Yoga Sutra 1.2: Patanjali's Tweet

My morning reading and meditation included Yoga Sutra #2: Yogas citta vritti nirodhah, which translates into "the restraint of the modifications of the mind-stuff is Yoga."

In other words, our minds are noting and evaluating change like a Facebook newsreel. On top of that, our minds chatter about the chatter. The word chatter is appropriate because it sounds like and has a similar meaning to the Sanscrit word citta, pronounced "chEE tah." Citta means "mind stuff," residue from too much busy thinking and doing.

We practice yoga when we control the speed, volume, and quality of our self talk. We eliminate the frantic text message quality of our thoughts. Instead, we focus on the primal messages of "inhale and exhale" or "eat and sleep." In uncovering these messages, we honor our minds and true natures. Consequently, our actions stem from an authentic place because we are following direct orders from the boss--the Self.

Sutra 1.2 is a particular favorite because it was my personal assignment for yoga school in 2003. My first readings meant nothing, but when I read Sri Swami Satchidananda's commentary, I was thrilled to know I had the most important sutra. "In this Sutra Patanjali gives the goal of Yoga," Satchidandanda writes. "For a keen student this one Sutra would be enough because the rest of them only explain this one."

In essence, Patanjali sent his ancient Tweet into the 21st century. All of yoga is summarized with Sutra 1.2, less than 140 characters.

On a related note, I am reminded that the "mind" is more than just the head. Yesterday, a co-worker wiggled her little finger and said that that little motion affected the entire body's network of cells, nerves, muscles, and connective tissue. "The mind is the body," she said.

As Walt Whitman said in Song of Myself, "I am the poet of the body; I am the poet of the soul."