Sutra Squad

This week we explore the fundamental obstacles to yoga, as defined in this verse - ignorance or misunderstanding, egoism or “I-am” ness, pleasure, pain or discomfort, and clinging to life.  The sequence of these obstacles is key to their understanding - beginning with the fundamental mis-knowing that gives rise to the rest.  

On this week’s episode we begin our exploration of the second chapter of the Yoga Sūtra, the Sādhana Pāda - the chapter on Practice.  The first verse in this chapter gives us a very practical, yet challenging, prescription for the yoga practice in action or Kriya Yoga.  These three essential elements - tapas, svadhayaya, isvara pranidhana - heat or austerity, study of self, surrender to divine - a...

This week we look at one of the suggested points of focused attention that can bring clarity & peace of mind - the effulgent inner light within each & every one of us.  The Yoga Sūtra reference “light” throughout the text, and in this case it refers to the light within that we can perceive when we cultivate stillness and our attention to inner, subtle experience.  The light within each of...

This week we come home to exploring the “Locks & Keys”, the attributes that we cultivate to preserve the innate or natural serenity of the yogi’s mind in the face of the worldly winds of material life.  These attributes are also known as the brahmaviharas in Buddhist lineages, the divine abodes or sublime attitudes of the Buddha. We will discuss how we can seek to expand our capacity for each...

This week we explore the nature and meaning of OM, the sacred sound of sound.  OM is spoken, chanted, or recited in many contexts - yoga ãsana classes, meditation practices, and rituals across Eastern lineages spanning Hinduism or Sonatan Dharma, Buddhism, Jainism, and even in forms across Abrahamic lineages (ShalOM, Amen, Amin).  OM is the sound of creation, the evolution of consciousness, and ou...

This week we explore the only “shortcut” offered in the Yoga Sūtra - that by offering full surrender to the divine of our understanding we may accelerate or even reach enlightenment, bliss, and samādhi.  We will spend a moment to discern the difference between “religion” and “spirituality”, and how yoga itself is not a religion (while certainly having roots in religious tradition) and instead expl...

This week we explore the other side of the “formula” by which we achieve yoga & look at the second component - vairagya - detachment.  We explore what it means to discover the nature of our physical desires in an effort to transcend them, and deepen that transcendence to the point at which we can perceive divine spiritual energy & presence.  The journey within to examine the seeds of our w...

This week we go deeper into the essential formula by which we achieve yoga & look at the first component - abhyāsa - practice.  We explore what it means to be firmly established in a practice, and how we sustain our practices over extended periods, and throughout the duration of our lives.  Examining our actions as practices - which are intentional, which have become mindlessly habitual - is a...

This week we look at the core of our practice to achieve the state of yoga - practice & detachment.  We are called to cultivate a deep, lifelong, uninterrupted practice while also letting go of our attachments to outcomes & achievement.  Navigating this razor edge paradox is a balancing act that calls us to stay in constant presence & curiosity…

This week we complete the powerful trilogy of the opening of the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali with sutra 1.3 that describes the outcome & end result of yoga.  We will explore the idea of the seer or the observer as the “true self”, and how we can allow that true self to shine forth when we achieve yoga.

We continue our journey exploring the opening triptych of the Yoga Sutra with 1.2, the essential definition of yoga as presented by Master Patañjali.  We will explore the first definition & meaning of yoga as defined in the text, and as lived by us today in the modern world.

We begin again! The time is now, it is always now, and now is where we meet Yoga - at the beginning with the purity and auspicious, ephemeral and eternal exploration of NOW.  This week we explore the first words of the first verse of the first chapter of the Yoga Sutra in 1.1.

As we end the "greatest hits" series we come to the final verses of the text that describe the full transcendence of the soul.  This week we will explore the perspective of endings and beginnings, and the nature of the transcendent state of pure awareness.

As we get close to the end of the text & resolution of the Yoga Sutra, Master Patañjali offers this simple and powerful reminder as to how our preferences, habits, and past behaviors create latent impressions that can serve as obstacles to our achievement of liberation.

Our “greatest hits” continues with an essential teaching on the fundamentally subjective nature of perception. Sutra 4.15 is a reminder that even the ancients were aware that each of us sees the world through the unique lens of our history, experience, karmic heritage, and individual perspectives. 

As we continue our “greatest hits” of the Yoga Sūtra we take a moment to focus on one of the most significant and accessible siddhis (yogic powers) listed in the Vibhuti Pāda (the chapter on accomplishments or powers of the yogi).  When we practice samyama (the integrated practice of the last 3 limbs of the yoga path - Dhārana, Dhyāna, Samādhi) on the first of the “keys” from 1.33 / the first of t...

This week we explore the essential 8 limbs or practices of Yoga - Yama, Niyama, Āsana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dhārna, Dhyāna, Samādhi.  This path, science, structure, process - can apply to all devotional paths agnostic to faith lineage or iśta devata (chosen divine).  All practices we call “yoga” touch one or more of these limbs, and while they are presented in sequence we also sometimes engage t...

This week we explore the “Locks & Keys”, the attributes of mind that we cultivate to preserve the innate or natural serenity of the yogi’s mind in the face of the worldly winds of material life.  These attributes are also known as the brahmaviharas in Buddhist lineages, the divine abodes or sublime attitudes of the Buddha. We will discuss how we can seek to expand our capacity for each these a...

In this week’s episode we explore the concept of and devotion to Iśvara - as the most direct path to yoga (1.23), and then the attributes of Iśvara to more fully understand the yogic concept that best translates in English as “God”.  We will take a moment to discern the difference between “religion” and “spirituality” to our best understanding, and how yoga is not a religion but is very much a pra...

This episode we complete the powerful trilogy of the opening of the Yoga Sūtra of Patañjali with sutra 1.3 that describes the outcome, or objective, or end result of yoga.  We will explore the idea of the seer or the observer as the “true self” that shines forth when we achieve the state of yoga.

We continue our journey exploring the opening triptych of the Yoga Sutra with 1.2, the essential definition of yoga as presented by Master Patañjali.  We will explore the meaning of yoga as defined in the text, and as lived by us today in the modern world.

We begin at the beginning with the purity and auspicious, ephemeral and eternal exploration of NOW.  This week we explore the first words of the first verse of the first chapter of the Yoga Sutra in 1.1.

Welcome to the Sutra Squad podcast! In this episode Seth, Sara Page, and Sally welcome & give an overview of our approach to study this ancient wisdom.