The Secret Power of Yoga - by Nischala Joy Devi

This is a translation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s. It is subtitled a woman's guide to the heart and spirit of the yoga sutras. The Yoga Sutras are the guidelines for how to achieve the state of Samadhi (united consciousness).

Why do you think that Nischala Joy Devi translated these Sutra’s from a woman's perspective? Because all the other translations of the yoga sutras are written by men, from a perspective of man. And, who does yoga most around the world today? – Women!

Now, having read a few versions of the yoga sutras we felt her intention to bring in that female voice and bring in the heart energy. All translations of the yoga sutras are interpretations or translations written by (typically) white men, who are academics and not practitioners, so their perspective influences the way that they translate and interpret the sutras.  Nischala makes the point that Indian Yoga combines the head and the heart; there's no separation. They live in this conjoined head and heart space. It's only white people that separate the two and have said living from the head is better. But as woman we innately live from the heart.

Nischala is a beautiful yoga practitioner who has studied for many years and her interpretation is a blessing to read as it's not all about don't do this and punish yourself if you do that; but more from a loving perspective of how to approach life from your heart. She's re-introduced that yogic heart in her translation, many other lifetime practitioners teach this also, such as Carlos Pomeda another beautiful yoga philosophy teacher.

This version of The Yoga Sutra asks you to feel the pulsation of your heart and feel your consciousness resting in your heart. The interesting thing was that as a female reader, this was the first time that the teachings outlined by Patanjali felt clear and easily understood, due to the way it was language and written.

The Yoga Sutras outline the practices and techniques that help you to move towards Samadhi (united consciousness) and due to this, it is important that you work through this book at your own pace. We are told that wholehearted dedication develops a whole heart and then you are to experience and benefit from the rhythm of your spiritual practice.

The Yoga Sutras are the treatise on how to practice Yoga and what the outcomes of the practices of Yoga are. The first two books of the Sutras outline the practices, and these are the focus of Nischala’s translation. The third book talks about the Siddhi’s (superpowers) that are developed when you commit to the practices of Yoga (some say they are in the book as a warning, so you know what is happening to you) and the fourth book tells you that the point of Yoga is not to achieve superpowers, but to unite your consciousness in your heart – with your divinity.

Yoga is a form of spiritual practice and Nischala outlines in this translation it is a practice of connecting with our divinity; we are told our spiritual practices is nurtured by a sustained steady rhythm and a dedicated heart. This cultivates the unfolding of consciousness.

This varies dependent on the tradition of Yoga the practitioner has studied. We follow non-dual school (Anusara) which tells us we are divine, and everything is divine. There are some Yoga schools that teach duality which means that we are separate from the divine and we need conquer our bodies and our human frailty - it says God is out there versus inside us.

Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra’s are a really short book. There is not a lot to it, most of the content of the translations are the interpretations of the writers. Nischala’s translation of Sutra 1.1 “with humility and open heart and mind we embrace the sacred study of yoga”.

So we start from that place. Then the whole book is there to teach you the way for you to achieve samadhi; which is living in pure bliss. Every single day.