Quieting the Mind: Yoga Sutra 1.2 in Real Life
It was one of those mornings where everything felt like a race against the clock. I woke up late, scrambled to make coffee, and somehow managed to spill half of it down the counter. The day already felt louder than it needed to be, and my mind wasn’t helping—it was flipping through thoughts like a playlist stuck on shuffle.
As I grabbed my keys, I thought about Sutra 1.2: Yoga chitta vritti nirodhah. “Yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.” It’s one of those lines that sticks with you, even when you’re not actively thinking about it. Like a compass you forgot was in your pocket. I wasn’t on my mat, and there wasn’t time for a long meditation, but something about those words nudged me to pause. I stopped, leaned against the counter, and took a deep breath. Just one. It didn’t solve everything, but the morning felt a little less frantic after that.
The thing about Sutra 1.2 is that it’s not just for the mat—it’s for moments like that. The moments where your mind is running laps and you need to pull it back before it gets too far ahead of you. It’s not about forcing everything to be still; it’s about finding that tiny crack in the noise and slipping through, even if just for a moment.
Later that day, I was in class, working through a sequence. My knee was acting up, and the pose wasn’t coming together the way I wanted. Frustration kicked in. My head was full of questions: Why is this so hard today? What’s wrong with me? Am I even doing this right? I could feel the spiral starting.
Then, almost instinctively, I thought about the breath. Inhale. Exhale. It wasn’t a dramatic shift—just enough to slow things down. The pose didn’t suddenly become easier, but my mind stopped fighting it. And that, I realized, was the whole point.
This sutra isn’t about emptying your head or magically making life easier. It’s about stepping back, even for a second, and realizing you don’t have to buy into every thought that passes through. The world doesn’t stop spinning, but maybe you don’t have to spin with it.
On the drive home, the sun was setting, casting this unreal orange glow over the road. It felt like the first time all day I really noticed anything outside my head. That’s what Sutra 1.2 does—it gives you these little reminders to come back to yourself. To quiet the noise, even if just for a breath. It’s not about being perfect or finding some ultimate zen state. It’s about learning, one moment at a time, how to be still in the middle of everything.
And when I think about it, that’s probably the most hardest thing there is—not the stillness itself, but the strength it takes to step into it. To put down the weight of everything you’re carrying, even if it’s just for a little while, and remind yourself what it feels like to breathe.
That’s the work. One breath at a time.