12.2 Yoga Sutras, Yamas, Niyamas, and Kleshas
Key Takeaways
- The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali are a short sutra text in four padas (Samadhi, Sadhana, Vibhuti, Kaivalya); 200-hour programs teach selected sutras, not a claim that you have mastered every commentary.
- The five yamas at 2.30 are ahimsa, satya, asteya, brahmacharya, and aparigraha—restraints toward others and the shared world, practiced in teaching scenarios, not only recited.
- The five niyamas at 2.32 are saucha, santosha, tapas, svadhyaya, and ishvara pranidhana; tapas, svadhyaya, and ishvara pranidhana also appear together as kriya yoga at 2.1.
- The five kleshas at 2.3 are avidya, asmita, raga, dvesha, and abhinivesha; avidya is the field in which the others grow (2.4).
- Philosophy depth on kleshas lives here; the Pranayama and Subtle Body chapter already defined the five names so that competency list is complete.
What the Yoga Sutras are (and how far 200 hours goes)
The Yoga Sutras are a classical Sanskrit text attributed to Patanjali. Scholarly dating is usually given as a range around the early centuries CE rather than a single birthday. The work is a string of short sutras (aphorisms). Many classroom editions count 196 sutras; some number 195. Do not invent a Yoga Alliance-required memorization quota. Yoga Alliance's Philosophy competency asks for familiarity with major texts, including the Yoga Sutras, and for a definition of yoga and key terms. Your RYS chooses which sutras you chant, journal, or hear in lecture.
Four padas (quarters, books) organize the text:
| Pada | Common English | What 200-hour trainees usually meet |
|---|---|---|
| Samadhi Pada | Book on absorption | 1.2–1.4 (definition and the seer), practice and non-clinging, types of vrtti |
| Sadhana Pada | Book on practice | Kriya yoga (2.1), kleshas (2.3–2.4), eight limbs (2.29), yamas (2.30), niyamas (2.32), asana (2.46) |
| Vibhuti Pada | Book on powers / accomplishments | Samyama language; siddhi warnings—survey only at 200 hours |
| Kaivalya Pada | Book on aloneness / liberation | The aim of the path in classical language; not a studio rank |
Independent OpenExamPrep study covers this map for school written tests, oral definitions, and teaching journals. It is not a Yoga Alliance national exam, not a certificate that you completed a graduate Sanskrit program, and not the ISSA Yoga 200-Hour product.
Kriya yoga at 2.1 is a compact practice formula many schools test because it reuses three niyamas: tapas (disciplined heat), svadhyaya (self-study, including study of teachings), and ishvara pranidhana (surrender to Ishvara / a higher principle). If a question asks for kriya yoga's three parts, do not answer with the five yamas.
Five yamas, with teaching scenarios
Yoga Sutra 2.30 lists five yamas. They are restraints or ethical disciplines toward other people, other beings, and the shared field—not a personality quiz you pass once.
| Yama | Common English | Teaching scenario a 200-hour program expects you to reason through |
|---|---|---|
| Ahimsa | Non-harming | You want a "full" class photo. A student is shaking in a deep knee fold. Ahimsa is backing off the depth, offering a prop, and not shaming them for "giving up." |
| Satya | Truthfulness | Your bio says "RYT 500" after a 200-hour certificate. Satya is correcting the credential, not hoping no one checks. |
| Asteya | Non-stealing | You use another teacher's sequence, playlist, and jokes as your own brand launch. Asteya includes not stealing labor, credit, or a student's class time for your audition. |
| Brahmacharya | Right use of energy; classical chastity / sexual responsibility | You feel a crush on a student and start lingering adjustments. Brahmacharya here is not a lecture on everyone else's dating life; it is containing sexual and attention energy so the role stays clean (Ethics and Scope of Practice chapters go further). |
| Aparigraha | Non-grasping, non-hoarding | You talk for twelve minutes about your retreat so the room cannot rest. Aparigraha is not grabbing status, student data, or more poses than the hour can hold. |
Work each yama as a behavior in the role, not as a verdict on a stranger's soul.
- Ahimsa includes speech and pacing. Forcing a student into pain to protect your sequencing pride is harm. So is mocking a body in the demo. Ahimsa does not mean never offering a strong class; it means the strength is chosen and reversible.
- Satya includes how you name sources. If you paraphrase a sutra, say so. If you do not know whether a student should stop a medication, satya is "that is outside my scope," not a confident guess.
- Asteya includes attention. Filling silence with your autobiography can steal the practice the student paid for.
- Brahmacharya is the precept trainees either joke about or turn into a purity campaign. At 200 hours, hold both facts: many commentaries translate it as celibacy or sexual restraint for a monastic context, and contemporary trainings also teach it as wise use of vital energy and strict sexual-professional boundaries. You do not get to rewrite the Sanskrit to dodge the boundary, and you do not get to police students' private lives from the mat.
