If you want the definitive answer to the question, “what is yoga?” you’ll find it in the Yoga Sutras.

The Yoga Sutras, thought to be written around 1,700 years ago, contain 195 short, concise sutras, or aphorisms, in which the wisdom of yoga is conveyed. They describe the eight limbs of yoga (also known as astanga), and give the true meaning and purpose of yoga – “Yogas citta vrtti nirodhah”, which translates as “Yoga stills the fluctuations of the mind”.

Not a Guide to Yoga Poses

Patanjali, who is credited with writing the Yoga Sutras (but not “discovering” yoga, as yoga has been around for much longer) does not go into any detail about yoga poses, except to describe the poses as “Sthira sukham asanam, which can roughly translate as yoga must have the dual qualities of alertness and relaxation. It becomes clear from reading the Yoga Sutras that yoga is a state of mind rather than a physical state.

How we perceive the world is largely a function of our mind – our perceptions and misperceptions – and we may or may see things as they really are. A line from Milton’s Paradise Lost always springs to mind here, “The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”.

The Yoga Sutras don’t prescribe any form of action, and don’t say that certain things are good or bad, rather Patanjali says that if we choose particular behaviours, we get particular results. The eight limbs describe the path of yoga, and the path to getting better results in our life.

Who was Patanjali?

Not much is known about Patanjali. It is said that he is the divine incarnation the serpent Ananta in Hindu mythology. His life has taken on mythical dimensions and he is often depicted as half man, half serpent with a many-headed serpent as a hood over his head.

Sutra comes from the same word as suture and is like a thread that joins the teacher, the teaching and the student of yoga together.

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