As great scientists have said and as all children know, it is above all by the imagination that we achieve perception, and compassion, and hope.
- Ursula K. Le Guin

As one learns to live their life in a state of equanimity - which means a state without attachments or aversions and therefore, without ego - all of one's thoughts and therefore, words and actions become ego-less and so untinted by previous impressions (samskaras) made in our mind.  BKS Iyengar compares this state of mind to a kite “released in the sky, without a string to bring it back to earth.” (254)  The kite is affected by the wind and may soar, divert its course or even crash but is not directing the action like a person (the ego) would holding the string.

In another comparison, Swami Satchidananda likens a Yogi to a knife.  “If a knife cuts a fruit you may say it is good, and if it cuts a throat it is bad. But to the knife, a cut is a cut.” (255)

Before reaching this stage, our thoughts, words and actions are all tinted by our samskaras.  Our samskaras may cause us to do good, bad or more likely, some mixture of the two.

Think of situations in which someone does something that benefits themselves or their close ones but creates pain and suffering elsewhere.  I’ve certainly had experiences where I try to do good.  But because I had some expectation of a particular result of this “good” action that didn’t come to fruition, I felt disappointed and hurt. 

Attachment ultimately always lets us down by creating more pain and suffering.  You can read more about this on our blog post on the kleshas and Yoga Sutra 2.3.

Interestingly, Iyengar also draws comparisons to the gunas in his commentary on Sutra 4.7.  We may be sattvic, tamasic or those two may mix, creating rajasic thoughts, words and deeds.  

In contrast, the Yogi’s actions are not even sattvic (calm).  They transcend duality and are instead colorless. (Iyengar, 253)

Sattva and tamas are two ends of a spectrum - though it's almost like a horseshoe. Sattva (calmness) and tamas (sleepiness) appear similar. 
Rajas is like a middle state. The seeker might be very active and trying to attain liberation and at least is not completely unaware and immobile. However, rajas is not the ideal state because it can stir up a lot of mental activity and therefore the craving/aversion dichotomy. 

Rajas is tamas (ignorance, inaction, pure potential) transformed by awareness and desire (action, activity, kleshas) of the sattvic state. 

Sattva is the goal because that way we learn to overcome the kleshas. But the Yogic state is even beyond sattva because there are no samskaras (even about sattva) to color one's thoughts.

This thought is echoed by the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat’s The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.  The translation here for Yoga Sutra 4.7 is “a true Yogi’s actions are neutral because they are untainted by the ego.  The actions of others can be sattvic, rajasic or tamasic.” (46)

I believe that Patanjali is ultimately saying that a Yogi's actions are beyond the gunas, which are the forces of nature, and therefore beyond nature’s cycle of cause and effect Patanjali refers to as karma.

One final point about Sutra 4.7 that I find important.  The direct translation of the text only describes actions as white, black, mixed and the implied “colorless” actions.  However, several commentaries I am using have made the comparison of white actions = good and black actions = bad.

This kind of interpretation comes from the caste system, by which Patanjali was likely affected.  But I find this comparison troubling because of the implicit racism of equating white to good and black to bad.  In fact, Patanjali doesn't even make this distinction!

We may as well say some actions are red, some are blue and some are various shades of purple.  That is the essence of this Sutra.  Ultimately, it is unnecessary to call certain colors good or bad because Patanjali is cautioning us that all tinted actions - whatever their color - are undesirable because even “good” actions can lead to more suffering if we still struggle with the kleshas.

In the next post, we'll see how Patanjali applies this idea of good, bad and mixed actions to the way we perceive the world through the gunas and our karma.

<< PREVIOUS BLOG POST IN YOGA SUTRA SERIES
NEXT POST IN YOGA SUTRAS SERIES COMING IN JUNE

What brought you to yoga?
Yoga came in and out of my life as a teen and college student as a workout and outlet for community but it wasn't until the COVID-19 pandemic that I began developing a more consistent yoga practice and showing up for myself. Living in isolation and dealing with lots of uncertainty in the pandemic, I experienced a lot of anxiety and yoga was my outlet for presence, regulating my emotions and nervous system, and staying consistent with movement in a time where we couldn’t leave our house.
​
What is your approach to teaching?
I am passionate about creating a welcoming and inviting atmosphere in my yoga classes, where all students feel respected. I believe that yoga is for everyone - no matter your race, body type, economic background, language, or gender. Representation and accessibility matter, and I aim to uplift all voices in my classes. I enjoy teaching yoga as a tool for personal growth and helping students feel more confident and empathetic towards one another, and themselves. 

