Om Som Yoga + Ayurveda Podcast

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ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

We unpack one of the most misunderstood teachings in yoga, "citta vritti nirodhah". Most people hear citta vritti nirodhah and think yoga is asking them to stop thinking. So they try to force the mind quiet. Then the mind gets louder.

This week, Aaron and Lina explore the second Yoga Sutra and what it actually means to settle the mind. This is not an episode about suppression. It's about space. The mind doesn't respond to force. It responds to stillness being allowed, not imposed.

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:

Citta Vritti Nirodhah (चित्त वृत्ति निरोध)
Citta: the total field of the mind, including perception, memory, and cognition
Vritti: fluctuations, waves, or movements of the mind
Nirodhah: cessation, a natural settling

Together: the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
The key word is natural. Nirodhah does not mean suppression. It points to stillness that arrives when agitation is removed, not forced out.

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:

• Thoughts are not the problem. The agitation feeding them is. Sensory overload, stimulation, and constant doing all churn the surface of the mind.
• The mind is like Lake Manasarovar beneath Mount Kailash. When the winds blow, the moon's reflection scatters. You cannot smooth the lake with your hands. You wait for the wind to settle.
• Yoga Sutra 1.4, vritti sarupyam itaratra: at other times, we identify with the movements. When the mind is unsettled, we mistake the thoughts, the story, the role, for our actual self.
• The goal is not just stillness but recognition. When the mind clears, the seer (drastuh) abides in its own nature. We remember we are the one watching, not the one thinking.

TEXTUAL SOURCES:

The first four Yoga Sutras of Patanjali form a single sequence:
• 1.1 Atha yoganushasanam: now, the teaching of yoga. Yoga only happens now.
• 1.2 Yogas citta vritti nirodhah: yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind.
• 1.3 Tada drashtuh svarupe vastanam: then the seer abides in its own true nature.
• 1.4 Vritti sarupyam itaratra: at other times, there is identification with the movements.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:

• Use the breath as your anchor. It is always internal, always present. Slow it down and let it draw you inward.
• Allow pauses to arise naturally in practice rather than forcing a hard stop. When stillness appears, stay with it.
• If your mind was busy in meditation, ask: who noticed? That noticing is the observer. You are already there.
• Consider what is agitating the mind before trying to calm it. Sometimes the first step is reducing external input, not increasing internal effort.

Reflection: What happens when you stop trying to quiet the mind and simply let it settle on its own?

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast. Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@OmSom.yoga⁠⁠
Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OmSom.yoga⁠⁠

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We’d love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey. 

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US:
365 Sadhana Sangha
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

Some people breathe deeply but the breath gets stuck. The lungs fill, but there is no distribution. Prana arrives and goes nowhere.

This week, Aaron and Selenna explore Vyana Vayu, the prana of circulation, integration, and adaptability. Not about breathing bigger. About letting the breath spread. This episode covers what vyana is, why it holds all other pranas together, and how its presence or absence shows up in the body, the practice, and daily life.

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:

Vyana Vayu (Sanskrit: व्यान वायु)
Root: vyah, to spread, pervade, or expand outwards in all directions
Vyana moves nourishment from the centre to the periphery
Non-directional, unlike prana vayu (inhale) or apana vayu (exhale). It is the fullness between the parts.
When depleted: cold extremities, pallor, fatigue, disconnection from the limbs.

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:

• The Prashna Upanishad story: the five pranas argue over which is most important. Each leaves the body to test its necessity. When prana vayu departs, all the others follow. Vyana is the integrating force that knits them all together.
• Vyana is synergy. A movement in the hand travels through the wrist, elbow, and shoulder. A slow practice flows into quiet Savasana, into calm pranayama, into still meditation. Vyana makes practice holistic rather than fragmented.
• Prana can be received without being distributed. Building energy without vyana is like filling a pipe with no outlet. Stuck prana is useless.
• Vyana is adaptability. Ease moving between conversations, environments, and states. In practice, the capacity to meet yourself where you are.
• Stillness without vyana becomes stagnation. Vyana allows you to enter stillness when needed and move out when the time comes.

TEXTUAL & TRADITIONAL SOURCES:

• Hathayoga Pradipika: vyana vayu governs circulation, peripheral movement, and integration of bodily systems. Imbalance presents as fatigue, poor circulation, or disconnection from the limbs.
• Prashna Upanishad: without vyana, the other pranas cannot act in coordination.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:

• Practices that cultivate vyana: lateral bends, backbends, spinal rolls, Surya Namaskar, inhale retentions.
• Vyana Vayu Mudra: touch the thumb to the index and middle fingers at the fingertips, ring and pinky fingers extended. Use when feeling stuck, fragmented, or disconnected. Also supports circulation to the extremities in cold weather.
• In daily life: rigidity in social situations, difficulty transitioning between tasks, or feeling like different parts of life are disconnected are signs of depleted vyana.

