Yoga Sutra I.33

maitri karuna mudita upekshanam sukha duhka punya apunya vishayanam bhavanatah chitta prasadanam

“Through cultivation of friendliness, compassion, joy, and indifference to pleasure and pain, virtue and vice, respectively, the consciousness becomes favorably disposed, serene, and benevolent.”

BKS Iyengar translation

Distractions and obstacles arise on the path of yoga. Patanjali gives a 4-part remedy to overcome those obstacles and create a lucid mind.

The four attitudes given in Yoga Sutra I.33 are a means of using yoga as an engaged social action in the world. I like to think of them as the ancient version of emotional intelligence. Likening them to the four chambers of the heart, BKS Iyengar mentions how they facilitate the goal of yoga which is balancing the intelligence of the head with that of the heart. These attitudes help cultivate meaningful relationships with ourselves and others and help to create lucidity in the mind. When the mind becomes more sattvic then it can become steady. These 4 attitudes: maitri (friendliness), karuna (compassion), mudita (joy), and upeksa (equanimity) help remove rajastic and tamasic qualities like envy, desire to inflict harm, and intolerance.  They help us attain peace by lessening our attachment to always satisfying the senses.

We do yoga by the body for the mind. Have you ever thought about what is the essence or constitution of an asana? Prashant Iyengar encourages use to try to taste the essence of the pose, rather than just focusing on the actions to achieve the shape of the pose.

Here are a few poses that I think are representative of these four attitudes:

Urdhva Prasarita Padasana = Maitri (Are we friendly first and foremost with ourselves? Can we be curious and observe with an attitude of friendliness instead of judgment?)

Dandasana = Karuna (Can we learn to sit with other’s pain without trying to fix it or solve their problems? Sometimes this can be uncomfortable. Yoga, like life, is not always comfortable)

Setu Bandha Sarvangasana= Mudita (Does opening the heart to others' joy allow us to delight in others’ success as if it were our own?)

Parsvottanasana = Equanimity (Can we not only be indifferent to others who have made poor choices, but can we look inward to reflect on how we might have acted when faced with similar circumstances?)

What are some other asanas that you think embody these four attitudes?

“The yogi understands the faults of others by seeing and studying them first in themself. This self-study teaches the yogi to be charitable to all.” BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga