Nicolai Bachman’s The Path of the Yoga Sutras: a practical guide to the core of yoga, is a very comprehensive text that provides very accessible means to understanding Pantanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Divided into five consecutive sections: Key Principles, Understanding Suffering, Outer Behavior, Personal Practices, and Inner Development, the author presents the key philosophical concepts of not only the ancient text, but also reveals the foundation necessary for an authentic yoga for the modern practitioner. The text is organized to build upon the former to create a very comprehensive text.
Each chapter covers a key concept, along with a relevant quote, analysis, thoughts and exercises for the practitioner. The author applies the principle to various modern examples and experiences, thus making it more accessible to the reader. For example, in Chapter 31 titled “Asteya” Bachman states, “If we interrupt someone during a conversation, we steal their right to be heard.” (154). According to Bachman, “The philosophy of yoga so eloquently written in these sutra-s is truly universal and nonsectarian” thus making it a practice, or a path, for anyone regardless “of time, place, culture or religion” (xx, 253).
Photo Credit: Sanjin Kastelan Croatia, 2018
While Part I covers many of the key principles necessary in understanding the Yoga Sutras, Part II covers key terms that helps the reader to understand suffering, to include our misperceptions, afflictions, lack of awareness, and distorted sense of self – all of which can affect our outer as well as inner behaviors. Understanding the key principles in Parts I and II were necessary in helping to understand the subsequent sections arranged from outside of our self to our inner self. I truly appreciated the breakdown of the various principles – especially the elaboration of various sanskrit terms used throughout the reading and essential to understanding the Patanjali’s 8-Limbs. As the subtitle of the text suggests, it is a very “practical guide” with a wealth of information that is “understandable to everyone and useful when applied to everyday living.” (253). For me, this will be a key text upon which I will return and reference often in my own practices.
Work Cited:
Bachman, Nicolai. The Path of the Yoga Sutras: a practical guide to the core of yoga. Boulder: Sounds True, 2011.
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