Reflection: Where are you receiving nourishment but not letting it move?

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.
Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga
Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US:
365 Sadhana Sangha
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

ON THIS WEEK'S EPISODE:

People work hard in yoga. There is strength, there is discipline. But still no ease. We assume ease means collapsing or giving up. When actually, sukham only appears when effort is organised correctly.

This week, Aaron and Milli explore the second word of one of yoga's most well-known sutras. Not the steadiness, not the seat, but the softness. The effortlessness. The quality that turns a posture into a practice and a practice into something sustainable for life.

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:

Sukham (Sanskrit: सुखम्)
Literal meaning: pleasantness, ease, effortlessness, comfort
From the sutra: Sthiram Sukham Asanam (Yoga Sutra 2.46)
Sthiram: steadiness. Sukham: ease. Asanam: posture.
Sukham is not the absence of effort. It is ease within effort.

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:

• The Zen bowl story: a student grips a bowl of water so tightly it trembles and spills. The teacher says trust the bowl. The moment he softens, the water stills. This is sukham.
• Effort evenly distributed becomes support. Once the body knows how to hold itself, it can begin to soften. That which was once effortful becomes graceful.
• The breath is the barometer. If the breath becomes labored in a posture, you have gone too far. Ease in the breath means you are working within your capacity.
• Yoga Sutra 2.47: Prayatna shaithilya anantha samapathibhyam. Mastery of asana comes through the relaxation of effort and absorption in the infinite. Patanjali's definition of mastery is not force. It is dissolution.
• Sukham is what makes yoga sustainable. Push past capacity and you deplete. Meet your edge daily and build slowly. That is the design of the practice.

TEXTUAL & TRADITIONAL SOURCES:

• Yoga Sutra 2.46: Sthiram sukham asanam. The posture should be steady and easeful.
• Yoga Sutra 2.47: Prayatna shaithilya anantha samapathibhyam. Through the relaxation of effort and absorption in the infinite, asana is mastered.
• Hathayoga Pradipika: asana gives steadiness, health, and lightness to the body. Both traditions hold the same position: firmness and softness always together.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:

• Hold poses for 5 to 10 breaths. Long enough to meet the uncomfortable edge. Then let go of the mental story around it. The mind gives up long before the body does.
U• se the breath as your guide. Nose breathing, composed, unhurried. The moment it becomes labored, back off and reset.
• Off the mat: notice where you are bracing for impact in daily life. In conversations, at work, in relationships. Sukham asks you to meet the world with less resistance, not less engagement.

Reflection: Where in your practice are you holding effort longer than necessary?

SHARE & CONNECT

Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast.

Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga
Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We'd love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US:
365 Sadhana Sangha
https://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join
100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharma
https://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto
200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026
https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka
50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Training
https://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-oto

ON THIS WEEK’S EPISODE:
We often think self-study means fixing ourselves. But in yoga, Svādhyāya isn’t about becoming better. It’s about becoming honest.

In this episode, Aaron and Paige explore Svādhyāya as illumination. Not self-help. Not self-analysis. But observation for its own sake.

Through the story of Indra and Virochana, we unpack the difference between identifying with the body and inquiring into the witness behind it. One student stops at the reflection. The other keeps going.

Svādhyāya asks:
Who is observing the body?
Who is watching the mind?
Who is aware of the story?

And what happens when we stop trying to improve ourselves and simply see?

DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGY:
• Svā (स्व) - one’s own, the Self
• Adhyāya (अध्याय) - study, recitation, inquiry

Svādhyāya (स्वाध्याय) means study of the Self. Reflection upon the Self. A returning to what is deeper than identity.

In this episode we clarify the distinction between:
• Self-help - observation to create change
• Self-analysis - asking why
• Svādhyāya - observing without fixing

KEY CONCEPTS & INSIGHTS:
• Agni as illumination - fire does not only burn, it reveals
• The difference between ahamkāra (the constructed self) and the witness
• The “space between” experience and observer - where story and identity form
• Kriyā Yoga - Tapas reveals, Svādhyāya observes, Īśvara Praṇidhāna surrenders
• Communion with one’s iṣṭa-devatā through self-study
• The paradox of the Self - it cannot be known as an object

We also explore Yoga Sūtra 2.44:
“Svādhyāyād iṣṭa-devatā-saṃprayogaḥ”
Through self-study comes communion with the chosen form of the Divine.

And the riddle from the Kena Upaniṣad:
“It is not known by those who know it, and known by those who do not know it.”

The Self cannot be captured. Only revealed.

