Day 62: The Four Paths of Yoga: A Journey Through Healing
Union with the Divine
TW: Sexual Assault
Yoga is union with the divine, yet in the modern world, it is often misunderstood as merely stretching or exercise. In reality, yoga is a philosophical and spiritual path that offers different approaches to enlightenment, each suited to different personalities and temperaments.
I teach these pathways in depth in my Online 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training (March 2025) and In-Person 200-Hour Yoga Teacher Training in Bali (July 2025).
The four main paths of yoga are:
Bhakti Yoga – The yoga of devotion. For those who find solace in prayer, surrender, and love for the divine.
Jnana Yoga – The yoga of wisdom. A path for intellectual seekers who attain knowledge through scriptures and self-inquiry.
Karma Yoga – The yoga of action. A path of selfless service, where enlightenment is found through work and duty.
Raja Yoga – The royal path of meditation and discipline. Rooted in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, it includes the eight limbs of yoga and emphasizes stilling the mind.
These four pathways are not separate; they weave together, supporting one another. Each day of my healing process has been a practice in all four paths.
Karma Yoga: Healing Through Action
Today, I knew I had entered a new phase of healing because, for the first time, life felt almost... normal.
I slept for seven uninterrupted hours.
I completed a full workday.
I had long conversations that weren’t about him or what had happened.
I reflected on this shift and realized it was the actions I took in the physical worldyesterday that helped me move forward. This is Karma Yoga—the yoga of action.
Every conscious action I took yesterday was in service of healing:
I started my day at the water temple, praying and cleansing.
I went to the police station (attempted to file a report).
I went to the an embassy (attempted to file a report).
I reached out to an NGO in Bali to raise awareness about date rape drugs being used on the island.
I worked through my trauma with my counselor, engaging in a structured process of release.
I had deep conversations with the important men in my life—my dad, my uncle, my colleague Rory, and my Balinese brother Kadek.
Because of these Karma Yoga actions, I stepped into a new stage of healing.
Raja Yoga & Jnana Yoga: The Discipline of Study
Raja Yoga is the yoga of discipline, meditation, and self-mastery—it is the path outlined by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras.
It includes:
✔ Yama & Niyama (ethical principles and self-discipline)
✔ Asana (physical postures)
✔ Pranayama (breathwork)
✔ Pratyahara, Dharana, Dhyana (stages of meditation)
✔ Samadhi (ultimate consciousness)
Right now, my Raja Yoga practice includes:
Daily meditation
Daily asana (movement)
Daily breathwork
Teaching and studying the Yoga Sutras
Raja Yoga overlaps with Jnana Yoga, the path of wisdom and knowledge. Every time I study yoga philosophy or teach my Sutra Studies class, I am practicing Jnana Yoga.
Yesterday, in one of my Yoga Sutra Study classes, we explored different meditation techniques outlined in Sutras 1.33 - 1.39.
One of my favorite sutras, Sutra 1.33, became especially relevant:
Sutra 1.33
"maitri karuna mudito upeksana sukha duhkha punya apunya visayanam bhavantah citta prasadanam"
This sutra teaches that a peaceful mind is cultivated through four attitudes:
Friendliness toward those who are happy
Compassion for those who are suffering
Goodwill toward those who are successful
Indifference toward those we perceive as evil
Patanjali warns that animosity (vyadhi) disturbs the mind and blocks meditation from working. To heal, we must let go of jealousy, envy, judgment, and hate.
When I spoke to my uncle, he said:
"You seem to be doing well despite everything."
And I responded:
"Honestly, if this had happened ten years ago, it would have destroyed me. But I have so much knowledge and so much support right now."
Yoga philosophy has given me the tools to reframe my thinking—transforming pain into wisdom, fear into resilience.
Bhakti Yoga: Devotion as Healing
Bhakti Yoga is devotional yoga, the path of surrendering to the divine through prayer, chanting, and love.
My Bhagavad Gita class with my teacher Anvita was the highlight of my day.
She explained how the Mahabharata—the epic from which the Bhagavad Gita comes—is a story about war. But the Gita itself is different: it is the moment where God enters the story.
Unlike Patanjali’s direct and structured approach, the Bhagavad Gita unfolds as a narrative—a conversation between Krishna and Arjuna. It is poetry, storytelling, and philosophy combined.
Anvita shared a profound teaching from Krishna to Arjuna:
"Unfortunately, on earth, there are bad people. As yoga practitioners, we live in a fairytale world where we believe everyone is good. But Krishna teaches Arjuna, ‘I need to ground you in this reality: some people are evil, and you must take protective measures. You have such a good heart that you might just assume that everyone is good, like you. But they’re not. And you might be wondering, ‘why would he do that? I would never do that.’"
I interrupted her and said:
"Yeah, like why would he drug and rape someone? Because I wouldn’t drug and rape someone."
We both laughed.
I have to poke fun at what happened to me or else it’s just too horrific.
Laughter is the medicine.
Krishna explains to Arjuna that the world operates under the influence of the three gunas:
Rajas – Anxiety, restlessness, mania.
Tamas – Depression, lethargy, darkness.
Sattva – Balance, peace, clarity.
Our minds start in a sattvic state when we’re born—but life, trauma, and experiences pull us into rajas or tamas.
The work of yoga is to return to sattva—to re-center ourselves.
The Practice of Remembering
Ultimately, all of this—the Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita, meditation, chanting—is a practice of remembering that we are a soul, inside a body. This is my soul’s journey that I’m experiencing right now.
I wrote the other day:
"I am in the practice of remembering that I am a soul placed inside a body. This body may have experienced trauma, but my soul is something separate."
This is the wisdom that saves me.
And today, I can feel it:
My nervous system is slowing down.
My fingers are crossed that I’ll have another full night of sleep.
My soul is back in my body.
This is yoga in its truest form—not just physical postures, but a lifelong path of devotion, wisdom, action, and practice.
Upcoming Programs:
200 Hour YTT Online : Starts March 25. https://www.themindfullifepractice.com/online-200-hour-yoga-teacher-training
Yoga Sutra Study (Online): Starts March 23.
https://www.themindfullifepractice.com/yoga-sutra-study
200-Hour YTT (In-Person): July 7–27, 2025
https://www.themindfullifepractice.com/bali-200-hour
300-Hour YTT (In-Person): September 1–18, 2025
https://www.themindfullifepractice.com/2025-300-hour-ytt-in-bali