The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali is perhaps the most incisive and illuminative text ever written.  In a few hundred words Patanjali presents and clarifies the conundrum of human experience and consciousness. Not a how-to manual of techniques, the Yogasutras provide a potent and invaluable map of human experience that, once clearly understood, will allow you to find your way more easily to the source of your own experience and existence.

The subtleties of cognition, perception, awareness and Consciousness are all outlined within the context of an effortless internalisation of awareness, that depends only on letting go into a deep intimacy with what is apparently happening. A master non-dualist Patanjali clearly outlines the dynamics of duality upon which our experience, suffering and release, depend, while making it clear that what we need is neither skill nor knowledge, but the intelligence that we actually already are. This frees yoga from the bottomless pit of accomplishment into the satisfying dynamic of self enquiry.

Defining yoga as both state, (yoga citti vrtti nirodah = letting go of the projections of mind), and process, (tapah svadhyaya ishvara pranidhanani kriya yoga = passionate enquiry into the nature of the self), the eight limbs (ashtanga) of yoga are clearly presented by Patanjali, not as a curriculum of techniques, but as the deep infolding of conscious awareness into its source. This infolding is invited by yama and niyama,
and flows intermittently through the awareness states of asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dhyana and dharana to samadhi, and back again.

The somatic awareness practices of Dynamic Yoga and Resilience Training provide the perfect tools for becoming intimate with the subtle territories outlined by Patanjali, and allowing you to let go of your need to determine and control into your ability to enjoy what, where and who you are without wishful thinking or resistance (dukkah).



THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI: a colloquial rendering

SAMADHI PADA

• Yoga is the inescapable Singularity underlying and contextualising all that exists. 
• Yoga is experienced as a temporary Awareness State of Unity when mind no longer turns away from the singularity of awareness into mental activity within the subject/object split. 
• This undermines the impression of an individual self. 
• Mental activity includes knowing, projecting, conceptualising, imagining and remembering. 
• These can be fruitful or not. 
• Knowledge can be based on direct perception, inference or reliable testimony. 
• Projection is misrepresentation based on unconscious assumption or prejudice. 
• Concepts are abstract categorisations derived from the perceptual field. 
• Imagining is the creative play of ideas and images. 
• Memories are filtered recollections from prior experiences.
• Turning away from experience ceases when serenely unconcerned with what is apparently happening intelligence becomes fully present. 
• Being fully present is the settling of intelligence through what is actually happening into its source. 
• It becomes the natural state once its delight becomes familiar.  
• Serene unconcern is an equanimity that rests on being completely untroubled by any overt element of experience. 
• When this serenity extends also to the subtle underpinnings of experience  Self-realisation becomes possible, by way of intimacy with cognition, perception, awareness and Consciousness. 
• This intimacy with intelligence pacifies and absorbs the disturbing thoughts and feelings arising from the unconscious conditioning generated by turning away from experience. 
• Attachment to intimacy with intelligence can cause alienation from the challenges of everyday life.
• Self-realisation is the Being State of Yoga. 
• It is sustained by faith, application, mindfulness, meditative illumination and spiritual insight. 
• How elusive it is depends on the intensity of the longing for release. 
• This longing can be mild, moderate, or intense. 
• Surrender into the intelligence of Consciousness is the threshold of Self-realisation. 
• The intelligence of Consciousness is the essence of the self. 
• It is unconditioned by action and unaffected by its identification with the body. 
• The guru of the ancients and the source of intuitive intelligence it is unconstrained by time, place and circumstance. 
• The intelligence of Consciousness resonates as the universal vibrational frequency “aum”.  
• The significance of this nonlocal frequency becomes clear by way of its repetition, which dissolves the conditioned thoughts and feelings that hinder the internalisation of intelligence. 
• Illness, languor, doubt, immaturity, lethargy, self-indulgence, misconception, un-groundedness all destabilise the mind. 
• They are accompanied by unstable breathing,  dissatisfaction, distraction and restlessness, and are dispelled by the single-mindedness of Presence. 
• A stable mind cannot be overvalued, and leads by way of the serene luminosity of objectless awareness to freedom from identification. 
• Mental activity is stabilised by friendliness, compassion, gladness,  equanimity, release of the exhalation, intuitions derived from sleep and meditative insights. 
• Mental activity diminishes to a crystalline transparency when subject, object and perception dissolve into each other. 
• This dissolution of the perceptual split is conceptual when thought remains. 
• It is non-conceptual when, unconditioned by memories, the outward appearance of an object radiates the singular significance of emptiness in Conditional Samadhi. 
• Eventually the subtle nature of an object becomes obvious as the more subtle dissolutions of samadhi deconstruct the interpretative roots of perception. 
• In the lucidity beyond the subtle the true nature of any object is revealed as a localised frequency of nonlocal Consciousness. 
• This illumination triggers Unconditional Samadhi. 
• Its illuminate darkness eclipses all learning and experience, conditioning the unconscious with the wisdom that necessitates freedom.

