#121 Dharma, Sequence & Daily Practice
Sutras 3.14 & 3.15
One of the blessings of the work I do as a Yoga Sutras teacher is that I’m constantly revisiting and reabsorbing the very teachings I share. Right now, I have a different group studying the Yoga Sutras every day of the week - except Saturday, which is my one day off!
Monday mornings begin with my Yoga Sutra Recovery group—a small, intimate container for spiritual sobriety. In this space, we explore twelve practices I’ve selected from Patanjali’s Sutras. This week, we looked at the vrittis, or thought waves—the fluctuations of the mind.
✍🏽 Next round begins in September. Save your spot here: Yoga Sutra Recovery
Mondays, Thursdays/Fridays, and Sundays, I meet with my Yoga Sutra Community, a drop-in space open to all levels. Monday nights are meditation circles, and this week we explored asmita, the ego.
🌱 You can join us anytime here: Sutra Community
Tuesdays through Fridays, I meet with four different Yoga Sutra Study cohorts—ideal for intermediate students already familiar with the Sutras. We’re diving into the 196 sutras one by one. With each group at a different point in the text, I’ve gotten used to holding many chapters of the book in my mind at once!
📘 Next cohort begins in August: Yoga Sutra Study
Sundays are reserved for Advanced Sutra Study—a group of students who have completed the foundational work and are ready for deeper philosophical conversations and Sanskrit chanting.
🕉️ Next round starts Wednesday, August 6th: Connect, Chant, Contemplate
This week, two Sutras in particular stood out for me, and I wanted to share them with you.
Sutra 3.14 — The Nature That Holds All Change
Sanskrit:
Sanodita-avyapadesya-dharmanupati dharmi
Translation:
The past, present, and future are all natures that originate from a single nature.
This sutra invites us to recognize that all change - what’s ended, what’s rising, what hasn’t yet been named - is held by one underlying essence: dharmi, the container of transformation.
It reminded me of the deeper dharma of my own life:
Princess (my cat) was meant to be with me for a specific time.
Rory and I were always meant to find each other.
Even the traumatic events that happened to me this year were part of a higher purpose or plan to get me to the place I am now.
Everything belongs. Everything is held.
The dharmi weaves it all together.
Sutra 3.15 — The Power of Sequence
Sanskrit:
Kramanyatvam parinamanyateve hetuh
Translation:
The reason distinct changes happen is because of an underlying change in life’s sequence.
This sutra speaks to the sacredness of timing. When we’re following the sequence, the changes are obvious. For example, if you’ve been following my journey, you’d know it was always my dream to move to Bali. But for someone who didn’t follow my journey, for example someone I went to high school with, they might find it shocking that I’m now a yoga teacher living in Bali after being a party girl that they knew in high school.
To someone who doesn’t know who Rory is, it might seem shocking that he moved in on our first date and never left. But to those who’ve followed the sequence - who know the story step-by-step - it makes perfect sense.
Sutra 3.15 is saying, everything unfolds in its own perfect rhythm.
This entire section that my advanced group looked at yesterday - which includes everything from Sutras 3.9 to 3.16 - describes the transformation of the mind from distraction, to stillness, to deep inner knowing.
It’s a reminder that when we stay the course, we begin to see the meaning behind the sequence.
And what a gift it is to teach this every day.