The Basics of the Yoga Sutras - Outline:

This material is based on my own melding of the Yoga Sutra texts from various editions of the Sutras, and also on my own background of over thirty years working with the principles of Surat Shabd Yoga. I have combined the Sutra texts and melded the interpretations along with the key Sanskrit words. From this we can pull out the main Sanskrit words and the key principles of the philosophy of the Sutras.

 

It reflects my journey through and around the philosophy of yoga. My journey in the philosophy of yoga started when I was around 12, and since then has been a thread throughout my life. Another significant part of my journey has been various courses and workshops with Peter Connolly. These have dealt with both philosophy in its own right, and also the philosophy of yoga.

When dealing with the subject of yoga philosophy, including the Yoga Sutras, there are many interpretations, many opinions. Almost any interpretation you might offer for a given text, there will be someone who objects and gives a different interpretation. Who can say who is right, and who is wrong? Certainly not me. Is there one definitive interpretation, and one definitive perspective? I think not.

 

These thoughts and interpretations reflect the work that I have done to date, and the material I have encountered to date. They reflect an interpretation. By next year I may have encountered something that makes me rethink it all. I am certainly not in a position to state, “This is the way it is”, and I am specifically not doing so. So, hold it with a light touch. Let’s explore the text and the concepts in it. Let’s explore the interpretations, and how it might fit into our world view. Let’s pick out what it is trying to say and how that resonates with us individually.

 

In exactly the same way as in asana practice we move and feel out the boundaries of free movement, let’s explore the boundaries of our own thinking, the values we use to judge good and bad, where we currently are and the characteristics of our world view.