Essay: Beginning to read The Yoga Sutras
An starter insight into the heart of yoga
As many of you will know, Yoga is more than just a form of exercise. To me, and to millions of others, it offers a way of living within this complex world; it’s a whole way of being.
It is understandable that, here in the West especially, there’s a tendency to relate yoga to modern lifestyle trends. Thinking it’s all about wearing luxury leggings and having a perfect body and incredible flexibility and drinking green smoothies while waving around incense.
When, really—and as lovely as these things may be—at Yoga’s heart, it’s not about these things at all.
Yoga is an ancient Indian practice with an incredibly rich history and, thankfully, we have an exquisitely beautiful text that we can refer to for guidance on what it is really about, known as The Yoga Sutras.
The word sutra is a Sanskrit word which essentially means “thread”, and The Yoga Sutras is said to have been written by a sage known as Patanjali. However, the guidance that is offered within the text would have likely been handed down from generations of sages before it was written.
The Yoga Sutras are made up of 196 threads, and we understand them to be aphorisms (words of wisdom) that guide the reader on how to live a more meaningful life. The Yoga Sutras is where the term “off the mat” originates, as it encourages the consideration of the yogic philosophies that extend far beyond the way that we move our bodies, (more on this in due course). In a nutshell, The Yoga Sutras offer us a chance to experience ourselves authentically.
The Sutra’s are highly regarded as providing the essence of Yoga, and the thing that makes them particularly powerful is that they are said to be relevant to everybody. No matter who they are, what they believe in, their faith (or no faith), or where they may be along their journey.