1. M. Monier-Williams, Sanskrit-English Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1899).
2. Mark Singleton calls “yoga” a homonym (a word with the same sound but with various different meanings), to indicate how yoga is, and has been, used at various times. Mark Singleton, Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).
3. It is a common strategy to identify the roots of Sanskrit words in order to understand their meaning. Some words can be derived from more than one root, so examining the possible roots of words is a traditional way to explore nuances and alternative meanings. The word yoga itself can be derived from more than one root (dhātu). Yuj, the most commonly stated root, is given here; in Chapter 2 a different root will be suggested for the specific meaning of yoga in the Yoga Sūtra. Both are relevant and give us different lenses to explore the word at the heart of our story.
4. In the Yoga Sūtra, sa
yoga is used to indicate a relationship where two things become confused as if one, with a consequent lack of freedom and vitality (YS 2.17). By contrast, yoga is a relationship where the difference between two principles is maintained and yet in their interaction there is vitality, mutual support and freedom. This is discussed in greater detail in Chapters 4 and 8.
5. There are four Veda, the 
g, Sāma, Yajur and Atharva, each a vast collection of sacred hymns. Different families and traditions trace their lineage back to one of these four texts. Their dates are very approximate, but scholars believe them to be roughly 3,000 years old, and certainly some parts are even older.
6. Traditionally, teachings arising from the Veda were called sanātana dharma (the Eternal Teaching). The term Hinduism was coined much later by the Persians and Greeks. Here, we use the term “orthodox” to refer to teachings which accept the authority of the Veda. Buddhism is an example of an ancient Indian tradition which does not, and is therefore considered to be heterodox by the Vedic purists.
7. The primary and earliest commentator on the Yoga Sūtra, Vyāsa, understands atha as representing adhikāra. Adhikāra indicates the authority of the teaching and Patañjali's authority to transmit this teaching. Our primary focus here, however, is on atha, meaning “in the present moment.”
1. Lak
a
a means “essential quality”; without it an object would be something else.
2. See Chapter 4 for further exploration on the nature of du
kha.
3. YS 2.4, discussed more fully in Chapter 8.
4. These 5 are: misunderstanding (avidyā), confused sense of Self (asmitā), craving (rāga), repulsion (dvea) and fear (abhiniveśa). See Chapter 8 for further elaboration of kleśa.
5. According to Vyāsa, it is possible to achieve niruddha by extensive practice of ekāgra samādhi, accompanied by the highest levels of vairāgya, but this is an extremely advanced practice.
6. Embedded in the word dra
u.
7. We could link dra
to a more general awareness, but because it actually derives from the root dś, meaning “to see,” we have defined it in these terms.
9. It's interesting that even in the 15th-century text Haha Yoga Pradīpikā, its author, Svātmārāma, bemoaned the state of yoga, saying that too many “wander in the darkness of conflicting doctrines” (HYP 1.3).
10. Although we have previously referred to dra, purua is a more common term.
15. See Chapter 10.
16. See Chapter 16.
1. Extract from an interview with T.K.V. Desikachar in Darśanam 1, no. 1, Feb 1991. Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram.
2. Vairāgya is one of the two fundamental principles of Patañjali's system. It is often translated as “non-attachment” but for a more detailed discussion see Chapter 5.
3. Patabhi Jois (1915–2009), one of Krishnamacharya's students from Mysore, was the guru of the Ashtanga Vinyasa (sic) Krama school of yoga, which has become one of the most popular approaches to āsana. It is an intensely aerobic system with six levels, each progressively more demanding. Very few have mastered sequences beyond Level 3.
4. B.K.S. Iyengar (1918–2014), another of Krishnamacharya's students from Mysore and also his brother-in-law, is probably the most famous yoga teacher in the West. His approach to refining āsana demanded great perseverance and commitment from students and although he modified his approach in later life, he was known for his strictness, his intensity and his lack of compromise.
5. Personal communication.
6. Pause at the end of the exhalation. See Chapter 10 for detailed discussion.
7. T.K.V. Desikachar, Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice (Inner Traditions, 1999), p. 26.
8. Here the prefix is the same as in vi-niyoga. However, in different contexts vi can mean “opposite to.”
9. For a detailed explanation of YS 2.46 (sthirasukham āsanam) see Chapter 9.
10. It may seem strange to classify downward-facing dog as a kneeling posture. The reason for this anomaly is that we classify postures from their starting point. Our most common starting point for entering into downward-facing dog is kneeling. If we start the posture from standing, for example from uttānāsana, then we classify it as a standing posture—and this was the traditional classification from Krishnamacharya.