PRACTICAL INTEGRATION:
• Journalling without editing - observe thoughts in real time
• Five-layer reflection: physical, mental, emotional, energetic, spiritual
• Silent mantra repetition to quiet the mind
• Mirror work - observe without correcting
• Trāṭaka (candle gazing) - object, observer, space between
• Notice reactions in daily life without immediately creating a story

Ask yourself:
• What are you trying to change before you’ve truly seen it?
• Where are you satisfied with an answer that’s almost true?
• What becomes possible when understanding replaces the need to fix?

Svādhyāya is not something to master.
It is something to return to.

When the layers fall away, nothing new is gained.
Only remembered.

SHARE & CONNECT
Thank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast. Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.

Instagram: @OmSom.yoga
Website: OmSom.yoga

We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We’d love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey.

HARI OM

PRACTICE WITH US:365 Sadhana Sanghahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/365-sadhana-sandha/join100 Hr Asana Sadhana Dharmahttps://practice.omsom.yoga/asana-sadhana-dharma-oto200 Hr Yoga Teacher Training Sri Lanka 2026https://omsom.yoga/200-hour-yoga-teacher-training-sri-lanka50 Hr Online Yin Yoga Teacher Traininghttps://practice.omsom.yoga/yin-yoga-and-prana-vayus-otoON THIS WEEK’S EPISODEIn this conversation with Lina, we explore:• Tapas as “heat”: the friction that creates real change• Why resistance isn’t failur, it’s the doorway• How tapas applies to asana, pranayama, meditation, and daily life• The difference between “love and light” bypassing vs grounded transformation• Why the hard thing isn’t always the intense thing (sometimes it’s rest, gentleness, or silence)DEFINITION & ETYMOLOGYTAPAS (तपस्)• Root: TAP (तप्) - to heat, to burn, to glow• Tapas is the inner heat generated by sustained effort - especially when we meet discomfort consciously.• A simple felt-sense: rub your hands together - friction builds warmth. Tapas is that warming force that makes transformation possible.KEY CONCEPTS1) RESISTANCE IS PART OF THE PATHYou will meet resistance in practice and in life. The work is not to eliminate it - it’s to relate to it with presence.2) CONTAINED FIRE TRANSFORMSUncontained Agni burns everything. Contained Agni refines. Tapas is the art of containment: staying steady enough at the edge for the process to do its work.3) THE “HARD THING” CHANGES DEPENDING ON YOUSometimes the hard thing is intensity, strength, effort.Sometimes the hard thing is softness, silence, slowness, rest.Tapas is not performative struggle - it’s honest contact with what you avoid.4) IDENTITY IS WHAT GETS CHALLENGED FIRSTDiscipline doesn’t only test the body - it tests the story of who you think you are. Tapas is the willingness to live beyond the old pattern.TEXTUAL SOURCESPATAÑJALI - KRIYĀ YOGA (YS 2.1)tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni kriyāyogaḥTapas appears first - because without discipline, there’s no practice to sustain.PATAÑJALI - NIYAMA (YS 2.32)śauca santoṣa tapaḥsvādhyāyeśvarapraṇidhānāni niyamāḥTapas is placed among the core qualities we cultivate for a yogic life.BHAGAVAD GĪTĀ - “MENTAL TAPAS” (BG 17.16)manaḥ prasādaḥ saumyatvaṁ maunam ātma-vinigrahaḥ bhāva-saṁśuddhir ity etat tapo mānasamThis expands tapas beyond “hard effort” into the discipline of: serenity, gentleness, silence, and self-restraint.UPANIṢADIC TEACHING - KNOWING BRAHMAN THROUGH TAPASA widely-cited Upaniṣadic line: tapasā brahma vijijñāsasva (“By tapas, seek to know Brahman”).This frames discipline not as self-punishment, but as the means of deep knowing.PRACTICAL INTEGRATIONON THE MAT• Choose one posture you avoid and practise it with steadiness (not force).• Stay in ŚAVĀSANA longer than you usually would.• Sit for PRĀṆĀYĀMA for 20 minutes (steady, simple, sustainable).• Hold one āsana for 10 minutes, then rest.IN MEDITATION• Notice the urge to fidget, distract, or “escape.”• Practise staying present with the raw sensation of discomfort - without needing to like it.IN DAILY LIFE• Follow through on one commitment you’ve been postponing.• Tell someone your commitment so you’re held gently accountable.• Train presence: when the mind wanders mid-task, return (without self-judgement).REFLECTIVE TAKEAWAY• Where in your life are you avoiding discomfort?• What changes when you treat resistance as part of the practice not an obstacle?SHARE & CONNECTThank you for listening to the Om Som Yoga & Ayurveda Podcast. Please share this episode with someone it might support, and connect with us on social media or via our website.Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@OmSom.yoga⁠⁠Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠OmSom.yoga⁠⁠We operate a yoga studio in Berwick, Victoria, Australia, offering classes, workshops, and Yoga Teacher Training programs. We’d love to connect with you wherever you are on your journey. HARI OM