Retaining what we’ve learned about the yamas, we now train our attention on the niyamas which occur in sutra 2.32. When prefixed to a noun “ni” can be a negation. It also means “down, back, in, into, within.” Thus, niyama is traditionally rendered “observances”...
We’ve come to the final yama (in the five yamas of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali) and the last occurrence of Patanjali’s “via negativa” approach. Aparigraha, commonly referred to as “non-grasping,” is composed of graha (seizing) with two prefixes attached: a (not) and...
There’s no doubt that Patanjali intended brahmacarya (brahmacharya) to mean “celibacy.” He wrote for and to young men who were monks in training. Let’s break the word down just a bit. Brahma means God, specifically the God of creation. And it also is a shortened form...
In this column, Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. With the yama of asteya, we arrive at Patanjali’s second use of a negative prefix in the yamas. The definition indicates...
Satya, truth, stands second in Patanjali’s list of virtues or “restraints.” Most often rendered with respect to speech, like ahimsa, satya broadens to include thought and deed. Under the rubric of ahimsa, the commentators advocate that truth not be spoken unkindly,...
In this column, Rev. Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. In this article, she unpacks the first yama, ahimsa (non-violence, non-harming). In the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali,...
In this new column, Dale Ann Gray offers reflections on the yamas and niyamas of the Yoga Sutras, incorporating insights from classical Nondual Yoga. In this article, she offers an overview on the distinctions between the dualistic philosophy of Patanjali’s Yoga and...