1. In Sanskrit, the “s” changes to an “” when followed by the “k” in dukha.
2. “Uncertainty” implies that our subjective conclusions are not foolproof, and “decay” suggests the teaching of tradition is subject to change over time: it easily degenerates and is corrupted. Here, rigorous philosophical reasoning is the preferred method.
3. See Chapter 7 for further discussion on the gua.
4. This observation has come from Edwin Bryant, The Yoga Sūtra of Patanjali (North Point Press, 2013), p. 207, who references Vyāsa here.
5. For a more detailed discussion of avidyā and sayoga see Chapter 8.
6. A synonym for citta.
7. A synonym for cit or purua.
8. Gary Kraftsow, Yoga for Transformation: Ancient Teachings and Practices for Healing the Body, Mind, and Heart (Arkana, 2002), p. 67.
1. The word ādara appears in editions of the Yoga Sūtra which have originated from the teachings of Krishnamacharya, but not in other editions of the text. Also in his commentary, Vyāsa refers to the other qualities, dīrghakāla, nairantarya, satkāra, but not to ādara. This leads us to hypothesize that it was added by Krishnamacharya.
2. T.K.V. Desikachar, Religiousness in Yoga, p 2.
3. It is generally understood that there are four steps in this process, of which vaśīkāra is the last. The first requires deliberate effort to renounce aspects of our lives that generate excessive attachment. The second is a degree of mastery in which one recognizes triggers that may entrap us. The third is when mastery has been achieved, but there is still a potential in the mind to be drawn off course. Only in vaśīkāra is there profound stability.
4. See Chapter 9 for more extensive discussion on breath in āsana.
5. There are a number of ways of translating jālandhara bandha. In Ha
ha Yoga, the head is considered to be the container of the “nectar of immortality” (amta), a mythological fluid related to our longevity. This nectar is imagined as a fluid (jāla) that can be contained and stabilized (dhara) in this posture. This technique helps to keep the spine open and lengthened and is very important in both āsana and prā
āyāma practices.
6. This formulation of abhyāsa as linked to the exhalation and vairāgya as linked to the inhalation is consistent with the way we were taught and the way we teach. However, we acknowledge that other approaches to yoga may work in different ways with regard to the breath.
2. Personal communication.
4. A disturbance in the breath is really a disturbance of our prāa, and from an āyurvedic perspective, this can be felt in our pulse.
5. See Chapter 16.
6. Confused īśvara praidhāna can promote fanaticism, sectarianism and intolerance —all hallmarks of excessive rajas and tamas.
7. See Chapter 11.
8. See Chapter 10 for further discussion.
9. Vyāsa discusses how (among other points of focus) concentration on the tip of the nose results in a subtle sense of smell, the tip of the tongue gives a subtle sense of taste and even focus on the palette can alter our perception of color.
10. For a detailed discussion on the role of the senses see Chapter 14.
11. Krishnamacharya is said to have received the full text of the Yoga Rahasya from his ancestor Nāthamuni in a dream (see p. 39).
12. Singleton, op. cit.
13. The Hahayogapradīpikā of Svātmārāma (The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras, 1972).
1. The relationship between bhoga and apavarga has been the subject of much debate in the Indian spiritual tradition. Some extreme renunciate traditions shun bhoga and focus exclusively on apavarga, while others proclaim the necessity of bhoga as the means.
2. Dśya and prakti are interchangeable names for Nature.
3. Personal communication. The reason that it is “always the same” is because it is out of time; time is a product of prakti. Time is about change: where there is no change, there is no time.
4. Even calling purua “it” is problematic, because we run the risk of “nounifying”– turning it into a “thing.”
5. Vedānta is another of India's classical philosophies arising from the Veda. Although the most well known of India's classical philosophical systems, in some ways it is quite different from the classical yoga tradition. However, there are also many shared ideas and concepts between the two systems and an understanding of yoga is certainly very helpful as a basis for understanding Vedānta.
7. The word doa is commonly used in āyurveda to describe people's constitutions: it literally means “that which colors or stains.” Doa is therefore something which is liable to “go out of balance”; it is a fault.
8. Personal communication.
9. In the same way, abhyāsa comes before vairāgya, sthira comes before sukha and tapas and svādhyāya come before īśvara praidhāna. This formulation runs throughout the sūtras: work, prepare, act, and then release.
