Mindset has become a mainstream, buzz word. But it’s not new. Traditional Yoga has focused on transforming mindset for thousands of years. Why? Because our mind – it’s beliefs, attitudes, and conditionings – is a main obstacle in realizing our True Nature, the goal of Traditional Yoga.  So let’s dive into some specific practices Yoga offers for changing mindset.

First, let’s define mindset. Mindset means “a mental attitude or inclination” according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. The thing about mindset is it’s not fixed, meaning our mindset changes. This means that since it changes, we can influence and change our mindset with awareness and practice. That’s great news and what Patanjali Yoga Sutras are all about.

Patanjali Yoga Sutras

Patanjali Yoga Sutras is a step by step guide for Raja Yoga (Yoga for the Mind), though it’s not an easy, one off read. It’s a text that’s meant to go over time and time again, usually with a guru (spiritual teacher) and sangha (spiritual community). It’s a guide for self-exploration, so it’s up to the student to take the teachings, practice, and come to your own conclusions. 

Patanjali Yoga Sutras are divided into 4 padas (chapters) and each line is called a shloka. There are roughly 196 shlokas depending on the translation.  A sutra is written to convey as much meaning as possible as simply and concisely as possible. Depending where a student is on their path of self-realization will depend on what they understand, which is why it’s important to keep studying this text over a long period of time.

I decided to write about Yoga and mindset after listening to “This American Life” podcast, episode “The Possum Experiment” aired on July 8th, 2022. This episode is all about personal experiences that shift the mindset about ‘are most people good or bad?’  It made me smile, feel inspired, and think about the mind shifting practices I’ve learned through my Yoga practice.

There are two specific shlokas I’d like to go over. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve heard me talk about these practices before. My question would be to you – “Are you practicing them?” If these are new to you, I encourage you to choose one concept that resonates with you and commit to practicing it for the next month and see what happens to your mindset.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 1.33

PYS 1.33 “By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.” -Translation by Swami Satchidananda

Swami Satchidananda states, “Whether you are interested in reaching samadhi or plan to ignore Yoga entirely, I would advise you to remember at least this one sutra. It will be very helpful to you in keeping a peaceful mind in your daily life.” I know most of us would love a peaceful mindset!

This sutra tells us by practicing the attitudes of friendliness, compassion, delight, and disregard towards certain people (and our own mind states), our mind will be more calm. This sutra alone can create profound changes in your life if you’re willing to focus and practice these four key points.

Attitude of Friendliness

Friendliness towards the happy: This is easy when your mind is in a positive mind state, right? It’s easy to be friendly when you’re feeling good. Being around someone who’s happy can also be uplifting. But, what if your mind state is negative and mood is grouchy? It’s much more difficult. Yet this is when it’s the time we need to practice this the most.

I remember when I was in high school. My dad and I had breakfast at the same time before we headed to work and school respectively. He would say, “Good morning” and this would irritate me to no end. I would mumble and ignore him. If I would have been knowledgeable about this sutra, I might have taken a deep breath when my dad said, “good morning,” and just said, “good morning,” back and be done with it. Instead, I started my day off with irritation that would take time to get out of so I could enjoy my day.

Attitude of Compassion

Compassion towards the unhappy: We’ve all been unhappy at some point. It’s part of being human. Yet, it’s easy to get annoyed or irritated when someone is unhappy. Or else try to fix them. The thing is, the unhappy mindstate is something for them to work through, we can’t fix it. But, we can show compassion (kindness and understanding). I know when I come from a place of compassion, I let go of judgment and separation, which leads to more love and commonality. It also allows the person (or myself) to feel unhappy without thinking ‘there’s something wrong with me,’ which can make things worse. It’s okay to have unhappy feelings and moods.

A few things I remind myself to help me move into a place of compassion are: 

• I’ve felt this way too and acted in ways that aren’t helpful because of that. (Common Humanity)
• When I’m unhappy, it’s easy to get down on myself so I don’t need to add to this person’s negativity. (Mindfulness)
• I don’t need to fix this person as it’s not my responsibility. What I think they need may be far from what they actually need. (Mindfulness)
• I can offer support through listening and understanding. (Kindness)

Attitude of Delight

Delight towards the virtuous: When I think of this attitude, I think of the words gratitude, inspiration, and motivation. When I encounter someone who is living their values, walking the walk, and adding more love to this world I’m grateful to be around them. They are inspiring and motivate me to keep up my practices and change my mindset.

I also know when I’m coming from a more virtuous mindset, usually life flows much more easily. Taking a moment of gratitude towards myself is helpful. By being aware of this mind state, you just might discover what gets you there so you can keep taking similar actions.

The Most Important and Hardest Attitude

Disregard towards the wicked: I believe that this is the most important practice out of the four, especially in today’s world where negativity has such a large soap box. One practice here is remembering what I can and can’t control. I can’t control others, only myself.

If I’m reacting in negativity towards someone, most likely it is a reflection of some part within me that I don’t like. Getting curious about my own reaction to gain self-understanding is a way to use this encounter as growth and learning for myself. To me, that’s why a ‘wicked’ person has been put in my life, for my own growth.

There’s no need to take on negativity from other people or take things personally. Another saying I think is helpful is “the way another person treats me is a reflection of them, not me.” (The same is true in how I treat someone else). Remember, we’ve all had a wicked mindset at some point. It will change. Best to let that person be and focus on yourself.

My recent example of this was with my 11 year old nephew who was having a bad day because he was tired. Every time I tried to engage with him he would be snappy and rude. So, I just let him be. After he had some food in his belly, he perked up a bit and I was able to engage with him again. It had nothing to do with me and getting upset with him would only escalate things, as well as put me in a foul mood.

Patanjali Yoga Sutra 2.33

PYS 2.33 “When disturbed by negative thoughts, opposite [positive] ones should be thought of. This is pratipaksha bhavana.” – Translation by Swami Satchidananda

As a mental health therapist, this is one of my favorite shlokas in regards to a concrete practice to change mindset. One mistake in practicing is to fall into avoiding or escaping negative thoughts or mind states. That’s not the practice of pratipaksha bhavana at all.

We are all going to fall into negativity. It’s a part of being human. When we avoid, escape, judge and shame parts of our humanity, we end up fracturing ourselves. In order to become ‘whole,’ we must accept our humanity.

When we slide into a negative mindset, get curious about it. This helps to create some space from “I am negative” towards “I’m having a negative thought.” This space allows us to let go of defining ourselves as negative and realize “I’m human and I will have negative thoughts.”

Once this happens, we can then use the data of the negative thought to decide “do I want to keep going with this thought and mind state or do I want to consciously choose a different perspective and attitude?” This is pratipaksha bhavana.

One example of using pratipaksha bhavana is reminding oneself of choice. I look at my calendar for the day and think, “Argh, there’s so much I have to do today. All I want is to crawl back into bed” and then maybe some resentment comes up. I notice my negative attitude and examine it. I remind myself that I chose what is on my calendar and I created my schedule. Next, I ask myself why I chose to say ‘yes’ to those items, which connects me back to facts. Then, I ask myself, what perspective do you want to take today? What mindset do you want and what do you need to do to make that mindset happen? This is pratipaksha bhavana.

Choose One To Practice

There are many, many, many other Traditional Yoga practices that are focused on changing mindset. I like these two from Patanjali Yoga Sutras because they are practical and accessible to everyone. Like I mentioned, choose one of these to focus on for the next month and notice what happens!

Namaste.