ARTICLE AD
Of course, Patanjali doesn’t stop with practice alone. In Yoga Sutra 1.12, it explores how a steady mind is cultivated through both abhyasa and vairagya.
If abhyasa is a wholehearted effort, vairagya is the willingness to let go. It is releasing attachment to outcomes, expectations, and the stories we create about what our practice should look like.
Without vairagya, our effort can become another achievement to chase. We begin measuring ourselves by how often we practice, how flexible we’ve become, or whether we’re progressing quickly enough. The very practice meant to steady the mind becomes another place where the mind creates expectations.
This teaching invites us to explore the balance between effort and ease. Some days we naturally lean toward discipline, while other days we crave softness. Yoga reminds us that both are necessary.
B.K.S. Iyengar described these principles as two wings of the same bird:
“A bird cannot fly with one wing. In the same way, we need the two wings of abhyasa and vairagya to soar.”
This idea also echoes another foundational teaching in yoga: sthira and sukha. Sthira offers steadiness, while sukha offers ease. Just as every posture invites us to balance stability with spaciousness, our inner practice asks us to balance effort with letting go.
