Teaching workspace · Iyengar Yoga Teacher Training + personal study
All lessons and reference cards in one place, in reading order. New lessons get appended here as they're built.
Lesson 1 · Samādhi Pāda
The four opening sūtras Patañjali uses to define yoga itself — the single most load-bearing passage for the philosophy portion of the IYNAUS teaching exam, and the traditional starting point for Sūtra Study at every Iyengar institute.
Every Iyengar Yoga Institute that runs a "Sutra Study" alongside teacher training begins in the same place: not with the eight limbs, not with the kleśas, but with the four sūtras that answer the question "what is yoga, actually?" Everything else in the text — ethics, postures, breath, the eight limbs, the powers, liberation — is Patañjali explaining how to get from sūtra I.4 to sūtra I.3. If you own this passage cold, in Sanskrit and in your own words, you have the spine the rest of the text hangs on.
Now, the exposition of yoga begins. [Iyengar]
| atha | now — not just a time marker, but an auspicious "now," signalling the student is prepared and ready [Iyengar] |
| yoga | union, integration [Iyengar] |
| anuśāsanam | a disciplined code of instruction, handed down through lineage [Iyengar] |
Iyengar reads atha as doing real work: it signals that everything before this moment — study, preparation, ripening — has led here, and that what follows is not speculation but a codified, testable discipline. [Iyengar's framing, paraphrased]
Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of consciousness. [Iyengar]
| citta | consciousness as a whole — mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ego (ahaṃkāra) working together [Iyengar] |
| vṛtti | a fluctuation, ripple, or modification of consciousness [Iyengar] |
| nirodha | cessation, restraint, stilling [Iyengar] |
This is the sūtra everything else in the text serves. Iyengar's gloss is precise: yoga is not a posture, a breath technique, or a feeling — it is the restraint of the movement of consciousness, and everything else (āsana, prāṇāyāma, the ethical disciplines) is scaffolding built to make that restraint possible. [Iyengar's framing, paraphrased]
Then, the seer abides in its own true nature. [Iyengar]
| tadā | then — i.e. once nirodha holds [Iyengar] |
| draṣṭṛ | the seer, pure awareness — the soul as witness [Iyengar] |
| svarūpa | one's own true form or nature [Iyengar] |
This is the payoff of I.2. When the ripples still, whatever was doing the seeing all along — the draṣṭṛ — simply rests as itself, undistorted. [my synthesis]
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuations themselves. [Iyengar]
The default state, in other words. Most of the time we are our thoughts and moods, rather than the awareness watching them. Iyengar's image: consciousness is like a lens sitting above a light source (the soul) — one face toward the light, one face toward the world. Left unchecked, the outward face gets dirty, and the light can't get through. [Iyengar's image, paraphrased]
[my synthesis — a teaching aid, not from either source] Next time you're cueing a balance pose — Vṛkṣāsana, Garuḍāsana, anything on one leg — notice the moment a student's mind starts chattering ("I'm going to fall," "am I doing this right") and the pose wobbles with it. That chatter is vṛtti. The cue "find one point and hold your gaze there" is a citta-vṛtti-nirodha technique in miniature: it's not really about balance, it's about giving the mind one still object instead of many moving ones. This is the kind of connection the exam (and your own teaching) will keep asking you to make — a named sūtra behind an ordinary instruction.
No peeking at the table above. One Sanskrit word per answer.
1. Sūtra I.2 defines yoga as the ______ of the fluctuations of consciousness — cessation, restraint, stilling. What's the Sanskrit word?
2. What's the Sanskrit word for a single fluctuation or ripple of consciousness itself?
3. What's the Sanskrit word for consciousness as a whole — mind, intellect, and ego together?
4. Sūtra I.3 says that once the vṛttis still, this abides in its own true nature. What's the Sanskrit word for it?
Read alongside this lesson: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), commentary on I.1–I.5 — this is the translation and framing this lesson draws from directly, and the one your certification path is built around. For a second, more academic angle, see Edwin Bryant's The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary, which surveys how the classical commentators (Vyāsa and others) read the same four sūtras. Both are listed with more detail in your project's RESOURCES.md.