SADHANA-PADA

• The practice of yoga is the passionate self enquiry that leads to surrender of the self. 
• It undermines the bondage of the self, by way of Meditative Revelation. 
• These bonds are: (spiritual) ignorance, individuation, attachment, aversion and identification. 
• Spiritual ignorance is taking the temporary, inauthentic, dissatisfying and unreal to be permanent, authentic, satisfying and real. 
• It can be dormant, weak, constrained or strong and is the field of the others bonds that uphold the sense of self.
• Individuation is the process within which intelligence identifies itself as a perceiving subject separate and independent from its perceived objects, as Consciousness localises. 
• Attachment to objects, experiences and situations results from the experience of the pleasure associated with them. 
• Aversion to objects, experiences and situations results from the experience of the pain associated with them. 
• Identification of the unconditional non-locality of Consciousness with the conditioned content of its localised activity creates the sense of self. 
• It is deeply rooted, even in the wise. 
• The subtle power of these bonds is eclipsed when there is no longer any identification with any aspect of experience. 
• The troublesome mental activity caused by them is eclipsed by Meditative Illumination. 
• Until then they uphold the roots that underly the ongoing continuities of personal experience, which can be distressing or delightful, depending on the quality of their immediate causation.
• Turning away from the singularity of awareness into the sense of individual self cannot provide satisfaction. 
• Nor can the conditioned drives of the unconscious that drive and result from it. 
• Instead they sustain resistance to wholeness which can only cause distress. 
• This distress can be eclipsed when wholeness is no longer being obscured by the separation of seer from seen within their apparent relationship.
• The seen is a mental projection, based on projecting concrete characteristics onto the subtle frequencies of Consciousness. 
• These projections can lead to freedom as well as bondage.  
• The seer, or sense of self, only arises in reaction to  unstable impulses arising from unconscious residual imprints. 
• Seer and seen, self and other, take their form only in relation to one another. 
• That relationship is an appearance caused by spiritual ignorance. 
• When spiritual ignorance dissolves that relationship dissolves into the singular intelligence of Otherlessness. 
• This takes place within the luminosity of sustained non-dual-awareness. 
• This is the final fruit of spiritual insight having deepened through progressive stages.
• The eight limbs of yogapraxis dissolve fragmentation into the integrated intelligence of non-dual-awareness: yama, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.
• Yama is sensitivity, honesty, openness, intimacy and generosity. 
• It is the natural expression of unconditioned intelligence independent of circumstance.
• Niyama is authenticity, trust, passion, self-awareness, surrender. 
• These ten qualities erode the dissatisfying and delusional thoughts that arise from greed, anger and confusion. 
• Then those troublesome thoughts and their reactions dissolve into the power of natural intelligence.
• Sensitivity fosters love. 
• Honesty leads to fulfilment. 
• Openness confers abundance. 
• Intimacy generates vitality. 
• Generosity invites selflessness.
• Authenticity supports detachment, independence, integrity, joy, commitment, inner freedom and self knowledge.
• Equanimity gives unconditional trust.
• Passion refines perception.
• Self enquiry reveals choicelessness.
• Surrender illuminates spiritual intelligence.
• Asana is relaxed physical stability. 
• Within the effortlessness of effort the finite experience of the body dissolves into formlessness beyond its structural and functional dualities.
• Within asana, Pranayama is intimacy with the phenomenal characteristics of the breath that releases it from its dualities.  
• Then it becomes subtle and free internalising intelligence and  initiating the Meditative Mind.
• In Pratyahara intelligence lets go of projecting external phenomena and untroubled by sensory data settles into usually subconscious activity.

