Patanjali uses the term “Nirodha” (निरोध), meaning restraint, cessation, or control, multiple times in the Yoga Sutras, particularly in relation to the definition and goal of yoga. One of the
In the unfolding journey of spiritual life, there comes a present moment when the shimmering ideal of awakening begins to take on the weight of reality. At first, we are filled with enthusiasm. We read Autobiography of a Yogi, we meditate with fresh devotion, and we long for the Real. But somewhere along the way, we enter what a friend recently called “the icky middle”—that strange, tender place where the early inspiration meets the work of transformation.