Quick-reference version of this lesson: Samādhi Pāda I.1–I.4 reference card. Next up: Lesson 2 — The Five Fluctuations of Mind, which unpacks what "vṛtti" actually names.
Lesson 2 · Samādhi Pāda
Lesson 1 defined yoga as the cessation of vṛtti. This lesson answers the obvious next question: cessation of what, exactly? Patañjali names five, and only five.
Before reading on: in Lesson 1 you learned three Sanskrit terms for the mind's activity. Without scrolling back, try to recall them.
1. The word for consciousness as a whole (mind, intellect, ego together)?
2. The word for a single fluctuation/ripple of consciousness?
The movements of consciousness are fivefold. They may be cognizable or non-cognizable, painful or non-painful. [Iyengar]
| pañcatayyaḥ | fivefold [Iyengar] |
| kliṣṭa / akliṣṭa | afflicting/painful vs. non-afflicting/pleasing — every vṛtti comes in one flavor or the other [Iyengar] |
They are caused by correct knowledge, illusion, delusion, sleep and memory. [Iyengar]
Iyengar unpacks each of these over the next four sūtras (I.7–I.11). Compressed to one line apiece [Iyengar, paraphrased]:
| pramāṇa | right knowledge — grounded in direct perception, sound inference, or reliable testimony (I.7) |
| viparyaya | misconception — mistaking one thing for another, not corresponding to reality (I.8) |
| vikalpa | imagination — a word or thought with no substance behind it, like "a hare with horns" (I.9) |
| nidrā | dreamless sleep — the vṛtti of absence itself, consciousness resting on the feeling of "nothing" (I.10) |
| smṛti | memory — the unmodified recollection of a prior experience (I.11) |
[my synthesis] When a student closes their eyes in Śavāsana and reports "my mind went blank," that's nidrā or something bordering on it — not automatically the stillness of nirodha from Lesson 1. This is a genuinely useful distinction to hold as a teacher: a quiet-seeming mind and a restrained mind (I.2's nirodha) are not the same thing. One is still a vṛtti; the other is what happens when the vṛttis stop arising at all.
One Sanskrit word per answer, no peeking.
3. Which vṛtti is knowledge grounded in direct perception, inference, or reliable testimony?
4. Which vṛtti is mistaking one thing for another — knowledge that doesn't correspond to reality?
5. Which vṛtti is a word or thought with no substance behind it — pure imagination?
6. Which vṛtti is dreamless sleep — consciousness resting on the feeling of absence?
7. Which vṛtti is the unmodified recollection of a past experience?
Read alongside this lesson: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, commentary on I.5–I.11 — where each vṛtti gets a full page of unpacking beyond what's compressed here. Full citation and Bryant's cross-reference are in your project's RESOURCES.md.
Quick-reference version: The Five Vṛttis reference card. Still fresh on the opening definition? Revisit Lesson 1. Next up: Lesson 3 — Practice and Detachment, which answers how the vṛttis actually get stilled.
Lesson 3 · Samādhi Pāda
Lesson 2 named the five vṛttis. This lesson answers the practical question: what actually stills them? Patañjali's answer is exactly two forces, balanced against each other.
From Lesson 2, no peeking:
1. Which vṛtti is mistaking one thing for another?
2. Which vṛtti is the unmodified recollection of a past experience?
Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness. [Iyengar]
This is the direct answer to the question Lesson 2 left open. Not willpower alone, not surrender alone — both, together, like two wings. [Iyengar's image, paraphrased]
Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations. [Iyengar]
Long, uninterrupted, alert practice is the firm foundation for restraining the fluctuations. [Iyengar]
| dīrgha-kāla | for a long time [Iyengar] |
| nairantarya | without interruption, continuous [Iyengar] |
| satkāra | done with devotion, dedication, reverence — not mechanically [Iyengar] |
Three conditions, not one. Iyengar is explicit that abhyāsa without the third condition — satkāra — degrades into mechanical repetition; he contrasts it elsewhere with anuṣṭhāna, practice done as a devotional act. [Iyengar, paraphrased]
Renunciation is the practice of detachment from desires. [Iyengar]
The ultimate renunciation is when one transcends the qualities of nature and perceives the soul. [Iyengar]
Iyengar distinguishes ordinary vairāgya (giving up desire for a specific thing — coffee, praise, a outcome) from paravairāgya, the highest stage, where one is no longer entangled with the guṇas (sattva/rajas/tamas) at all — not "I don't want that thing" but freedom from wanting as such. [Iyengar, paraphrased]
[my synthesis] This pair is the philosophical backbone of "practice, don't force" as a teaching cue. Telling a student to keep coming back to a pose day after day (dīrgha-kāla + nairantarya) is abhyāsa. Telling the same student not to grip at achieving the "full" version of the pose today is vairāgya. Iyengar's own teaching style — precision and repetition paired with total non-attachment to how a pose "should" look on a given day — is I.12 lived out on the mat.
