“…citta is a non-occilating state between thoughts. Hence, one has to increase or enhance this state of pause in between thoughts.” – BKS Iyengar, The Core of the Yoga Sutras
Author: MichelleJ
Michelle is a yoga teacher, trained in the Viniyoga tradition, who believes every person has the ability to transform themselves. She has received a bounty of gifts from deepening her personal yoga practice: physical: reversal of poor posture, TMJ relief, increased body awareness; mental: increased clarity and presence; spiritual: deepening faith and love. Michelle enjoys sharing strategies for self-care with yoga students so that they can continue to nurture their own well-being in their everyday lives, outside the studio and off the mat.
Michelle completed her 200-hour yoga teacher training in 2013 and is a registered yoga teacher with Yoga Alliance. Her continuing yoga education is focused on learning the art of Vedic chanting and studying the Yoga Sutra.
1.17 Layers of understanding are revealed through steady concentration on an object: thought, insight, and pure joy.
“…from the very beginning, meditation needs an object, a point of focus for the mind….three factors are present: the small you as the knower, the object of meditation as the known, and the process of knowing that relates the two.” – Devadatta Kali, Managing The Mind
1.16 When you know your true self, cravings dissipate.
“Detachment develops with self understanding.” – TKV Desikachar, Reflections on Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjal
1.15 Recognize and diffuse entangling thought patterns.
“As we develop our practice along the correct lines, we find that our ability to discipline ourselves and reject intrusive influence grows.” – TKV Desikachar, Reflections on Yoga Sutra-s of Patanjal
1.14 Practice takes time, patience, and a positive attitude.
“Persevering practice deeply transforms character and behavior.” – Bernard Bouchard, The Essence of Yoga
1.13 Effort toward a steady mind is practice.
“‘Effort toward steadiness’ refers to focusing and stilling the mind in meditation, to cultivation of regularity, and to developing an unwavering awareness of the mind’s activities (especially the ego’s limiting and harmful impact)…. But yoga is not limited to formal meditation or prayer…. We won’t make satisfactory progress if we practice control of the mind…
1.12 The mind can be stilled through practice and non-attachment.
“Nonattachment (vairagya) signifies the stability and serenity that arise when we withdraw from passion. The less we identify with our passions, the greater is our inner peace, in spite of difficulties. Nonattachment implies freedom with regard to affects, emotions, and sentiments…. Persevering practice is a way of proceeding, and nonattachment is what comes of it.”…
1.5 The fluctuations of the mind are fivefold and are either detrimental or non-detrimental.
“Our thoughts and feelings are trained by habit to flow in predictable patterns, which determine whether our life fosters a sense of ease and happiness or turns from it.” — Nischala Joy Devi, The Secret Power of Yoga
1.6 There are five types of thoughts: right knowledge, misapprehension, fantasy, deep sleep, and memory.
“Everything that we experience in life, we experience through the mind. Whatever happens around us, whatever thoughts and feelings arise within, whatever we dream for the future or recollect from the past — all that is a result of the mind’s activity, which falls into five basic categories.” – Devadatta Kali, Managing The Mind
1.7 The sources of right knowledge are direct experience, inference, and verbal testimony.
“We must not mistake right knowledge for absolute truth.” –Devadatta Kali, Managing the Mind
1.8 False knowledge stems from misapprehension – believing something is true and then discovering it is not.
“Misperception or contrary thoughts, twisting the basic facts or reversing the facts arises due to the erroneous understanding or perception of an object.” –BKS Iyengar, Core of the Yoga Sutras
1.9 Imagination arises from words and ideas that are not grounded in reality, devoid of an actual object.
“The mind has great creative power….Without the ability to ideate we would not have any of our arts, sciences, and other human achievements.” –Devadatta Kali, Managing the Mind
Yoga Sutra Cards 