8. Patanjali's "Yoga Sutra" - in a nutshell

The yoga classic - a book over 2000 years old which includes 195 sutras - sayings in Sanskrit - which are yoga's philosophical basis. Patanjali's yoga sutra is like a treasure map, and the treasure is: inner freedom, enlightenment to your own personal nature and fulfillment of your full potential as a human being. (I know, it is very pretentious intententions – but we can start with baby steps, little day to day enlistments, brief moments of grace through practicing yoga, taking a full lungs breathe, hugging our kids, and for a moment don't think of anything else..)

According to Patanjali, there are many and varied obstacles in our way to this treasure: our mistaken grasp of reality; a narrow view of reality as seen through outlooks formed along the way, causing us fluctuations of the mind; and our five, in Sanskrit, 'kleshas' - afflictions - which are: ignorance of self, detachment, desire for that which brings pleasure, aversion towards that which brings pain, and clinging to life while things tend to be temporary. These five kleshas combine to a life journey full of pain and suffering.

According to Patanjali, Yoga is a tool which can help us quiet the fluctuations of the mind and ease our suffering on our journey toward that pure existence, to that treasure.