How to Start Doing Yoga? Sutra 1.1: The Present Moment

Photo by Wesley Tingey on Unsplash

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Just where you are – that’s the place to start.
​- Pema Chodron

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  Want to start at the beginning?

Each year, I will select Sutras from the four, successive Padas.  Although every one of the 196 Sutras could lead a person to transcendence, I will be limited to 43.  In these 43 Sutras, I will attempt to cover most of the important themes within the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali as a whole, by referring to other important Sutras within the discussion.

I invite you on this exploration with me.  To discover the heart of yoga: what yoga is and how to master it.

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Sutra 1.1 - अथ योगानुशासनम् - Atha Yoga Anuśāsanam - Now Is the Guide for Yoga

The reason the Yoga Sutras take a lifetime (or even longer!) to understand fully is that many of the Sanskrit words contain multiple meanings.  The richness of this approach means both that the essence of Yoga is expressed as succinctly as possible and that the process of understanding their meaning is the path toward Yoga itself.  In that way, the Yoga Sutras are both philosophy and instructions (Satchidananda, 23); they give both the why and how in one breath.

To truly understand a Sutra, the student must devote successive readings to it.  There is an unfurling process, as the student deciphers its meaning over time in conjunction with the student’s lived experience.  

This is why the aphorism, “when the student is ready, the teacher appears,” also applies to the Yoga Sutras.  The lessons to be learned from this text develop in the student’s mind over time, finally becoming fixed when life gives the aspirant a chance to practice and then comprehend their meaning.

So let’s start on the most surface level - the literal meaning of the Sanskrit words - and then delve deeper.

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