One Sanskrit word per answer, no peeking.
3. What's the Sanskrit word for sustained, effortful practice — the "positive" pole?
4. What's the Sanskrit word for detachment/renunciation — the "negative" pole?
5. Besides "long time" and "uninterrupted," I.14 names a third quality practice needs — done with reverence, not mechanically. What's the Sanskrit word?
6. What's the Sanskrit name for the highest form of detachment, reached upon perceiving the soul directly?
Read alongside this lesson: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, commentary on I.12–I.16 — Iyengar also maps five stages of vairāgya (yatamāna → vyatireka → ekendriya → vaśīkāra → paravairāgya) here, which this lesson compresses to just the top and bottom stage; worth reading in full if the five-stage ladder is useful for teaching. Full citation in your project's RESOURCES.md.
Quick-reference version: Abhyāsa & Vairāgya reference card. Previous: Lesson 2. Next up: Lesson 4 — The Four Rungs of Samādhi, which names what abhyāsa and vairāgya actually produce.
Lesson 4 · Samādhi Pāda
Lesson 3 gave you the two forces (abhyāsa, vairāgya) that still the vṛttis. This lesson names what practice actually passes through on the way — four progressively subtler rungs, in one single sūtra.
From Lesson 3, no peeking:
1. What's the Sanskrit word for sustained, effortful practice?
2. What's the Sanskrit word for detachment/renunciation?
Practice and detachment develop four types of samādhi: self-analysis, synthesis, bliss, and the experience of pure being. [Iyengar]
| vitarka | analytical thinking, argument, conjecture — engrossment via trial-and-error study [Iyengar] |
| vicāra | reflection, insight — investigation and mature discrimination, subtler than vitarka [Iyengar] |
| ānanda | bliss, elation — arising from mature intelligence, not the senses [Iyengar] |
| asmitā | the felt sense of "I am" — pure being, beyond even bliss [Iyengar] |
| samprajñāta | samādhi "with support" — a distinction still remains between the seer and what's seen [Iyengar] |
[Iyengar, paraphrased — his own words, not my invention] Iyengar maps these four rungs directly onto learning an āsana, and it's worth knowing this cold for teaching:
[my synthesis] This gives you a genuinely useful diagnostic as a teacher: a student flailing in a new pose is in vitarka, not failing at yoga. Refinement over months is vicāra. If you ever see a student go quiet and settled in a familiar pose in a way that looks almost involuntary, that's a glimpse of ānanda or asmitā — not "good alignment," something more.
One Sanskrit word per answer, no peeking.
3. Which rung is trial-and-error analytical thinking — the "let me try this" stage?
4. Which rung is mature reflection and discrimination, subtler than the first?
5. Which rung is bliss arising from mature intelligence, not the senses?
6. Which rung is the pure felt sense of "I am," beyond even bliss?
Read alongside this lesson: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, commentary on I.17 — the full āsana example above is only lightly compressed here; the book gives it about two full pages, plus detail on the sub-distinctions (savitarka/nirvitarka, savicāra/nirvicāra) this lesson deliberately leaves out to keep this single sūtra digestible in one sitting. Those sub-distinctions, plus I.18's asamprajñāta and nirbīja samādhi, are natural material for a follow-up lesson. Full citation in your project's RESOURCES.md.
Quick-reference version: Samprajñāta Samādhi reference card. Previous: Lesson 3.
Lesson 5 · Samādhi Pāda
Lesson 4 named the four rungs of samprajñāta samādhi — vitarka, vicāra, ānanda, asmitā. This lesson names what's on the other side of the topmost rung: a state with no object left to hold onto at all, just a residue of past practice.