VIBHUTI-PADA

• Dharana is Meditative Suspension, within which mental activity is suspended within a single perceptual impression.
• Dhyana is Meditative Revelation, within which a suspended perceptual impression reveals its depths and subtleties.
• Samadhi is Meditative Illumination, within which outward appearance radiates the singular significance of emptiness.
• Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi are the principle frequencies of the Meditative Mind, which allow the layers of mental projection to be seen through. 
• Their unfolding is rhythmic and ripens in the illuminations of non-dual insight arising intuitively from the intelligence of Consciousness.
• The Meditative Mind is the natural state of intelligence, within which the intelligence of mind supports rather than obscures the intelligence of Consciousness. 
• It is accessed through the internalisation of awareness.
• The Meditative Mind is in the spontaneous-stillness of one-pointedness when conscious awareness settles into the space between a faded impression and an arising impulse.
• The Meditative Mind is in the spontaneous-stillness of illumination when objectness disappears within the one-pointedness of intelligence.
• The Meditative Mind is in the spontaneous-stillness of surrender when the flow of impulses arising from the subconscious is absorbed into the presence of awareness before they generate impressions in the mind. 
• The deep tranquility that this causes grounds the intelligence of mind in the intelligence of Consciousness.
• These three frequencies of spontaneous-stillness reveal the true nature of any perceptual impression which includes its perceptible form, its behavioural implications and its originating context. 
• The distinction between these structural, temporal and conditional characteristics of a perceptual impression underly the coherent frequencies of the Meditative Mind. 
• Intimacy with their distinctiveness reveals the significance of past and future, and their co-existence within the present.
• Intimacy with the distinction between the perceptual impulse arising from unconscious conditioning, the form it takes in the mind and the meaning given to it provides insight into the contingent nature of all phenomena.
• Intimacy with the dynamics of the subconscious releases intelligence from its local conditioning so that the nonlocal information contained in the intelligence of Consciousness becomes available as intuitive understanding and action.
• Intimacy with the a-causal nature of action reveals the universality of the necessity that underpins all events, situations, actions, thoughts, feelings and perceptions.
• Intimacy with friendliness, compassion and other qualities develops their power.
• Intimacy with the form of the body renders it imperceptible, as the clarity of its presence dissolves and all sensory phenomena disappear. 
• Intimacy with the subtle vortices, rhythms, currents and tides of the body’s interior luminosities establishes it in radiant coherence. 
• Its subtle nature and properties as a local expression of nonlocal Consciousness are uncovered and the intelligence of Consciousness becomes available as infallible intuition. 
• The local intelligence of mind is illuminative only when transparent to the nonlocal intelligence of Consciousness. 
• Intimacy with the Self dissolves the projected roots of experience as Consciousness is distinguished from its luminosity and from the radiance of enhanced sensory perceptions, which hinder illumination but can be assets in everyday experience.
• These experiences release the intelligence of mind from the localised restrictions imposed by embodiment, into the unrestricted intelligence of Consciousness.
• Intimacy with the subtleties of inner sound reveals the universally resonating vibration of nonlocal Consciousness, releasing illuminate insights into subtle, elusive and non-localised understanding.
• Intimacy with the significance of the connection between coarse and subtle forms and appearances gives inner freedom as the insubstantiality of apparent form becomes clear.
• Intimacy with the interrelated significance of agency, the sense of self and individuation quietens the senses, releasing the vagaries of mind from its local conditioning.
• Awareness of the distinction between the Self and the luminosity of Consciousness facilitates access to all states and all understanding. 
• When exalted states and understanding  are no longer of any interest the conditioned sense of separate self atrophies into Otherlessness. 
• Awareness of the subtle distinction between the Self and luminosity resolves phenomenal confusion. 
• The blessing of Otherlessness extends no invitation to pride nor attachment as they no longer have anything to adhere to as the conditioned programming that sustained the sense of self has been completely dismantled.
• Intimacy with the sequencing of time activates the non-dual awareness of Consciousness which is holographic, nonlocal and atemporal.
• Within this the projected nature of phenomenal characteristics becomes clear, and Otherlessness is established.

