The Path of the Yoga Sutras - by Nicolai Bachman (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

One of the great gifts of the yogic path is that it returns us to a life of simplicity, even as we go about our lives in a world of growing complexity. Through practice, we ultimately find the freedom to be who we really are, and allow others do the same.
This was Patañjali's original intention when he penned his legendary sutras. But when a text is over 2,000 years old, important things can get lost in translation. For today's yoga student looking to take their practice "off the mat and into the world," Nicolai Bachman presents The Path of the Yoga Sutras.
By organizing the sutras into 51 core concepts that support the Western student in germinating and blossoming these potent "seed" teachings, Bachman has created a breakthrough tool for integrating yoga philosophy and practice, whatever your level of experience.

Review Quotes

"Author Nicolai Bachman came to study the Yoga Sutras from a background in yoga asana (postures), meditation, and an expert knowledge of Sanskrit language. In his introduction to The Path of the Yoga Sutras, he provides background information about Patanjali, the Yoga Sutras, and yoga as a method of transforming the way we think, communicate and act, by directing our attention inward and cultivating contentment, clarity, and peace of mind.

His approach is refreshing. Rather than commenting on 195 sutras consecutively, he offers 51 concepts in five parts: key principles, understanding suffering, outer behavior, personal practices, and inner development. Each concept is explained in a chapter. While the concepts can be understood singly, the chapters are ordered so that the concepts reinforce and build upon each other, and reading the book this way is beneficial.

Language lovers will delight in the derivations and breakdowns of the Sanskrit words for the concepts in The Path of the Yoga Sutras....

Author Bachman asserts, "Yoga... is all about independent thinking." The Path of the Yoga Sutras: A Practical Guide to the Core of Yoga is for everyone who is willing to contemplate and apply today the principles Pantanjali provided so long ago." --NY Journal of Books

About the Author

Nicolai Bachman
Nicolai Bachman grew up a very curious introvert whose father and grandfather both had a philosophical mindset. After studying hard-style, then soft-style martial arts, he began learning yoga postures, then meditation, and then encountered Ayurveda, which was not well-known in America in 1991. He followed his heart, quit his job, and spent the next several years studying Ayurveda, Sanskrit, chanting, and yoga philosophy with the best teachers he could find. Every science/practice from India that he was exposed to drew him deeper into the wonderful matrix of Vedic wisdom. Along the way, Nicolai earned formal credentials in the form of an MA in Eastern Philosophy, an MS in Nutrition, and an E-RYT 500 registration.

Nicolai studied extensively in mostly one-on-one or small-class environments at the American Sanskrit Institute, the Ayurvedic Institute, the American Institute of Vedic Studies, and the Vedic Chant Center. His education combines informal, traditional study with the academic rigor of university classes. He has a knack for synthesizing and organizing complex topics into simple and understandable presentations, expressed in the classes he teaches and in his publications which include The Language of Yoga, The Path of the Yoga Sutras, The Language of Ayurveda, The Language of Jyotisha, and 108 Sanskrit Flash Cards. Nicolai actively teaches to groups and individuals both virtually and in-person. Learn more at sanskritsounds.com.