Why did you choose to teach at 5KY?
Because of the community atmosphere! When I first discovered 5KY as a student, I loved how accessible, intimate, and community oriented the studio was. Additionally, I love how 5KY is women-run and has a diverse range of classes and teachers. There’s something for everyone at 5KY, whether you are a beginner or have taken hundreds of classes, and the instructors have diverse backgrounds and styles, so always something new to learn and try. :)

What makes your soul sing?
Hanging out in the sunshine, walking in the forest, spending time with my loved ones and kittens, and eating a good vegan donut.

What brought you to your yoga practice?
I was looking for something like this because I felt like I needed this for healing and to help me move and build my self esteem.

I was feeling not myself during the COVID time, feeling isolated, stagnant and wasn't feeling right mentally and physically. I wasn't feeling good about myself and kind of depressed.

I tried yoga a few times before but never really stuck to it more than once or twice.

What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? 
More flexibility, my body is able to be more flexible, and it taught me how to breathe and meditate and stay in the moment. It also helped me with digestive problems that I started having during the pandemic.
​
What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? 
That I need to get out and do something for myself. Life is not always comfort because if you stay comfortable it doesn't help you in the long run and after a while you start to digress.

I will keep coming back.​

What brought you to your yoga practice?
I tried yoga in high school and loved it, but had focused on my on-again-off-again relationship with cardio for the past years. Last summer, I attended yoga classes at Gallagher Way hosted by Five Keys, and I fell in love with yoga as a communal and cultural practice. I've been attending a class at least once a week ever since. 

What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? 
Immediately, I experienced pain relief in my hips and back. I grew in confidence, and experienced a much deeper relationship with my body; one based on respect and love for its capabilities. Those things make it easy to turn yoga into a priority in my schedule. 
​
What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? 
I would tell myself that respecting and honoring what my body is capable of is much more important than meeting my own expectations of image. Health is so much more holistic than you think. How I show up to class mentally is almost as important as the practice. ​

​Have you ever sensed your individuality dissolving into universality?  What were you doing?  How long did that sense last?  Have you ever been able to recreate that?

​What brought you to your yoga practice?
I need movement in my life to be happy, and for a long time before yoga I exclusively practiced martial arts. While there are a lot of benefits to that and I don't regret it at all, there came a time where engaging with it was no longer supporting what I wanted my life to become. I came to yoga looking for a more supportive community that would let me engage on my own terms and an activity that would challenge me in new ways physically and mentally. I found both! 

What benefits did you notice once you started practicing consistently? 
I'm a lot more gentle with myself when I need to do something differently than what I feel is expected of me. The practice of sitting with whatever your limits are, right now, today has made it a lot easier to "take a modification" in real life to accommodate what I need in the moment. 
​
What would you now tell yourself before you started practicing yoga? 
You don't have to work at it. It's not something you need to stress about improving or changing. Your practice today is as valid as your worst day and your best day, and if today you just sit down and don't move that's your practice then maybe you worked just as hard as anyone else.

A simple example is waking from a nightmare.  It seems so real while you are sleeping that when you wake up, your heart is pounding, you may be sweating and sometimes it’s hard to calm down and go back to sleep, even though you know the monsters you saw in your dreams are not physically present.  But they are mentally present - subconsciously, yes -  and affect our interactions in the waking world with other people who have mental monsters in their own subconscious.

