways of moving, breathing, thinking, feeling, perceiving and interacting? How do you cultivate your meditation?
May 11, 2020

2.10 Dissolving subtle afflictions

Yoga Sutra 2.10 Dissolving subtle afflictions What is the subtlest aspect of you? The involution process to deactivate the afflictionsgradually. First letting go of the sense of self-importance. Then noticing our relationship with likes and dislikes. Then clarifying who you are. Is it possible that most of your sense of identity dissolves at the end of each day, and only subtle traces remain in your subconscious?