Course curriculum

  • 1

    Welcome to the Course

    • Welcome to your Complete Guide to the Yoga Sutra! A message from your professor, Dr. Christopher Miller

    • How to succeed and get the most from this course
  • 2

    Patanjali's Yoga Sutra: History and Context

    • Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, History and Context: Origins

    • Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, History and Context: Colonial History

    • Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, History and Context: The Yoga Sutra becomes "Classical"
  • 3

    Why we Practice Yoga and the Yoga Worldview

    • We Practice Yoga to Alleviate Suffering

    • The World is Real and Permeated by the Gunas

    • The Seen, the 25 Tattvas, and the 8 Bhavas of Samkhya

    • Suffering, Samskara, and Freedom

    • The Seer
  • 4

    The 5 Turnings of the Mind and the 5 Kleshas

    • So what does yoga mean? Restraining the turnings of the mind

    • The 5 Turnings of the Mind

    • The Turnings can be Afflicted or Unafflicted

    • The 5 Afflictions

    • The 4 "States" of the Afflictions and Returning to the "original state"

    • The Stock of Karma and Karma's "3 Ripenings"
  • 5

    Test Your Competency

    • Quiz #1: Fundamentals of the Yoga Sutra

    • Quiz #2: Vrttis and Kleshas
  • 6

    Practice and Freedom from Desire

    • Eliminate the Turnings of the Mind with Practice and Freedom from Desire

    • Practice Makes Perfect

    • Indifference and Freedom from Desire

    • Thirstlessness for the Gunas and Samprajnata Samadhi
  • 7

    Patanjali's 2 Paths: Kriya Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga

    • Kriya Yoga and Ashtanga yoga

    • Kriya Yoga

    • Ashtanga Yoga

    • The Yamas

    • The Niyamas

    • Cultivate the Opposite

    • Asana

    • Pranayama and Pratyahara

    • Dharana, Dhyana, Samadhi
  • 8

    Meditative Absorption with a Support

    • Samyama

    • Savitarka and Nirvitarka Samapatti

    • Savicara and Nirvicara Samapatti

    • Asmita and Ananda
  • 9

    Test Your Competency

    • Quiz #3: Practice and Indifference, Kriya Yoga and Ashtanga Yoga

    • Quiz #4: Pranayama, Dharana, Dhyana and Samadhi
  • 10

    Yoga Powers

    • 3 Levels of Practitioner and the Dharmin

    • 3 Transformations of Prakrti

    • Yoga Powers Part 1

    • Yoga Powers Part 2

    • Yoga Powers Part 3

    • Yoga Powers Part 4

    • Yoga Powers Part 5

    • Yoga Powers Part 6

    • Yoga Powers Part 7

    • Yoga Powers Part 8

    • Yoga Powers Part 9

    • Yoga Powers Part 10
  • 11

    Approaching Liberation

    • Medium and Ardent Yoga Practitioners
  • 12

    Isvara

    • Isvara: A Shortcut to Samadhi

    • Obstacles and Distractions of Yoga

    • Practices to Avoid the Distractions
  • 13

    Final Liberation

    • Final Liberation: Kaivalya
  • 14

    Test Your Competency

    • Quiz #5: 3 Levels of Practitioner and the Yoga Powers

    • Quiz #6: Isvara and the Powers Leading to Liberation

What you'll receive

This course will give you a firm understanding of the philosophy, practices, and history of Patanjali's classic Yoga Sutra.

  • Learn how to apply the Yoga Sutra's philosophy in your own life and spiritual practice

  • Learn about the text with an expert in Yoga Studies and know that you are receiving some of the latest scholarly insights about the Yoga Sutra

  • 30 hrs Yoga Alliance CE Certificate provided upon completion