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The Philosophy of Yoga

At Susquehanna Yoga, we believe that understanding and studying the ancient philosophy behind the practice of Yoga helps our students get the most benefit out of their class time.  For this reason, we include the ‘Philosophy of Yoga’ Lessons in sequential order in our newsletter.  All lessons are also archived for reference and are available on this page.

Yoga is prescriptive - IF you do this, then that will happen.  Yoga teachers sometimes describe to their students how certain poses should feel, or what happens to their body in a particular posture.  But students must learn to listen to their own body and find their own way.  Classic Yoga instruction takes out the descriptive and is solely prescriptive, and is therefore the most direct route to the center. The Sutras are the text that first presented the art of yoga.

The Philosophy of Yoga (Yoga Sutra 1.45)
by Suzy Pennington

Yoga Sutra 1.45 Suksmavisayatvam ca alinga paryavasanam

“By exploring the subtle particles of nature the consciousness reaches its goal of a state of complete cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. In this state the subtle and infinitesimal intelligence (mahat) of nature (prakriti) is found.”

The subtlest of the principles of nature is the cosmic intelligence (mahat) called the large Self.  When this intelligence is in a person it is transformed into the “I” (asmita) or small Self.  Though the large Self does not change, the small Self brings changes in a person due to the influence of nature’s qualities.  A person is made up of particles of nature (prakriti) from their physical body to their inner core of consciousness.  When the individual Self or “I” is quieted by yogic practices it merges into the large Self.  Here the student has reached the crossroads of Self-Realization.

Merging the spark of the Devine within into the cosmic Devine one realizes the nature of consciousness.




Paraphrased from:
Light on the Yoga Sutras of Pantanjali
B.K.S Iyengar
 


Philosophy of Yoga Archives:
Invocation Chant
Yoga Sutra 1.13
Yoga Sutra 1.15
Yoga Sutra 1.16
Yoga Sutra 1.17
Yoga Sutra 1.18
Yoga Sutra 1.19
Yoga Sutra 1.21 & 1.22
Yoga Sutra 1.23 - 1.26
Yoga Sutra 1.27
Yoga Sutra 1.28
Yoga Sutra 1.29 & 1.30
Yoga Sutra 1.31
Yoga Sutra 1.33
Yoga Sutra 1.35 & 1.36
Yoga Sutra 1.37
Yoga Sutra 1.39
Yoga Sutra 1.40
Yoga Sutra 1.41 & 1.42
Yoga Sutra 1.43
Yoga Sutra 1.44
Yoga Sutra 1.45
Yoga Sutra 1.46
Current Yoga Sutra