Johnny Kest: Patanjali and Fighting Fear

To thoroughly present to you the entire weekend with Jonny Kest would take up too much space, so let's whittle the entire forest down to one particular tree: Jonny's extraordinary interpretation of Pantanjali's second sutra. For those not familiar with Pantanjali, he is credited with writing one of the authoritative texts on yogic philosophy, the Yoga Sutras. About 2000 years ago, Patanjali wrote down these 197 short sacred phrases. Since then, the Yoga Sutras have yielded ten thousand times as many words of interpretation.

An artist's interpretation of Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras (2nd century BCE)

In the second sutra, Patanjali defines "yoga." The Sanskrit definition reads,"Yogas citta-vritti-nirodhah."The common English translation is "Yoga is the restraint of mental modifications." There are dozens of interpretations of this phrase, but to some none as seemingly compelling as Jonny's.

In his words, "mental modifications" are fear. And fear is caused by two things: fear of losing what you have, and fear of not getting what you want. When we are afraid two things happen. First, our breath changes, becoming faster and/or shallower. Second, our body changes. We tremble, sweat, or tighten up in anticipation.

By practicing asana and pranayama - rehearsing control over our breath and our bodies, we prepare ourselves to meet fear head on. By steady practice, we build the tools to fight fear.

We're interested to know if this interpretation resonates with you in your own practice and life. Leave us a comment and let us know!

 

Comments

[Suzanne]

Your interpretation resonates with me. That sutra popped out at me a couple years ago. I wrote it down, said it out loud, and meditated on it.

It sounds dramatic, but yoga saved my life. Yoga offered me the possibility to wake up every morning and create the life I wanted. And I did.

Now if we aren't talking about fear ...

om shanti,
Suzanne

Remembering when love is our compass, we are never lost.