XSutras

The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Several years ago I decided that it was about time that I read the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. I was well into my fourth decade as a yoga practitioner and somehow I’d managed to skirt any serious study of the Old Sage.

I thought that Yoga Suits Her would suit a sort of online self-study forum for me and my readers as well.
Each night for 9 months I sat down at my computer and worked my way through all 196 sutra. I relied on the wise interpretations of teachers, such as by Georg Feurerstein, B.K.S. Iyengar and T.K.V. Desikachar. But more importantly, I wove in my everyday experiences to make the sutra relevant to me and others.

It was a sort of dusting off of the old text, and hopefully ‘with all due respect.’

Here they are!

A Sutra a Day: Sutra I-1 Blessings on a Beginning

A Sutra a Day: Sutra I-1 Blessings on a Beginning

by | May 14, 2012 | Being a writer, Philosophy, Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

If Patanjali were alive during this age of the internet, would he have succumbed to blogging?
And, if so, would he have ended up being as pithy in his writing?
Would readers want to spend days/weeks/months unraveling each of his sutra?
Or, would readers, sensing it would be hard work, just want to move on to a YouTube video or MP3 file?
These questions are uppermost in my mind because today I am introducing a new format into “Yoga Suits Her”: a look at The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali.
Perhaps I can be like blogger Julie Powell of “Julie and […]

A Sutra a Day: I-2 The Power of Mind

A Sutra a Day: I-2 The Power of Mind

by | May 15, 2012 | Philosophy, XSutras, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

Some people think that just because my job title is yoga teacher that I have awesome power over my mind. It’s what makes me self-disciplined. In psychology, this is supposition is called projection. “It’s easy for you,” is what they say. My husband, Daniel, emailed me the above image with the subject heading, “I saw this and thought of you.”
This is what I mean. To be fair, I project onto Daniel; he is my computer guru. If he doesn’t know the answer, either no one does, or he will find out.
We humans are funny beings. […]

A Sutra a Day: Sutra I-3 New Directions

A Sutra a Day: Sutra I-3 New Directions

by | May 16, 2012 | Philosophy, Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

The Inner World
There’s a moment at the end of a yoga class when the students have placed themselves in savasana and have settled down to relax. Stillness gradually begins to fill the space. It doesn’t always happen. But when it does, it’s like a tumbler clicking in a lock, and the door to an inner world may begin to open.
Finding Balance With the Outer World
Of course, there is plenty of evidence for the opposite happening in savasana: noise. I used to teach lunchtime classes in the soundproof radio studio at SBS in Sydney. […]

Big Questions Sutra – I-4

Big Questions Sutra – I-4

by | May 17, 2012 | Healing, Philosophy, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

I have a friend who is doing SEO research relating to the topic of meditation; she was surprised to discover that huge numbers of people google “Why am I here?”
I get that. It’s a pretty fundamental question, but probably not one that arises often, unless one is of a philosophical bent, depressed, a spiritual seeker, or at a crossroads in life.
Another friend of mine has been searching for how to express his purpose in life and not been altogether successful to date. […]

Saturday Night Yoga Practice – Sutra I-6

Saturday Night Yoga Practice – Sutra I-6

by | May 19, 2012 | Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

What are you doing on tonight, Saturday night? Going out for dinner, dancing, partying, at home recovering from the week, watching one screen or another?
Obviously, I’m seated at my mac, writing a post. I imagine I hear you murmuring to yourself , my god, she needs a life.
I used to have the life of an oftentimes wilder version of myself. In my thirties, I lived in New York, worked as a flight attendant, and par-teed. […]

When More Yoga is Not Better – Sutra I-8

by | May 21, 2012 | Healing, Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching , Yoga Therapy

                                                          Source: lilieszenblog.tumblr.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

 
I have been doing yoga for so long that I should know better. I should have learned from past injuries you would think.
This morning, after having done a long bicycle ride to the river yesterday, I could feel twinges in my left shoulder blade. […]

Perchance to Dream? Sutra – I-10

Perchance to Dream? Sutra – I-10

by | May 23, 2012 | XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

I am many, many times blessed at this time in my life for having unbroken, deep sleep almost every night.
Maybe my time is coming as I hear of huge numbers of seniors not sleeping well, and the problem worsening as they age.
There’s a hormonal reason for having difficulty sleeping at night that relates to melatonin and growth hormones production decreasing with age.
Less melatonin has many older adults feel sleepy in the early evening and wake up in the early morning. […]

Memory = Our Own Textbook – Sutra I-11

by | May 25, 2012 | Wisdom, XSutras, Yoga practices, Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Yoga teaching 

One of the reasons students give sometimes for not practicing yoga at home is that they can’t remember the poses and/or the sequence that they fit in.
The original yogis – the ones who were reputed to dwell in forests and caves – were experimenters and not too worried about poses and sequences. Their interest was in the mind and consciousness, but modern yogis, we’re mainly, or at least that’s where we begin,
Memory can be a blessing and a curse. […]