Have you ever had one difficult thought?
And within moments.
That thought seemed to become the truth about your entire life.
Perhaps the thought was,
I am not good enough.
I have failed.
They do not respect me.
Or something is going to go wrong.
And at first,
It was only a thought,
A movement within the mind.
But then something happened.
You did not simply notice the thought,
You became the thought.
The body responded to it.
Your emotions gathered around it.
Your attention.
Searched for evidence to support it.
And for the time,
For the while.
The thought became the world through which you are living.
This is the condition Patanjali describes in Yoga Sutra 1.
2.
In Sutra 1.
2,
He tells us,
Yogas Chitta Vritti Nidodaha.
Yoga is the stilling.
Yoga is the stilling of the movements of the mind.
In Sutra 1.
3,
He explains what happens when those movements settle.
Tadā drastu svalūpe avasthānam Then the CRS.
In its own true nature.
Now in Sutra 1.
4,
He explains what happens during other times.
And the sutra is vritti svarupyam itadadam.
Let's see it slowly.
That the Swadupyam.
It's a Bob.
A simple translation.
At other times.
The seer identifies with the movements of the mind.
At other times,
We take the form of a mental modification.
This sutra.
Describes one of the most ordinary and powerful sources of human suffering.
We forget that a thought is a thought.
Is something occurring within a van?
And we begin to experience the thought as who we are.
Let's begin with the final.
It's a log.
Itadakimasu!
At other times or otherwise.
This word connects the Sutra directly with what came before.
When the movements of the mind settle,
The seer rests in its true nature.
At other times.
Identification occurs.
Patanjali is describing two very different ways of living.
In one.
We recognize ourselves as the awareness in which experience appears.
And in the other.
We become absorbed in the experience itself.
One moment we may recognize anger is arising.
In another,
We are completely inside that angle.
In one moment we recognize,
Yeah,
The mind is working.
In another,
The imagined future feels unquestionably real.
One moment we see,
Yeah,
This is an old pattern.
In another The pattern is speaking through us before we even realize it.
This difference may seem subtle,
But it changes.
It changes how we relate to everything.
The word vritti.
The word Vritti,
It appeared in Sutra 1.
2.
It means a movement,
A modification,
A fluctuation,
A pattern or the wave within the mental field.
A thought is a vritti,
A memory is a vritti.
An emotional reaction can become a virtue.
An interpretation is available.
An image of the future is updated.
Your story about yourself.
Is of the The mind is continually taking different forms.
Someone says something.
And the mind,
It forms an interpretation.
A memory arises and the mind takes the shape of the past.
Of European.
And the mind projects into an imagined future.
The vritti itself is not necessarily the problem.
The problem is what happens next.
We forget that it is a movement.
We believe that it is the whole reality.
The central word in this sutra is Swadupyam.
It may be understood as taking the same form or assuming the appearance of or becoming identified with or mistaking oneself.
Or mistaking oneself.
The word suggests that awareness appears to take the shape of whatever is moving through the mind.
Awareness appears to take the shape of whatever is moving through the mind.
Imagine clear water is poured into different containers.
Poured into a round vessel,
The water appears round.
Bored in a square vessel,
It appears square.
The water itself has not become permanently round or square.
It has temporarily.
Taking the shape of the country.
In the same way.
Awareness seems to take the form of the mental mood.
When fear is present.
We do not merely experience fear.
We say,
I am afraid.
And then perhaps we go on and say,
I am a fearful person.
When failure occurs.
We do not merely recognize this attempt did not work.
We say I am a failure.
When someone rejects.
We may move from this person did not choose me to I am unwanted.
And event.
Becomes a thought.
The thought becomes a story.
And the story becomes an identity.
This is Sadhu Pyat.
Now,
How does this identification happen?
An identification happens,
It often happens so quickly that we do not see the stage.
Let's take a simple example.
You send someone a message.
And they do not reply.
The event itself is neutral.
A message was sent.
A reply has not yet arrived.
But them of the theorizers.
They are ignoring me.
Another vritti follows.
They must be upset.
Then another one,
I have done something wrong.
This always happens to me.
No one values me.
So many vrittis arising.
And then within a short time.
An unanswered message.
Has become a complete story about your worth.
And then the body responds as though that story is true.
The chest tightens,
The stomach contracts,
The breath becomes shallow.
You may send another message.
You may withdraw.
You may become defensive.
You may react to the other person before knowing what has actually happened.
And then later,
Later.
You discover that their phone was off.
But the suffering you experienced was real.
The event was simple.
The event was very simple.
The Identification.
It created the world around it.
We do not see reality directly.
We do not see reality directly.
Yoga Sutra 1.
4 challenges a very common assumption.
