The fourth step is Pranayama. The word is composed from two Sanskrit words: Prana: meaning life force (noted particularly as the breath), and either ayama: to restrain or control the prana (implying a set of breathing techniques where the breath is intentionally altered in order to produce specific results) or ayāma: meaning to extend or draw out Read More
Category: sutras
Posts about the Sutras
Yoga Sutra of Patanjali – Asana
Asana: more commonly translated as posture, is derived from the Sanskrit root “to stay” “to be” or ”to sit”. Last month we looked at the first two limbs of yoga, yamas and niyamas, would it not be enough to be compassionate, truthful and content? Surely we should work at these? Why do we need to Read More
Yoga Sutra of Patanjali – yama and niyama
The Yoga Sutra, widely regarded as the authoritative text on yoga, is a collection of aphorisms, outlining the eight limbs (or steps) of yoga. These “threads” (as sutra translates from Sanskrit) of wisdom offer guidelines for living a meaningful and purposeful life. There are 196 of them and they were written by the ancient sage Read More