10. This is the title of Chapter 12 of Desikachar's book, The Heart of Yoga (op. cit).
11. This is from Desikachar's commentary on Krishnamacharya's version of the Yoga Rahasya, Krishnamacharya Yoga Mandiram, 1998.
12. See Chapter 9 for more detailed discussion on sthira and sukha.
13. This is actually a description of what we now call baddha padmāsana—the “bound lotus.”
14. See Chapter 9 for more on breath in āsana.
1. And interestingly and paradoxically, at the level of purua, we also are perfect already!
2. Supermarkets are notoriously well known as places for people to suffer panic attacks. Sometimes the sheer variety of possibilities can be too much and we become paralyzed by confusion and fear.
3. Insights arising from Peter Hersnack, personal communication.
4. For further discussion around asmitā rūpa, see YS 1.17.
5. Because we are made up mostly of water, this means we cling to our bodies, our incarnated selves.
6. Peter Hersnack described it as “the fear of being uninstalled.”
7. If we see kriyā yoga as a preliminary to aā
ga yoga, then we can also say that the beginning of aāga is tapas too. It is the basis for the yoga project. For a detailed discussion of kriyā yoga see Chapter 13.
8. This process is explored in more detail in Chapter 13.
9. A particularly striking image from Ken Robinson's TED talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” (2006).
1. Feuerstein, Georg: The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali (Inner Traditions International, 1979).
2. Desikachar, T.K.V.: Patañjali's Yogasūtras: An Introduction (Affiliated East-West Press Ltd, 1987).
3. Hartranft, Chip: The Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali (Shambhala Classics, 2003).
4. Moors, Frans: Liberating Isolation (Media Garuda, 2012).
5. In an interview with Anna Dubrovsky, Yoga + Joyful Living (Spring 2009).
6. Thanks to Ranju's twin brother Sanjoy Roy for this quote, from the “Planet Dance” series of animated shorts (Planet Dance, 2015). www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUZ9a06fOKg.
7. Personal communication, Launde Abbey 2006.
8. The Hahayogapradīpikā of Svātmārāma (The Adyar Library and Research Centre, Madras 1972).
9. It's worth noting that Sanskrit names are not evidence of antiquity in āsana. There are many postures, for example, trikonāsana and adho mukha śvānāsana, which seem to be comparatively modern postures despite their Sanskrit names. The Sanskrit names have been “retro-fitted” to modern forms.
10. Singleton: Yoga Body, op. cit. See Chapter 8 pp. 163–174.
11. Iyengar, B.K.S., Light on Yoga (George Allen & Unwin, 1966).
12. Personal communication.
13. This interpretation of the term ananta is another way in which Krishnamacharya taught this sūtra; and undoubtedly it is idiosyncratic. Other traditions understand this sūtra slightly differently—we have chosen this interpretation as it is at the heart of this way of working.
14. According to the Nyāya school (a sister philosophy to yoga and Sākhya), there are three types of prayatna (effort): pravtti, nivtti and jivanaprayatna. Here the latter, jivanaprayatna, is implied—this refers to the effort of breathing. Thus, prayatna-śaithilya can be understood as “the effort to make the breath smooth and even (śaithilya).” This is how the long-time student of Krishnamacharya, Srivatsa Ramaswami, taught this sūtra.
15. In the practice of prāāyāma, Mount Meru can be seen as the spine, the nostrils represent the devas and the asuras, and the breath itself, moving from one nostril to the other, is Ananta/Vasuki.
16. It's also worth noting that ananta as breath (or more accurately, prāa) not only enables a joint project, but is also the product of a joint project. Prāa is understood to be the product of the interaction between purua and prakti. It is purua's proximity to prakti which generates prāa—when purua leaves, the body dies and prāa dissipates.
17. Gurvādi means “guru (heavy) and the rest”—in other words, it implies a list with guru at the beginning. A teacher is sometimes called “guru” because they have gravitas; they are literally “heavy” with knowledge.
18. There are actually other qualities described in āyurveda, some relating directly to the mind and feelings. Thus intellect, memory, desire, hatred and happiness are all described as gua in Caaka Sahitā, Vol. 1, v49.
19. In Roots of Yoga, for example, James Mallinson and Mark Singleton describe a contemporary yogi in India who once a year remains utterly motionless for nine days continuously.