We often believe that we see reality exactly as it is.
That's what we often believe,
That we see reality exactly as it is.
But much of the time,
Most of the time.
We are seeing reality through the movements of the mind.
Two people.
Can experience the same event.
Very different.
One person Receives constructive feedback and things.
This may help me improve.
Another person receives the same feedback and thinks I'm being attacked.
The external event is similar.
THE INNOVATIVE THEORY is different.
One person does not greet us warmly.
One mind may say they must be taught.
Another says they do not like it.
A plan change.
One person experiences inconvenience.
Another person experiences rejection.
This does not mean that everything is imaginary or that external circumstances do not matter.
It means that expedience.
Is shaped by interpretation.
Experience is shaped by interpretation.
We are rarely responding or lead to what happened.
We are also responding to what the mind says the event means.
Think again of the mind as a lens.
If the lens is colored.
If the lens is colored red.
Everything appears red if the mind is colored by fear.
Neutral situation,
They may appear threatening.
If the mind is colored by rejection,
Distance may appear personal.
If the mind is colored by shame.
God Exit may feel like condemnation.
If the mind is colored by this sentiment.
Even kindness may be treated with suspicion.
The world we experience.
Is partly shaped by the lens through which we see it.
But because we are looking through the lens.
We often do not notice the lens itself.
We say things like.
That person is dangerous.
This situation is hopeless.
I cannot do it.
This is who I am.
Yoga invites us to Paul.
To us.
Is this reality itself?
Or is this a form the mind has taken?
Is this reality itself or is this a form the mind has taken?
That question.
It does not mean dismissing our experience.
It means creating enough space.
To examine it.
Now we may assume that identification happens only with painful things.
But we can also identify with pleasant experience.
Someone praises us and we think I am successful.
A project goes well and we think I am finally worthy.
A relationship makes us feel loved.
And we conclude,
Now I am complete.
These experiences,
They may feel good.
But if our identity depends on them,
Fear soon follows.
If I am successful because this project succeeded.
What happens when the next one fails?
If I am worthy because someone praises me.
What happens when they criticize me?
If I am complete.
Because a person loves me.
What happens if they leave?
Identification with pleasant vrittis can create attachments.
We cling to the form.
Because we believe the form tells us who we are.
Yoga.
Does not ask us to reject success,
Love,
Joy or praise.
It asks us not to build our entire identity.
Upon experiences that are naturally changing.
This sutra.
It also helps us understand emotional triggers.
Of present event.
May awaken an old mental pattern.
Someone interrupts us.
The present event is small.
But the mind connects it to earlier experiences of being dismissed.
The mind connects it to earlier experiences of being displaced.
And suddenly the reaction is much larger than the moment.
Someone becomes quiet during a disagreement.
The silence may be temporary.
But if the mind associates the silence with abandonment,
The body reacts as though abandonment is happening again.
The present moment.
Becomes covered by the past.
We are no longer responding only to what is here.
We are responding to a vritti that's shaped by memory.
And this is why awareness is so important.
Without awareness,
The pattern,
It becomes our reality.
But with awareness,
We may recognize.
This reaction belongs partly to the present and partly to something older.
That recognition does not instantly remove the reaction.
But it allows us to relate to it differently.
The difference between thought and truth.
A thought can feel true without being completely true.
And this is one of the most important lessons of Sutra 1.
4.
The mind may say,
I cannot cope.
But perhaps what is true is.
This moment feels difficult.
The mind may say everything is falling apart.
But perhaps what is true is.
One part of my life is feeling unsorted.
The mind may say,
No one cares.
But perhaps the truth is.
I am feeling disconnected right now.
The mind may say,
I always fail.
But probably what is true is that the attempt did not work as I hoped.
Yoga does not replace every negative thought with a positive slogan.
It asks us to see more accurately.
The Shift is not from negative thinking to forced positivity.
It is from unconscious identification.
To clear observation.
Unconscious identification to clear observation.
Let's take a look.
Let's take a relevant example.
Imagine you make a mistake at work.
Perhaps you sent the wrong information or you miss a deadline or you forget an important detail.
Now the event is real.
Something needs to be corrected.
But almost immediately the mind may create a larger identity.
I am incompetent.
I always make mistakes.
They will lose confidence in me.
My career is going nowhere.
The Odyssey of Mystique may require one email,
One connection,
Or one conversation.
But identification.
It can create hours of shame.
It can create fear,
Self criticism.
Now imagine a completely different response.
Will you pause?
You feel discomfort in the body.
You acknowledge a mistake has occurred.
You notice the thought,
I am incompetent.
And then you recognize.
This is a thought that's arising.
In response to the mistake.
You still take responsibility.
