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1 Beyond Asana: Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Jean Byrne PhD
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Beyond Asana: Yoga Sutras of Patanjal i
Jean Byrne PhD
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Beyond the Asana: Patanjali & Yoga Sutras 4
Yoga Begins Now 6
Free Your Mind, and the Rest Will Follow 9
Contents
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Thank you for reading this e-book. Adapted from Yoga Space blogs my intention is to
provide a brief, modern interpretation of the first few lines of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.
The last section on ‘freeing your mind’ speaks in practical terms about how to work with
the mind during our physical yoga practice. When we do the inner work of yoga, we are
reshaping our internal mental and emotional landscape. Unhelpful thought patterns
lose some of their power and the mind begins to settle. Life becomes gentler, we feel
steadier and we have more capacity to live with love and kindness.
May your practice flourish,
Namaste
Jean
Opening
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Yoga is rich and diverse with depths that our
ordinary mindstates can’t completely behold.
The practices, texts, philosophy and history of
yoga beyond the postures are an incredible
resource on our journey. I see regularly the
benefits that asana brings into people’s
lives. I see how it gives a taste of stillness, an
experience of peace. Yet a dedicated asana
practice simply scratches the surface of what
yoga has to offer. Even with a dedicated asana
practice we can still make decisions out of fear,
turn away from looking at our shadow side, live
with avoidance, selfishness and unhappiness. It
is not to say that yoga beyond the asana is the
answer to our questions or problems. Yet, in my
experience there are many discoveries to be
made beyond what just asana reveals.
In this series of ‘Beyond the Asana’ articles I
intend to share some aspects of yoga other
than simply asana. Tradition, history, philosophy,
stillness practices – basically topics which lay
beyond asana. I say beyond, as for many of us
the asana is the hook, but I also see for many
yoga students and teachers it is where people
can get stuck. For those ardently deep into the
study of the texts and practices of yoga, this
exploration may lack academic rigour. But if you
practice asana, are experimenting with other
limbs yet are hungry for further information I
hope you find this series useful. We begin with
some info on Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras.
Patanjali & Yoga Sutras
Most dedicated yoga practitioners have heard
of Patanjali and the Yoga Sutras. Asana is one
of the 8 limbs of Yoga as outlined by Patanajli.
In yoga schools throughout the world we often
see images and statues of Patanajli. Within
Indian mythology he is pictured as half man, half
serpent with a coiled serpent’s tail as his lower
body and his head is protected by multi-hooded
cobras. He was thought to be an incarnation of
Adi Sheesha – or Nagaraja (‘naga’- snake ‘raja’ –
king), the King of all Snakes. Adi Sheesha is the
primal being upon which Lord Vishnu dwells.
Even though he is often represented as a god,
Patanjali was a historical figure who is estimated
as having lived between the 2nd and 4th
century of this era. Patanjali compiled the Yoga
Sutras which is like the Bible of yoga for many
people. While the Yoga Sutras don’t have a lot to
say about yoga asanas, they have a lot to teach
us about yoga beyond the asana.
The Yoga Sutras serve as a ‘spiritual map’,
wherein Patanjali details the many steps and
stages along the path of yoga, some of the
obstacles we may meet and how to work
with these obstacles. Because the Sutras
are quite pithy, we rely on interpretations
and commentaries to fully understand the
possibilities of Patanjali’s work. Indeed the way
Beyond the Asana: Patanjal i & Yoga Sutras
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in which we understand the Yoga Sutras has been
greatly shaped by the commentaries by Vyasa.
Most commentaries are actually commentaries on
Vyasa’s commentaries!
It is important to remember when reading
any commentary on the Yoga Sutras that
interpretations and translations are never
neutral – they will always bear the imprint of
the commentator / interpreter. Thus it is difficult
for us to know precisely how Patanjali hoped his
work would be understood. Nonetheless, I believe
the Sutras provide us with a manual of sorts for
getting to know ourselves better as we walk the
path of yoga. As Edwin Bryant points out, the Yoga
Sutras are not so much a philosophical treatise
but an inquiry into human consciousness and a
presentation of ‘yogic’ psychology.
