Excerpts from Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
interpreted by Mukunda Stiles

II, 28
By sustained practice
of all the component parts of yoga,
the impurities dwindle away
and wisdom's radiant light
shines forth
with discriminative knowledge.

II, 29
Yoga's eight component parts
are self-control
for social harmony,
precepts
for personal discipline,
yoga pose,
regulation of prana,
withdrawal of the senses from their objects,
contemplation of our True Nature,
meditation on the True Self,
and being absorbed in Spirit.

II, 46
Yoga pose
is a steady
and comfortable position.

II, 47
Yoga pose is mastered
by relaxation of effort,
lessening
the natural tendency
for restlessness,
and promoting an identification
of oneself as living
within
the infinite stream of life.

II, 48
From that
perfection of yoga posture,
duality,
such as reacting to praise and criticism,
ceases
to be a disturbance.

II, 49
When this is acquired
then pranayama naturally follows
with a cessation
of the movements
of inspiration and expiration.

II, 50
The vacillations of breath
are either external,
internal, or stationary,
they may be regulated
three ways:
by location, time, or number;
then they will become
prolonged and subtle.

II, 51
In a fourth method
of regulating one's breath,
it is extended
into the Divine Life Force
and prana
is felt permeating everywhere,
transcending the attention
given to either
external or internal objects.

II, 52
As a result
of this pran-ayama,
the veil obscuring the radiant
Supreme light of the inner Self
dissolves.

II, 53
And as a result,
the mind becomes fit
for the process of contemplation
of the True Self.