Secret of the Yoga Sutra Book Club, Part 1: The Yogi’s Mind

Welcome to the Year Long Meditation Study Online Book Club! In Session 1 (sutras 1:1–1:11), Ishan Tiguanit introduces the concept of yoga as defined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. He describes the building blocks of our mind, and leads us through an exploration of what makes a yogi’s mind different from a non-yogi’s mind. Yoga tells us that our mind is intrinsically self-luminous and filled with joy, and yet we often find ourselves consumed by anger, sadness, fear, and negativity. How can we reclaim our pristine mind and experience samadhi? We’ll explore this theme together in the course of our study.

To prepare for Session 2, please read sutras 1:12–1:16 in Pandit Tigunait’s The Secret of the Yoga Sutra: Samadhi Pada for key terms and self-study questions, download the PDF Study Guide.

Further Reading

The Secret of the Yoga Sutra: Samadhi Pada

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The Secret of the Yoga Sutra is the first practitioner-oriented commentary of the Yoga Sutra which is fully grounded in a living tradition. It shares the essence of Pandit Tigunait’s rigorous scholarly understanding of the Yoga Sutra, through the filter of experiential knowledge gained through decades of advanced yogic practices, and enriched by the gift of living wisdom he received from the masters of the Himalayan Tradition.