The deference paid to the Yoga Sutras by
modern yoga practitioners is understandable,
but somewhat misplaced. The Yoga Sutras, as
discussed by Mark Singleton were historically not
the central text of ‘yoga’. The Sutras were compiled
by Patanjali. They are not the beginning of a yoga
tradition as such, nor are they representative of
a type of yoga called ‘Classical Yoga’ which has
always been in existence. Yoga doesn’t have a
central text or set cannon, yoga is diverse and a
rich tradition with a variety of systems of practice
and philosophy. All of which point to the truth
of yoga as a space of being, rather than as a
technique, tool or philosophy.
As David White explains, the Yoga Sutras fell into
obscurity for hundreds of years. But in the modern
era the Yoga Sutras were revived by Vivekananda,
who played a key role in the ‘export’ of yoga. With
the revival from relative obscurity Patanjali’s work
has now gained a central place on the bookshelves
of yoga teachers and students worldwide.
When you read the Yoga Sutras, you might be
surprised to see there is little about yoga asana
included! An intellectual leap needs to be made
to understand how the teachings of the Sutras
relate to what is now commonly understood as
‘yoga’. Because yoga has become primarily (and
incorrectly) associated with just yoga postures, a
bridge needs to be built between the teachings
Patanjali compiled and what we undertake on our
mats when we practice asana. Besides breathing,
moving and being mindful, the Yoga Sutras can
teach us about how we might work with the
mind during our practice in order to experience
freedom.
While the Yoga Sutras provide a wonderful
resource for understanding the psychology of
mind and how to work with the mind during
asana, we can find many texts that detail the
purpose of asana and provide more ‘how to’
information. Texts such as the Hatha Yoga
Pradipika, Gherananda Samhita and Siva
Samhita can ‘fill in’ the lack of information in the
Sutras about the specifics of certain asana and
pranayama practices we undertake.
Yet, our depth of understanding will always be
limited by a lack of stillness practices. Thus, when
you decide to dive deep into yoga, a mixture of
both movement and stillness based practices will
be key to deepening your understand of yoga.
Begin slowly, with a few minuets meditation
before or after your practice. Over time you may
find the space and courage to extend this practice
on a retreat … it is unlikely you will regret being
silent and meditative for 10 days … and you will
certainly come to see yourself, other people and
your practice in a new light.
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Yoga Begins Now
We often skip over the first line of the Sutras, thinking it is simply an
introduction to Patanjali’s text. But to me, this line warrants our attention,
and contains a simple, but profound teaching that we can learn from.
It is the use of the term atha – ‘now’ that draws my attention.
Now has a lot of meanings. It can be used as a continuance, for example,
“now we begin”. Commonly it is understood that the use of atha at the
start of the Sutras has this meaning. But I like to read this beginning line
slightly differently.
1.1 “Now, the teachings of yoga.”-Yoga Sutras
“Yoga in the here and now: an introduction to the study and practice of yoga”
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When I begin a text such as the yoga Sutras I tend to close my eyes, take
a moment and connect with my breath. Doing so seems to change the
mind state that I read in. Rather than reading in a fashion hungry for
information, I take these moments to open myself to reading in a way
which brings me back to what is, in the moment.
Michelle Boulous Walker (my PhD supervisor) talks about ‘slow reading’.
Just like other slow movements (eg; slow food) taking this pause,
reflection and time to ‘read slow’ means that we give ourselves unhurried
time to explore a text. Without rushing we avoid ‘consuming’ the text to
acquire information and knowledge. Rather we create the space to begin
to grasp the complexities of what we are reading.
When it comes to texts like the Yoga Sutras, which are layered with
meaning, slow reading has its merits. Taking the time to breathe, to centre
and to approach our reading mindfully allows us to connect with another
possible reading of this introductory line. By my reading the ‘atha’ doesn’t
just mean we begin now, I read it as stating that yoga can be found in the
here and now. Indeed it suggests that yoga is not something we do, but
something we are (or can connect with in the now).
Essentially, if we understand that yoga begins in the now, it means
that we don’t have to go anywhere or do anything special to discover
the depths of yoga. The predominance of yoga as a technique is clear
through many Instagram feeds, and adverts for yoga. Yoga IS a wonderful
technique, that I practice 6 days a week. But yoga is also something we
are, that we can uncover by completely and utterly awakening to the now.