KAIVALYA-PADA

• The Matrix of Wholeness is intrinsically coherent and self-complete. 
• All perceptible phenomena are apparent transformations in its formlessness. 
• The apparent agent is not the driving force of its activity but merely the fertilising focus of necessity. 
• In becoming identified with its local instrument the intrinsic non-locality of Consciousness takes the form of an apparently independent, autonomous mind. This is the shape that individuation takes.
• The local activity of nonlocal Consciousness creates the illusion of multiple sources of consciousness. 
• This illusion is seen through in Meditative Revelation, wherein perceived phenomena resolve through their conditioned particularities into the contextualising singularity of Totality, of which they are momentary expressions.
• While those of others are taken personally, the actions of a yogin are non-dual and express only impersonal behavioural conditioning unidentified with a personal self.  
• These behavioural tendencies express themselves in response to resonant circumstance as long as their underlying programming remains.
• Because of the atemporal nature of the Matrix of Wholeness, unconscious tendencies and imprints are also beginningless. 
• They become dormant when the local infrastructure of action, impact and causality is no longer identified with.
• Past and future exist only as impressions. 
• They are projected onto the instantaneous singularity of Consciousness by way of coarse and subtle transformations in its formal expressions.
• Immeasurable and indefinable when not perceived, any experienced phenomenon is known by each mind according to its unique experiential conditioning. 
• The true nature of any phenomenon is the Matrix of Wholeness. 
• The nonlocal singularity of the matrix is apparently multiplied in the separation of both minds and phenomena through localisation. 
• The continuously changing activity of the mind is not revealed by its own power. 
• It is the object of the unchanging intelligence of Consciousness. 
• Neither the intelligence of the mind nor the intelligence of Consciousness can be clearly understood while they are being identified with each other. 
• The intelligence of Consciousness is identified with the mind by way of the consistency of memories that form the basis of apparent identity. 
• All experiential phenomena are a conditioning of Consciousness within the subject/object polarisation of the perceptual split. 
• Consciousness only recognises itself  by way of objects it generates in a mind. 
• Though containing many subconscious programmes that are unique, mind is a localised expression of Consciousness without inherent individuality. 
• When the deep programming that conditions phenomenal experience subsides individual identity dissolves into the luminosity of non-dual awareness. 
• Then the sense of self evaporates into the unrestricted movement of intelligence. Eventually the subconscious power of behavioural programming is totally pacified in the quintessential dew of non-dual awareness. 
• This luminous revelation of the unconditioned and nonlocal intelligence of Consciousness localising dissolves the conditioned limitations of perception. 
• This leaves nothing unknowable as the linear sequentiality of time and its causal interconnections loose their apparent significance. 
• Finally, unidentified with even the most subtle aspect of phenomenality, the Self is stripped of all significance, and dissolves into Otherlessness as Consciousness-energy.

​The full text of the Yoga Sutras, with explanatory text and footnotes, and a contextualising introduction is available here.