20. See Chapter 10.
21. This formulation is another of Peter Hersnack's many insights.
22. It is interesting to reflect on the emphasis given in Haha Yoga to the free circulation of prāa and the removal of blockages that impede it. Free circulation requires space that is not full of “other stuff.”
23. T.K.V. Desikachar, Religiousness in Yoga: Lectures on Theory and Practice, eds. John Ross Skelton and Louise Carter (Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 1980), p. 119.
1. Personal communication.
2. Krishnamacharya was emphatic: Haha Yoga is prāāyāma.
3. B.K.S. Iyengar compares āsana with undergraduate studies, while prāāyāma is postgraduate—it is an advanced practice.
4. Personal communication.
5. This understanding of the three parts of the breath (exhalation, inhalation and pauses) is how this sūtra has been presented by students of Desikachar. Vyāsa uses the term bāhya to refer to the BK, the term abhyantara to refer to the AK, and the term stambha-vtti to refer “suppression” (stopping) of the breath. See Hariharānanda, Yoga Philosophy of Patañjali (State University of New York Press, 1983), p. 234.
6. Heart of Yoga, p. 59.
7. See Hariharānanda, op. cit., p. 253: “the object ontemplated upon has to be thought of from all sides and in all its spects...”
8. Personal communication.
9. Wendy Doniger, The Hindus: An Alternative History (Penguin USA, 2009), pp. 199–211.
10. T.K.V. Desikachar, Patañjali's Yogasūtras (Affiliated East-West Press Ltd, 1987).
11. This phrase comes from Eckhart Tolle and is the title of an interview with him by Andrew Cohen in What Is Enlightenment? magazine, no. 18, Fall/Winter 2000.
12. The essential quality of tamas is described as vaanakam (enveloping, obscuring) in the Sākhya Kārikā v.13.
13. Often when comparing āsana and prāāyāma, āsana is seen as remedy for excess rajas and prāāyāma as a remedy for excess tamas in the mind. This is certainly the teaching of Krishnamacharya's student Srivatsa Ramaswami. However, this is something of a generalization and actually prāāyāma itself can work on both of these problematic gua to prepare for meditation.
14. See HYP 2.7–21.
15. See HYP 2.48–70 for more detail on these techniques. Some teachers consider the distinction between nā
ī śodhana and the other techniques classified as kumbhaka as very significant, as if nāī śodhana is the only real prāāyāma. Others take kumbhaka just as a word to refer to different techniques. This was Krishnamacharya's view: the other techniques are still prāāyāma, but nāī śodhana is the preeminent prāāyāma technique.
16. The word kriyā literally means “action,” but in the HYP it is understood to mean a purification technique. A common confusion is to equate the kriyā of Haha Yoga with the kriyā yoga of Patañjali's Yoga Sūtra.
17. For example, forward bends, backward bends, twists and lateral flexion.
18. This detail, partial restriction of the nostril through which you are breathing, is crucial and is commonly overlooked or misunderstood.
19. As well as being variations of ujjāyī, they could be seen as modifications of nāī śodhana, since they involve a combination of using both ujjāyī and nostril control.
20. Peter Hersnack presented this way of working on numerous workshops and retreats.
21. Srivatsa Ramaswami, another of Krishnamacharya's students, calls this technique pratiloma; what we describe here as pratiloma, he calls viloma. It's probably not worth getting too concerned about which is correct—the main thing is we are in agreement about the techniques, rather than their names!
22. Peter Hersnack, personal communication.
23. Personal communication.
24. Personal communication.
25. Although this last rhythm is presented in the HYP, we would be cautious with its application. Such a long AK requires considerable training, and can lead to disturbance and irritability.
1. In the 1960s the famous psychotherapist Carl Rogers realized through his research the value for clients of really being listened to and heard. In this way, he validated the therapeutic power of ahisā.
2. B
hadārayaka Upani
ad, Chapter 5, section 5, verse 1.
3. Personal communication.
4. Personal communication.
5. Katham is literally “how” and the suffix tā makes a qualitative noun out of the word: hence literally “how-ness.”
6. In Krishnamacharya's teachings, the primary blockage which stops prāa from flowing in the central channel is kualinī, which he equated with avidyā. Thus, one goal of practice is to “wake up” kualinī/avidyā so that prāa can flow unimpeded.
