A Blissful Life 4/8/25: You Are Not Your Thoughts!

If you read my column weekly, you’ve learned a bit about Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Briefly, for those who are unfamiliar, the Yoga Sutras are considered “the text” from yoga’s classical era. Orally transmitted until the Middle Ages, this collection of 196 short verses serves as a guide to attain wisdom and self-realization through yoga.

Widely considered the ‘thesis statement’ of the Yoga Sutras, verse 1.2 states, “Yoga is the restraint of the fluctuations of the mind stuff.” When we slow our thoughts and calm our emotions, we settle into an inner stillness and get to experience ourselves in our true nature– this is yoga.

Patanjali goes on to say that if you do not take time to calm the chaos of your mind, then you could experience a case of mistaken identity, believing that you are the thoughts whirling through your head or the emotions surging through your body. Yoga teaches that thoughts and emotions are experiences, and you are the stillness behind the fluctuations.

After this, Patanjali talks about the five ‘vrttis’, or ‘mental modifications’: right knowledge, misconception, verbal delusion, sleep, and memory. He says that at any given point you can pause, check in, and place whatever thoughts happen to be moving through your head into one of the five categories above. I find this to be quite interesting and helpful. Being able to identify what is going on in your head can help you to step back and not take your mental experiences so seriously!

So, how can I know in which category to place my thoughts? Let’s find out!

“Right knowledge” means that what is in your head matches that in the outside world. How can you tell if something is “right knowledge”? First, you can do it through direct perception. If you are directly observing something through your senses, you can have good faith that it is true. Another way to determine if something is “right knowledge” is by inference, meaning, if it looks like a duck, sounds like a duck, and walks like a duck, it is probably a duck. Finally, you can know if something is “right knowledge” if you received the information from a true and trusted source.

“Misconception” is a false appearance, and it happens when you are taking in information from the outside world, but you don’t interpret it accurately. For example, you think you see a snake in the distance, but it is actually a rope. Keep in mind that even with the best sensory information, we can misinterpret things.

“Verbal delusion” or “imagination” is when you are creating an image or scenario in your head that is not related to what you are taking in through your senses in that given moment. Note that today’s culture is largely based on information being transmitted through writing, and this creates a reality unto itself. While imagination can be wonderful, it is important to distinguish when we are in the box of “imagination” versus “right knowledge”.

“Sleep” is not to be confused with dreaming or meditation. When we are asleep, there is a cognition of nothingness. Dreaming could be considered “imagination” or “memory”, and meditation is when we are working to restrain the “vrttis”.

Finally, “Memory” is when we bring a sensed object (something we have experienced that we are not experiencing right now) back into consciousness.

Now that you have some new tools, I invite you to play with them and notice what comes up! Personally, what I love about this practice is that it helps me to catch myself when I am spiraling into my imagination, take a few breaths, and come back to reality, landing in the present moment.

I invite you to join us at Ocean Bliss Yoga for classes and workshops. Sign up at oceanblissyoga.net. Christine Walker is offering Transformational Breath on Wednesday, April 16th at 7pm. Sign up on our website. Call or text me with any questions at 917-318-1168.