Free email course

Eight sūtras, eight weeks.

Yoga philosophy without the incense. One sūtra a week in your inbox: the Sanskrit line, a plain translation, what it meant two thousand years ago and what it means on a Tuesday now. Each lesson ends with a five-minute practice.

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The eight weeks

What you will read, in order

Week 1
What yoga is · 1.2
Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ
Yoga is the settling of the mind's turnings.
Week 2
Practice and letting go · 1.12
Abhyāsa-vairāgyābhyāṁ tan-nirodhaḥ
That settling comes through steady practice and non-attachment.
Week 3
The five turnings · 1.5
Vṛttayaḥ pañcatayyaḥ kliṣṭākliṣṭāḥ
The turnings of the mind are five, and are either afflicting or not.
Week 4
Steady and easy · 2.46
Sthira-sukham āsanam
Posture is steady and easy.
Week 5
The eight limbs · 2.29
Yama-niyama-āsana-prāṇāyāma-pratyāhāra-dhāraṇā-dhyāna-samādhayo 'ṣṭāv aṅgāni
The eight limbs: restraint, observance, posture, breath, withdrawal, concentration, meditation, absorption.
Week 6
Breath · 2.49
Tasmin sati śvāsa-praśvāsayor gati-vicchedaḥ prāṇāyāmaḥ
With posture settled, prāṇāyāma is the regulation of the flow of inhalation and exhalation.
Week 7
Attention · 3.1
Deśa-bandhaś cittasya dhāraṇā
Concentration is binding the mind to one place.
Week 8
Freedom · 4.34
Puruṣārtha-śūnyānāṁ guṇānāṁ pratiprasavaḥ kaivalyam
Freedom is the return of the qualities of nature to their source, their purpose for the self fulfilled.

A sample lesson

Week one, as it arrives

Week 1 · What yoga is · Yoga Sūtra 1.2

Yogaś citta-vṛtti-nirodhaḥ

Yoga is the settling of the mind's turnings.

Before a single posture, Patañjali defines the goal: a mind that is not pushed around by its own movements. Everything else in the text is method for this one line.

Notice the word nirodha. It is not suppression. The mind is not an enemy. It is water that has been stirred; nirodha is the stirring stopping, so you can see to the bottom.

On a Tuesday this looks like: you read one email and only that email. You walk to the kitchen and arrive there, instead of arriving in a conversation you had yesterday.

This week's practice

Five minutes. Sit, set a timer, count breaths from one to ten and back. Every time you notice you have left the count, that noticing is the practice. Do not grade it.

The full lesson arrives by email

Why by email

Slow on purpose

One idea a week is the pace at which ideas become habits. A page a week beats a book in a weekend.
Every lesson ends with something to do, not only to read. The practice takes five minutes.
Nothing to log in to. Reply to any lesson and I read it.

Do I need any yoga experience?

No. The course is reading and five-minute practices anyone can do seated on a chair.

Is it really free?

Yes. No card, no trial. After week eight you stay on the weekly newsletter unless you unsubscribe.

Which translation do you use?

My own plain renderings, checked against Bryant, Iyengar and Hartranft. The Sanskrit is given in IAST so you can look it up.

Start week one now

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