1. HYP 1.15.
2. Personal communication.
3. Association of Yoga Studies Convention (Shropshire, UK July 2012).
4. We have heard this story from both Desikachar and from Paul Harvey.
5. Indriya are discussed in considerable detail in Chapter 14.
6. Ancient Vedic texts predating the Yoga Sūtra which describe the mystical experiences of Self-realization.
7. Krishnamacharya did not accept the practices listed in texts such as the Haha Yoga Pradīpikā which used cloth or water to cleanse the body of excess kapha. He believed these were corrupted practices from āyurveda that were often inappropriately used.
8. It is not clear when his condition started, but by his seventies Desikachar was quite ill and sadly passed away in 2016 at the age of 78.
9. This beautiful practice has elements of prāāyāma and also links to the Buddhist meditation practice of metta bhāvana. It was taught to us in 2015 in a workshop with our friend Navtej Johar, another student of T.K.V. Desikachar.
1. Some scholars believe kriyā yoga was the original formulation and that aāga yoga was a later addition to the Yoga Sūtra, perhaps as a reflection of the Buddhist Eight-fold Path. The yoga tradition certainly does not understand things in this way, and sees the complete Yoga Sūtra as a harmonious whole in its current form. In this context aāga yoga is seen as a more complete and demanding expression of the practice, whereas kriyā yoga is the starting point embodying the essential principles to begin working on ourselves.
2. Krishnamacharya uses the concept of paripāka—“cooked on all sides”—to describe the gradual elimination of our misunderstanding through the varied and all-inclusive practices of yoga. Other methods might produce rapid results, but are potentially unbalancing if they do not address the whole being.
3. The demon Hirayakaśipu was so angry at Viu for killing his demon brother that he performed tapas until Brahma had no option but to respond. He declares that Hirayakaśipu cannot be killed during the day or night, inside or outside, by god, demon, man or animal. Viu's ingenious response is to take the form of Narasimha, half-man and half-lion, and finally slays the demon at sunset on the threshold of his palace. Narasimha is popular as protector against evil, and a favorite of Krishnamacharya, who saw in his leonine body the Haha Yoga ideal of broad expanded chest with lower belly drawn in and up, reflecting Krishnamacharya's approach to yogic breathing and the use of bandha.
4. Personal communication.
5. Personal communication.
6. Rāja yoga is usually understood to be the yoga of Patañjali, with its focus on various states of samādhi.
7. From the root i, to go.
1. Manas, the part of the mind closest to the senses, is also referred to as one of the indriya.
2. From Jon Kabat-Zinn MBSR course.
3. Bhagavad Gītā, 2.58.
4. Vyāsa in his commentary to YS 2.55.
5. Religiousness in Yoga, p. 183.
6. Krishnamacharya recommended the practice for five minutes, which is actually quite a long time to keep the arms raised. In practice, we often do a round of about one minute, followed by simple sitting for 30 seconds to a minute, repeated two or three times.
1. Sabīja samādhi is synonymous with ekāgra, and nirbīja samadhi is synonymous with niruddha as discussed in Chapter 2.
2. Amounting to 40 sūtras within a total of 55 in Chapter 3 alone, and 195 across the whole of the Yoga Sūtra.
3. Reflecting the idea of parida discussed in Chapter 10 with respect to prāāyāma.
4. A discussion of Sā
khya and the evolution of the tattva is beyond the scope of this book but we would encourage the interested reader to explore this further. For a simple overview, see The Funky Guru: Sākhyārtha Sagraha: Essential Samkhya for Yoga Students (Sadhana Mala Publications).
5. The Yoga Sūtra assumes knowledge of the Sākhya worldview.
6. The various traditional commentators generally agree that the different levels of saprajñāta involve focusing on increasingly subtle levels of objects. However, for simplicity, we have presented this process as increasingly refined levels of samādhi arising from the same object.
7. Vyāsa emphasizes the need for the highest form of vairāgya (as described in YS 1.16) as the most important factor for cultivating asaprajñāta samādhi. The subtle states of the saprajñāta samādhi without the highest vairāgya are not sufficient in themselves for asaprajñāta samādhi to arise.
1. Here, Life represents purua and the form Life takes represents prakti.
2. The first was Swami Vivekananda, a Vedantin monk who set up the Ramakrishna Mission.
3. Personal communication, Montpellier 2015.
4. There are exceptions to this. In the Sākhya Kārikā, Īśvara Ka says that there are a number of reasons that an object can never be seen directly (e.g., it is too subtle or too big). In such cases we need to use inference or testimony.