- Aparigraha shows up in props (not hoarding every bolster), in fees (not inventing surprise charges), and in cues (not stacking peak after peak because you cannot tolerate a simple pose).
Yoga Alliance's Ethics competency will ask how yogic precepts relate to the Ethical Commitment. Do not wait for that chapter to start practicing yamas. Philosophy already requires you to know the five names and apply them.
Five niyamas, with teaching scenarios
Yoga Sutra 2.32 lists five niyamas. They turn toward how you live with yourself as a practitioner and teacher.
| Niyama | Common English | Teaching scenario |
|---|---|---|
| Saucha | Cleanliness, purity | You teach back-to-back classes on a borrowed mat you never wipe, then cue "cleanse the body" as poetry. Saucha starts with the room, the mat, the microphone, and the stories you recycle about students. |
| Santosha | Contentment | A classmate is praised for a demonstration. You rewrite your whole self-worth. Santosha is studying that itch without pretending you must never want to improve. |
| Tapas | Heat, discipline, the willingness to stay with the difficult | You skip the assigned observation hours because the lectures felt like enough. Tapas is showing up for the unglamorous repetitions—not punishing the body with unsafe heat. |
| Svadhyaya | Self-study and study of teachings | You assign students a theme you have never journaled. Svadhyaya is reading a short commentary and noticing your own reactivity before you export a slogan. |
| Ishvara pranidhana | Surrender to Ishvara / a higher principle | A class does not go as planned. Instead of dominating the room to protect your image, you release the script and teach what is in front of you. |
Ishvara language is theistic in many commentaries and more open in others (a chosen ideal, the teacher within, God). A 200-hour teacher does not force a deity onto a public class. You can still practice surrender as releasing the demand to control every outcome. Students who do not share your metaphysics keep their practice.
Tapas is not the same as overheating a room until someone faints. Classical tapas is the heat of consistent practice. If your school's hatha or hot-yoga method uses temperature, that is a methodology choice you still run through ahimsa and contraindications.
Five kleshas in philosophy depth
The Pranayama and Subtle Body chapter defined the five kleshas because Yoga Alliance lists them in that competency. This is the philosophy neighborhood: surrounding sutras, relationship to kriya yoga, and classroom ethics.
Yoga Sutra 2.3 names five afflictions that color experience. Sutra 2.4 is commonly taught as: avidya is the field or soil of the others, whether they are dormant, weak, interrupted, or active.
- Avidya — ignorance or mis-seeing. Not "lack of a diploma." Taking a passing sensation, a story, or a role as the whole truth. In teaching: believing "this student is lazy" when the student is in pain, or believing "I am a failure" because one demo wobbled.
- Asmita — I-am-ness; confusing the seer with the seen. "I am my flexible hamstrings" and "I am my injury" are both asmita. A teacher who needs the room to confirm they are the wisest person in zip code is teaching from asmita.
- Raga — attachment to pleasure or to what used to feel good. Chasing only the peak pose, only the students who adore you, only the playlist that got applause.
- Dvesha — aversion to what feels unpleasant. Refusing every hip opener because last week was intense; snapping at the one student who asks you to repeat a cue.
- Abhinivesha — clinging to life, fear of death, or the deep wish that this self not end. Classroom-scale versions: panic in a new inversion, inability to close the eyes, or a teacher who cannot end class on time because ending feels like disappearing.
Teaching scenarios that stay inside scope:
- A student refuses a supine rest and calls it "lazy." You may name raga for intensity and dvesha toward stillness as patterns the tradition describes. You may not diagnose depression. If distress looks clinical, you refer out.
- You feel insulted when a student uses a chair. Asmita is the klesha to journal, not a reason to take away the chair.
- A trainee treats kleshas as a way to blame a student for an injury ("your aversion caused your knee"). That is avidya wearing spiritual clothing. Biomechanics and Scope of Practice still apply.
Kriya yoga (tapas, svadhyaya, ishvara pranidhana) is taught as a practical counter to the kleshas: stay with the work, study what is actually happening, and stop making the ego the author of every result. The eight limbs as a whole are also taught as the longer means. You do not need to settle scholarly debates about whether kriya yoga and ashtanga are two strata in the text. You do need both lists on a school exam.
Assessment traps:
- Swapping yamas and niyamas (saucha is a niyama; ahimsa is a yama).
- Listing the five koshas or five vayus when asked for kleshas.
- Treating brahmacharya as permission to discuss students' sex lives in class.
- Claiming Yoga Alliance grades your kleshas on a national score sheet.
Cite the text you actually used. If your school taught Swami Satchidananda, Edwin Bryant, or another commentary, say that on a source line. Familiarity is not pretending you wrote the sutra.
A teacher fills the last ten minutes of a paid class with an unplanned sales story about their retreat, so students never reach a rest. Which yama is most directly in play?
Which statement correctly places the five kleshas in Yoga Sutras study?
A trainee feels bitter after a classmate is praised and then journals, on purpose, about wanting approval to decide their worth. Which niyama is that journal most directly practicing?