Yoga is the Dissolution of Mental Activity

An explanation of the first four verses of the Yoga Sutra’s of Patanjali. 

It details the use of a simple, direct method to achieve meditation and samadhi. 

Transcript: https://glorian.org/learn/courses-and-lectures/beginning-here-and-now/yoga-is-the-dissolution-of-mental-activity

A quote:

Today we are going to analyze one of the most important works on yoga: The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.

Written around the year 400, it is a set of aphorisms or sutras. It is a practice manual of meditation. It is not concerned with intellectual study, but instead the actual practice of yoga.

We all know in the popular sense yoga usually refers to a set of postures or asanas. Many of the popular western or modern yoga traditions reference the Yoga Sutras, yet Patanjali talks about asana (posture) as only one of the Eight Limbs or Ashtanga of yoga.

The third limb is asana, which is your posture, but it is a foundational aspect. It is only a means to reach the real power of yoga, which is meditation (represented by dhyana and samadhi).

The first chapter of the yoga sutras is about samadhi: an overview of what samadhi is and how to achieve it. Only later does Patanjali go through the 8 limbs of yoga. Today, we are going to begin where Patanjali does, directly with samadhi.