From Lesson 4, no peeking:
1. Of the four rungs of samprajñāta samādhi, which is the grossest — the "let me try this" stage?
2. Which is the subtlest rung — the pure felt sense of "I am," beyond even bliss?
The void arising in these experiences is another samādhi. Hidden impressions lie dormant, but spring up during moments of awareness, creating fluctuations and disturbing the purity of the consciousness. [Iyengar]
| virāma | rest, repose, pause [Iyengar] |
| pratyaya | going towards, firm conviction, reliance, usage, a cause or means [Iyengar] |
| abhyāsa-pūrvaḥ | preceded by, built on, prior practice [Iyengar] |
| saṃskāra-śeṣaḥ | the balance, or residue, of subliminal impressions left behind [Iyengar] |
| anyaḥ | other, another, different [Iyengar] |
Lesson 4 covered sabīja samādhi — samādhi "with seed," where the four rungs (vitarka → vicāra → ānanda → asmitā) still have something as their object. Iyengar describes this sūtra's state, virāma pratyaya, as a seventh stage sitting between sabīja and the ultimate goal, nirbīja samādhi — samādhi with no seed or support at all, where consciousness dissolves into the self completely. [Iyengar, paraphrased] This lesson is about the doorway, not the room beyond it — nirbīja samādhi itself is named later, at I.51, and is natural material for a future lesson.
In virāma pratyaya, the intelligence has quieted — no more analysis, reflection, bliss, or even the felt sense of being are actively arising — but it isn't nirbīja samādhi yet, because the saṃskāras, the subliminal residue of all that prior practice, are still there. They lie dormant, but can resurface and stir up new fluctuations. [Iyengar, paraphrased]
[Iyengar, paraphrased] Iyengar's own image for virāma pratyaya: the nearest ordinary experience to it is the last few moments before falling asleep, when the intellect relaxes its grip on thoughts and objects and the mind goes silent — like a river joining the sea, dissolving into the self. He calls this transitory quietness manolaya, and is explicit that it's a resting place, not the destination.
[my synthesis] That caution is the useful part for teaching. A student who reaches a genuine plateau — calm, competent, no longer struggling — can mistake that calm for arrival. Iyengar's point is that manolaya is precarious: without renewed effort it can become stagnation rather than a stepping stone. As a teacher, recognizing when a long-term student has settled into comfortable competence is the moment to ask for more, not to stop asking anything of them.
One Sanskrit word (or short phrase) per answer, no peeking.
3. A student's intelligence has gone completely quiet — no analysis, no bliss, not even a felt sense of "I am" — but the residue of past practice hasn't dissolved yet. What's the name Iyengar uses for this transitional state?
4. Even after all four rungs of samprajñāta samādhi quiet down, one thing doesn't disappear — it just lies dormant, capable of resurfacing later. What is I.18's word for this residue?
5. Iyengar's own word for the momentary, sleep-adjacent quietness of the mind at this threshold — a resting place, not the goal?
6. What's the name of the samādhi that lies beyond virāma pratyaya, where even the residual saṃskāras dissolve — samādhi with no seed or support at all?
7. What word does Patañjali actually use in I.18 for this state — the plain word later commentators replaced with "asamprajñāta"?
Read alongside this lesson: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, commentary on I.18 — the book also covers I.19 (videha and prakṛtilaya, the two ways an aspirant can get stuck at this plateau) and I.20 (the five qualities — śraddhā, vīrya, smṛti, samādhi, prajñā — needed to break through it), both natural material for a follow-up lesson. Nirbīja samādhi itself is named at I.51. Full citation in RESOURCES.md.
Quick-reference version: Virāma Pratyaya reference card. Previous: Lesson 4.
Reference card
The four sutras that define yoga itself. Quick-recall card — see Lesson 1 for full teaching.