So while these siddhis may seem like weird mysticism, we already have experiences that show us the mind goes rogue from physical reality sometimes.  A spiritual adept has put time and energy into controlling their mind and sometimes develop these “supernatural abilities.” (Stiles, 112)

With all this preamble about “supernatural powers” (Stiles, 47), now to Yoga Sutra 4.1.  More than what he explained about siddhis in book three, Patanjali tells us how exactly these siddhis appear.
There are five ways he outlines:

1. Janma (birth) - some people are born with the ability to tap into the superphysical.  According to Vedanta, this is due to some karma that has been carried over from previous births that the soul has gone through.  Patanjali (and we) will discuss more about the laws of karma later in the year.
2. Ausadhi (herbs) - this one is always good for a giggle when reading it in a group.  Certainly, certain plants can produce reactions inside our mind to create an awareness of the superphysical world.  Both Satchidananda and Iyengar mention drugs as a way to have “spiritual visions.” (Iyengar, 246)  But Ram Bhakt brings up another possibility for this word.  “Medicinal formulas called rasayanas that are taken to make the body super healthy and allow for powers to awaken.” (187)  The Shoshoni Retreat Center’s handbook also indicates “Ayurvedic herbs” (45) here.  Iyengar mentions this word could mean elixir or even incense. (246)
3. Mantra - Repeating mantras can bring the mind into the right state to achieve siddhis.  Sanskrit is an incredible language that I am only beginning to explore.  When I’ve had the opportunity to learn from one of my fellow YAA program teachers, SriDevi Denisa Denova (who is a Sanskrit expert) I’ve learned that by correct pronunciation of Sanskrit, we hit the palates of our mouth in such a way that it actually produces brain waves associated with calm focus.  So repeating mantras creates an environment for the practitioner to go beyond the physical and reach the spiritual level. 
4. Tapah (self-discipline) - Everyone’s favorite niyama, tapah (or tapas) is one of the three parts of kriya yoga.  Tapah includes the physical austerities one uses to prepare the body and mind for enlightenment.  These practices are not indicated by Patanjali directly but I think it's safe to say that things like asana, pranayama, mudras, bandas and kriyas (different from kriya yoga, kriyas are cleansing practices for the body, such as using the neti pot) would be part of them.  Tapah also means to face the spiritual challenges brought to us by karma with the same “burning desire to reach perfection,” (Iyengar, 108) with which we practice hatha yoga.  This might include developing the qualities of acceptance, fortitude, resilience and a zeal to do what is for us to do.
5. Samadhi (enlightenment) - We have already spent much of last year discussing samadhi and its various stages, so I won't go into much about it here.  Reading various commentaries, it seems this way is the most reliable way to attain and retain siddhis.  The other four ways Patanjali describes above all require outside things to produce the effect.  The happenstance of which body-mind you're born into, availability of medicinal plants, even the repetition of mantra or practice of spiritual austerities are things we may one day lose the ability to do.  Thus, we are liable to lose our ground with outside things.  But once attained, samadhi wipes out all other impressions. (Yoga Sutra 1.51)

​
<< PREVIOUS BLOG POST IN YOGA SUTRA SERIES
NEXT POST IN YOGA SUTRAS SERIES COMING IN 

What brought you to yoga?
Curiosity! Everyone is doing it or wanted to do it, what is so compelling about yoga? I searched social media and of course, yoga looked so elastic and beautiful, yet hard. At first, I believed yoga was what I saw on social media—deep shapes and extreme flexibility—so I pushed into hyperextension while my mind raced constantly with my to-do list. In case I end up in a slow flow yoga class, my mind would scream “boooring and you have so much to do.” Over time, yoga taught me something very different: how to slow down, listen, breathe, and move with care and alignment. That shift became a turning point for both my practice and my life.
​
What is your approach to teaching?
My approach is heart-led, mindful, and supportive. I focus on breath, safe alignment, and nervous-system regulation, offering classes that are grounding yet challenging. Before teaching yoga, I worked closely with the heart and saw how deeply stress impacts overall health. Because of that, my goal in every class is to reduce stress, help students feel safe in their bodies, and guide them toward strength, ease, and presence—on and off the mat.

Why did you choose to teach at 5KY?
I chose to teach at 5KY because the studio is not a commercial space, it values authenticity, community, and thoughtful teaching. The emphasis on the whole person aligns deeply with how I practice and teach yoga. 5KY feels like a space where students are encouraged to show up as they are, and where teachers are supported in leading with heart.

What makes your soul sing?
Seeing students leave class feeling calmer, more open, and more connected than when they arrived. Quiet mornings, meaningful conversations, good laugh, time in nature, and sharing breath and movement in a supportive community.