I think this is what Patanjali is talking about or at least how I like to read it.
While the techniques of yoga (asana, pranayama for example) have
a myriad of benefits, these techniques are not actually all there is to
yoga. My understanding is that you don’t actually need to practice the
‘techniques’ of yoga in order to understand, or be in a space of yoga. Yoga
is something we already are, it is our truest nature, kind, loving, open
boundless and interconnected. Yet our minds are so preoccupied with past
and future, that resting in the now is rare. From this place we can easily
start to believe and become attached to the idea that to access the space
if ‘being yoga’ that we must practice pranayama , meditation, asana etc.
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Practice of course helps us to know how to let go enough to experience
what it means, as Ram Dass put it, to ‘Be Here Now‘. But lets not forget
that yoga is much more than technique.
For most of us, with the pace of everyday life, ‘being’ yoga is hard. Luckily
for us, the next line of the Sutras gives us a pretty good idea of how we
might actually ‘be in a space of yoga’ rather than simply DO yoga! It is
directly related to the way in which we train our mind during our practice.
To move from the techniques of yoga, to being yoga, mind control is
necessary! The next Beyond the Asana will explore the intersection
between yoga psychology, modern psychology and the freedom we
might find if we don;t believe our thoughts!
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Free Your Mind and the Rest Will Follow
1.2 “Yoga is the control of thought-waves in the mind”-Yoga Sutras
We can thank En Vogue for the title! Back when it
was released I was very much interested in freeing
my mind, but through the pursuit of pushing it to
its limits. These days I have realised life itself can
push us to our limits, we don’t necessarily need
to put ourselves in extraordinary situations! And
while I would love to write a piece on prejudice
towards others – the theme of the song quoted –
this article is more about self-prejudice.
For many of us, one of the main obstacles to living
with peace and harmony is that we believe all our
thoughts to be real and true.
We are victims and slaves to our own prejudice
towards believing our thoughts. Prejudice is a
“preconceived opinion that is not based on reason
or actual experience”. Many of our thoughts fit into
this category! They have no basis in fact, and do
not serve us in any way.
Our minds are like junkyards, full of unhelpful crap, with some real jewels to be found if we look hard enough.
For many of us, believing the thoughts that fill
the junkyard that is our mind can be crippling.
Thoughts about our own capabilities, lovability,
intelligence, and general worthiness or thoughts
about what other people are thinking get in the
way of us living fully. We become paralysed by
fear, self-doubt or confusion. At a certain point, we
find ourselves so far down a rabbit hole of choices
driven by believing these unhelpful thoughts that
we need to do some work to find our way back
to ourselves. To the version of ourselves that is
light, joyous and – at least at times – free from this
prejudice towards believing our thoughts to be
fact.
If you are reading this and think “oh yes this is /
was / might be me” then you have already taken
a step towards freeing your mind from thinking
thoughts = facts.
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But for many of us we are so identified with these
mental fluctuations and so prejudiced towards
taking them seriously that often we don’t even
realise what is occurring. We have accepted the
diatribe our minds engage in about ourselves,
others and our circumstances as our reality.
We need to free our mind, and what will follow is
liberation from thoughts which directly get in the
way of our happiness.
What does this have to do with Yoga?
In yoga terms, mental fluctuations are called
vrittis. They are generally what brings us out of the
NOW and into the past or future. Our vrittis are all
different in flavour and intensity! They are deeply
ingrained ways of thinking that then manifest
in our behaviour and radically affect our life and
ability to be happy.
‘Vritti’ also literally means ‘whirlpool’ – which is
a fabulous way to describe the fluctuations of
the mind. A whirlpool evokes images of swirling
water that comes about because of the meeting
of opposing currents. Whirlpools are a hazard,
unpredictable and out of control. For some of us,
our minds are like this too.
The second line of the Yoga Sutras reads:
“Yoga is the control of the thought waves (vrittis) of the mind”
According to the Yoga Sutras we can consider one
of the primary aims of yoga to be ‘mind control’.