Now, the exposition of yoga begins.
| atha | now; an auspicious beginning, invoking blessing |
| yoga | union, integration, deep concentration |
| anuśāsanam | instruction, disciplined code, guidance handed down by tradition |
Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations (vṛtti) of consciousness (citta).
| citta | consciousness as a whole — mind (manas), intellect (buddhi), and ego (ahaṃkāra) together |
| vṛtti | a fluctuation, wave, or modification of consciousness |
| nirodha | cessation, restraint, stilling |
Then the seer abides in its own true nature.
| tadā | then, at that time (i.e. when nirodha holds) |
| draṣṭṛ | the seer — pure awareness, the soul (puruṣa/ātman) as witness |
| svarūpa | one's own true form/nature |
| avasthānam | abiding, resting, dwelling |
At other times, the seer identifies with the fluctuations themselves.
| sārūpyam | identification, taking on the same form as |
| itaratra | at other times, elsewhere (i.e. outside of nirodha) |
| citta | consciousness — mind, intellect, and ego as one functioning whole |
| vṛtti | a fluctuation/modification of consciousness |
| nirodha | cessation, restraint, stilling |
| draṣṭṛ | the seer; pure awareness |
| svarūpa | one's own true nature/form |
Translations and word-glosses: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), sūtras I.1–I.4. Devanagari/IAST cross-checked against ashtangamarga.com (I.2) and Swami Jnaneshvara Bharati's interpretive translation (I.1, I.3, I.4). The "whole arc in one line" summary is original synthesis, not a quote from either source.
Reference card
Quick-recall card — see Lesson 2 for full teaching.
The movements of consciousness are fivefold — painful or non-painful.
Correct knowledge, illusion, imagination, sleep, and memory.
| pramāṇa | right knowledge — direct perception, inference, or reliable testimony (I.7) |
| viparyaya | misconception — mistaking one thing for another (I.8) |
| vikalpa | imagination — word/thought without substance (I.9) |
| nidrā | dreamless sleep — consciousness resting on absence (I.10) |
| smṛti | memory — unmodified recollection of experience (I.11) |
Translations and word-glosses: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), sūtras I.5–I.11. Devanagari/IAST for I.5–I.6 cross-checked against ashtangamarga.com.
Reference card
Quick-recall card — see Lesson 3 for full teaching.
Practice and detachment are the means to still the movements of consciousness.
Practice is the steadfast effort to still these fluctuations — sustained over dīrgha-kāla (long time), nairantarya (without interruption), and satkāra (with reverence).
Renunciation is detachment from desires; its highest form (paravairāgya) is freedom from the guṇas themselves upon perceiving the soul.
| abhyāsa | sustained, effortful practice |
| vairāgya | detachment, renunciation, non-attachment |
| dīrgha-kāla | for a long time |
| nairantarya | without interruption |
| satkāra | done with devotion/reverence, not mechanically |
| paravairāgya | the highest form of detachment — free from the guṇas |
Translations and word-glosses: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), sūtras I.12–I.16. Devanagari/IAST cross-checked against ashtangamarga.com.
Reference card
Quick-recall card — see Lesson 4 for full teaching.
Practice and detachment develop four types of samādhi: self-analysis, synthesis, bliss, and the experience of pure being.
| vitarka | trial-and-error analytical thinking — the beginner's "let me try this" stage |
| vicāra | mature reflection and discrimination, built from accumulated experience |
| ānanda | bliss, arising from mature intelligence rather than the senses |
| asmitā | the pure felt sense of "I am," beyond even bliss |
Translation and word-glosses: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), sūtra I.17. Devanagari/IAST cross-checked against ashtangamarga.com.
Reference card
Quick-recall card — see Lesson 5 for full teaching.
The void arising in these experiences is another samādhi. Hidden impressions lie dormant, but spring up during moments of awareness, creating fluctuations and disturbing the purity of the consciousness.
| virāma pratyaya | the state itself — a transitional plateau after the four rungs of samprajñāta samādhi quiet down |
| saṃskāra-śeṣa | the residue of subliminal impressions that doesn't disappear — lies dormant, can resurface |
| manolaya | Iyengar's word for this momentary quietness of mind — a resting place, not the goal |
| anyaḥ | Patañjali's own word for this state ("another") — "asamprajñāta" is a label later commentators supplied, not his |
Translation and word-glosses: B.K.S. Iyengar, Light on the Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali (Thorsons, 2002), sūtra I.18. Devanagari/IAST cross-checked against ashtangamarga.com.