The Yoga Sutras in plain English

The Yoga Sutras are four short chapters of aphorisms, and almost every English translation disagrees with the others in places. That is not a flaw in the text so much as a feature of it: the sutras were written to be memorised and unpacked with a teacher, not read like a paperback.

Still, the shape of the argument is clear enough to be useful. Here is a reading of the ideas a practitioner is most likely to need, with the caveat that any translation is an interpretation.

The four chapters

The text is traditionally divided into four padas: concentration (samādhi), practice (sādhana), powers (vibhūti), and liberation (kaivalya). The second chapter contains most of the practical material — the eight limbs, the causes of suffering, and the ethics that support the rest.

The first two sutras

atha yogānuśāsanam — now, the instruction of yoga. (1.1)

yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ — yoga is the settling of the movements of the mind. (1.2)

The first sutra is a threshold: “now” implies readiness, not information. The second is a definition that has survived nearly two millennia because it is testable. Sit for five minutes and watch what the mind does. The definition is not mystical; it is descriptive.

Practice and non-attachment

abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṃ tan-nirodhaḥ — that settling comes through practice and non-attachment. (1.12)

This is perhaps the most useful line in the book for a modern practitioner. Two forces, pulling in different directions: sustained effort, and the willingness to let go of the result. Most of us are good at one and poor at the other. A practice that is all effort becomes brittle. A practice that is all letting-go becomes vague.

The posture sutra

sthira-sukham āsanam — a posture that is steady and comfortable. (2.46)

Three words, and the foundation of every physical practice. Steadiness without comfort is a strain. Comfort without steadiness is a slump. The instruction is to find the place where both are present, and to adjust the shape until they are.

prayatna-śaithilya-ananta-samāpattibhyām — by loosening effort and merging with the infinite. (2.47)

The next sutra is a reminder that the posture is not held by force. Effort is released rather than increased.

Breath

The fourth limb is treated in a handful of sutras (2.49–2.52). The essential instruction is that the breath should become long and subtle. Retention is mentioned, but in classical practice it follows years of preparation, not a beginner’s workshop.

A reasonable modern translation of the instruction: breathe more slowly and more quietly than you do in daily life, and do not force it.

The obstacles

Sutra 1.30 lists nine obstacles to practice, and they are recognisably human: illness, dullness, doubt, carelessness, laziness, indulgence, false perception, failure to progress, and instability. The suggested remedy, in 1.33, is a set of attitudes: friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the suffering, joy in the virtuous, and equanimity toward the rest.

This is not sentimentality. It is a practical method for reducing the friction that makes concentration impossible.

How to read it

Do not begin at the beginning and try to finish. Begin with 1.2, 1.12 and 2.46. Live with them for a month. Notice where your practice contradicts them.

The sutras are not a rulebook, and treating them as one misses the point. They are a set of precise observations about the mind, offered by someone who had clearly spent a great deal of time looking.

Further reading: The eight limbs of yoga and Prana and the breath.