You still correct.
What needs to be corrected.
You do not turn the event into a definition of your whole.
That is the movement from identification toward awareness.
The Observer does not remove the responsibility.
There is an important caution here.
Recognizing that a thought is a vritti does not mean avoiding responsibility.
We cannot use spiritual language to dismiss the effects of our behaviour.
If we hurt someone,
It is not enough to say this is only their mental modification.
If we make a mistake,
We still need to address it.
If a situation is genuinely unsafe,
We still need to respond.
Awareness does not make us passive.
It allows us to respond more accurately.
When we are when we are not lost in shame.
We can apologize more honestly.
When we are not overwhelmed by defensive.
We can listen more clearly.
When we are not trapped in fear.
We can make wiser decisions.
This identification.
Is not a void.
It is the space.
That makes conscious responsibility possible.
One practical way to notice identification is through language.
Listen for statements beginning with I am.
Listen for statements beginning with I am.
I am anxious.
I am angry.
I am broken.
I am unwanted.
I am a failure.
Listen for statements beginning with I am.
Sometimes we are simply using ordinary language.
But sometimes,
The language reveals that an experience has become an identity.
Sometimes the language reveals that an experience has become an identity.
Try changing the statement slightly.
Instead of I am anxious.
Say anxiety is person.
Instead of I am angry,
Say anger is moving through.
Instead of I am a failure.
You can say a thought of failure has arisen.
Instead of I am broken.
You can say I am experiencing pain.
This is not just Word to Word.
What this does is it creates a small space.
Between awareness and experience.
The feeling is still there.
It is no longer the whole of who you are.
It is no longer the whole of who you are.
Here's a simple practice inspired by yogasutra1.
Org.
When a strong thought.
All an emotion arises today.
Pause.
And use three steps.
Firstly,
Name the MOOC.
Body is present,
Judgment is present,
Anger is present.
Comparison is pleasant.
Name the book.
Second,
Notice the story.
Notice this too.
What is the mind saying this experience means?
They do not value me.
I am going to fail.
Oh,
I should be further ahead.
Notice this too.
Third,
Separate the experience from the identity.
Simply say,
This is a movement in the mind.
It is not the whole of it.
This is a movement of the mind,
It is not the whole of it.
You do not need to argue with the thought.
You do not need to eliminate it.
Simply see it.
Simply see it as a movement rather than as a complete identity.
That moment of seeing.
That is already Yoga.
You may wish to sit with these quests.
You may wish to settle these questions.
Which thought or emotional pattern do I most often mistake?
For who I am.
Which thought or emotional pattern do I most often mistake for who I am?
Is it I'm not enough?
I'm alone.
I must be in control and responsible for everyone.
I cannot trust people or.
I will always be this way.
With thought or emotional pattern.
Is most often or do you most often mistake for who I am?
And taking that photo.
What becomes possible.
When you see this as a mental pattern rather than an absolute truth.
What becomes possible when you see this as a mental pattern.
Rather than an absolute.
Perhaps the pattern has been present for many years.
Perhaps it has shaped important choices.
You do not have to condemn yourself for identifying with it.
Identification is is the very ordinary condition that Patanjali is describing.
The practice begins when we notice.
The practice begins when we look.
There is compassion in this sutra.
There is compassion in this sutra.
This Sutra,
1.
4,
It is not a criticism of the Mahabharata.
Patanjali is not telling us that we are foolish for becoming identified.
He is describing how consciousness ordinarily functions when awareness is obscured.
We've become our thoughts.
Because the thoughts feel immediate.
We become our emotions because the body feels them intensely.
We become us to worries because We have repeated them for so many years.
The purpose of this Sutra is not to create shame.
It is simply to create recognition.
Once a pattern has been seen.
Once a pattern can be seen,
It no longer operates in exactly the same way.
There is now a witness.
There is now a pause.
And there is now another possibility.
Yoga Sutra 1.
4 vritti svarupyam et radha vritti svarupyam et radha At other times?
The seal identifies with the movements of the mind.
A thought arises.
And we become the thought.
An emotion arises,
An emotion appears and we build an identity around it.
A story that beats.
And we begin to see the whole world through that story.
The practice is not to eliminate every thought.
It is simply to recognize.
This is a movement of the mind.
It is not the whole of God.
This is a movement of the mind.
It is not the whole of it.
As you move through your day,
As you move through your week,
Notice one moment of identification.
Name the book.
Notice the story.
Create a little space between the experience and who you are.
In the next episode,
We move to the next Sutra,
Yoga Sutra 1.
5.
Where Patanjali begins to classify the different kinds of mental movements.
And explains that they may be painful or non-painful.
Thank you for listening.
Namaste.
