BASICS OF YOGA
PATAÑJALI YOGA-SŪTRAS
A few thousand years ago Patañjali, a sage from India, developed a scientific step-by-step approach to lead ordinary human beings from the commonly experienced chaos, confusion and
negative emotions to higher and highest levels of well-being.
Apart from his books on medicine and grammar, he also wrote a short book containing 196 terse statements called yoga-sūtras.
‘For the one who has conquered the mind,
the mind is the best of friends,
but for one who has failed to do so, this very mind will be the greatest enemy.’
Yoga has two meanings for its etymology
Yoga has two meanings for its etymology: ‘In samadhi’ and ‘In joining, uniting’. The first meaning is used here. Samadhi is when the mind is free of unnecessary and harmful thoughts and feelings. In most cases when the word yoga is used in this course, it means a way of life with certain practices that lead human beings by their own efforts from where they are to higher and higher states of well-being where they experience more inner peace and harmony. It ultimately leads to a permanent state of bliss, but on the way glimpses of this experience of unity are indicators of samadhi each time.
