Episode 62:
Why do we study the yoga sutras?
with Mado Hesselink
Learn about the Patanjali Yoga Shastra (more commonly known as yoga sutra) and some of the common misconceptions that yoga teachers have about this text.
Psst. Want to get an email each time a new episode is released?
Episode Highlights
Links and Resources
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali is the most densely packed 196 lines you will likely encounter in your life. It is considered standard reading in yoga teacher trainings all over the world and scholars spend a lifetime studying the history and meaning behind this fascinating text.
This week’s episode is an exploration of the question of why, as modern day teachers of primarily yoga posture practice, this esoteric text is given such a prominent place in our trainings.
Insights from this episode include:
- Why the Yoga Sutra has such a prominent place in modern postural yoga.
- The particular style, structure, and significance of the Yoga Sutra as a piece of Indian literature.
- The truth about who wrote the yoga sutras, when it was written, and more recent theories and understandings about this enigmatic text.
- How the Yoga Sutra is connected to modern yoga lineages such as Iyengar, Ashtanga, power yoga, and vinyasa yoga.
- The reasons I enjoy studying the Yoga Sutras.
Register for Teaching the Yoga Sutras Weekend with Mado – September 7&8 2019
The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali: A Biography by David Gordon White