For most of us our mind is, at least sometimes, out
of control. Indeed, depression, anxiety and stress
are all fueled by unhelpful thoughts.
We may be doing yoga asana, but find our mind
is still out of control. This was the case for an old
friend who explained to me a long time again that
even though he was doing all this asana (at the
time he was one of the world’s most physically
advanced Ashtanga practitioners) the method
wasn’t working and he wasn’t happy.
At the time, I was surprised. For me the journey
of the physical Ashtanga practice has provided
many opportunities for learning about the nature
of mind. Yet I can also see that in a practice so
focused on the physical that sometimes the more
internal lessons might be lost, especially if people
experience greater success at the asana than most
might. It is a reminder that doing yoga asana is not
guaranteed to free your mind.
What is important is what your mind is doing when you are practicing asana.
The mind needs to be trained. Otherwise it will
wreak havoc on our lives! Primarily we need to
loosen the grip our thoughts have on us, and undo
lifelong prejudices towards believing our thoughts
as facts. Mental fluctuations will always be present
to some degree. Practice does lessen the power
these thoughts have over us. But it is not magic,
there is no quick fix and it does not happen
overnight.
We have usually spent so much time identifying
with the thoughts that we think we are our
thoughts. We identify with them completely
and limit ourselves through this association.
This identification with the ‘vrittis’ shuts down
possibilities to us for work, for love, for friendship,
for joy, for happiness.
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Identifying with our thoughts controls us in ways
we don’t even realise.
For some people, there are intrusive thoughts or
images which can feel overwhelming. Especially
if you are a naturally anxious person, it is possible
to live in fear of your own mind. Living with fear
like this is no way to live!
Some of us act as if we are mind readers. We think
of what other people’s reactions might be or over
analyse what other people are thinking. This can
cause a great deal of stress and impact upon
our words, behaviour and general life choices.
Identifying with this sort of ‘mind reading’ is a
failure of logic because:
‘You DO NOT have ESP!’
You can’t know what other people are thinking
unless you ask them.
Basically, Patanjali is telling us that to experience
yoga, we must begin the journey of finding
mental stillness and de-identification with the
fluctuations of the mind. But we can’t simply stop
thinking. Yoga is not about stopping thoughts,
although the power of our thoughts over us
will lessen the more we practice. Yoga is about
becoming familiar with your thoughts and
befriending them, without necessarily identifying
them as true.
How can you begin to undertake the internal
practice of yoga?
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Here are some practical suggestions:
PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS
Past or Future?
As you allow the thoughts to be present and
return to your breathing as an anchor you can
also allow yourself to observe the nature of your
thoughts. To begin, when you are practicing yoga
and connecting with the body and breath and
the mind inevitably wanders, notice whether it
has wandered to the past or to the future.
For me, it is the future. ALWAYS the future and
never the past. Which way does your mind go?
Noting / Labelling
When you notice a thought dragging you away
from the breath give it a label. What is the mind
doing? It could be a whole manner of things
including:
• planning• worrying• judging• criticising• remembering
Without analysis as to why – simply say mentally
what the mind is doing and then return to the
sensation of the breath.
Disputation
Having certain types of thoughts or themes
over and over? It might be time to dispute these
thoughts. For example, if your thought is “My boss
is unhappy with my work that is why she was
abrupt with me today” you can ask the following
questions:
What evidence do I have that my boss is unhappy with my work?
Is there any evidence to the contrary (that my boss IS happy with my work)?
How do I know my thoughts are accurate?
Is there an alternate explanation for my boss being abrupt?
(If you find this process difficult, a psychologist is
always very handy at talking this through)
Who am I?
Lastly, once you have noticed the nature of your
mind, where it wanders, what types of thoughts
are most common, and the way in which you
mind read, jump to conclusions and general
self-identify with the fluctuations or vrittis of the
mind you can ask yourself the bigger questions:
Who am I?
Who am I without identifying with these thoughts?
Who am I when I let go of the story I am telling myself?
Once you well and truly know you are not your
thoughts you might (re)discover yourself and a
life in which you have freed your mind, with great
happiness and joy to follow. You will have begun
to know the liberation that comes through the
practice of stilling the thought waves of the mind.
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