Finding Freedom Through Practice: A Book Review of Practicing the Yoga Sutras by Carroll Ann Friedmann

A Fresh Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

In the preface of her excellent new book, Practicing the Yoga Sutras: A Personal Study Guide & Journal, Carroll Ann Friedmann writes, “There are so many published works about the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Why do we need another one?” She provides a compelling answer, aiming to help students engage with the sutras in a way that is both intelligent and deeply personal. 

For those who have been traveling along the path of yoga for years or those just coming to the trailhead, Friedmann’s book is a resource and, as promised, an opportunity to make the ancient wisdom of yoga relevant and accessible in the present moment. 

An Invitation to Make the Book Our Own

“This is meant to be a personal book. Please make it your own,” she writes. I am a big fan of making a book “my own” by highlighting, underlining, scribbling, and sticking Post-it flags throughout. In the introduction to the book, Ms. Friedmann offers a short list of suggestions as the reader prepares to study, including:

• Choose a half hour each day at the same time, preferably in the morning.
• Choose a quiet, clean spot with good light and no distractions.
• Work through the text in order. 

Friedmann also offers instruction on setting a Sankalpa, a heartfelt intention to focus on a particular goal. So, considering my Sankalpa, I began my study guided by Friedmann, Sri Swami Satchidananda, and the sage Patanjali. From this early point in the opening of her book, she prepares us for the “mind to push back, much like a child or puppy might when faced with loving discipline.” She lays the foundation for us to approach the work with resolve and compassion. 

Unlike purely academic texts, this workbook beautifully intertwines translation, interpretation, and reflective journaling prompts, inviting us to examine personal obstacles and intentions with tenderness and loving discipline as we work our way through the book. 

Essential Yogic Concepts for Studying the Yoga Sutras

To give us a backdrop for our study of the Yoga Sutras, she teaches several yogic concepts in the introduction to her book: 

• Yoga is a path of action and should be practiced to be understood
• Yoga relieves the pain of existence. 
• The cause of suffering is the mind. 
• Purusha and Prakriti
• The Gunas

After each brief lesson, she provides reflections, questions, and a “writing bubble” for answering these prompts through writing, doodling, or drawing. She sets the tone for making her book a commentary and a self-help guide. I suspect Ms. Friedmann also enjoys using highlighters, good pens, and Post-it flags.

Learning the Yoga Sutras Step by Step

Practicing the Yoga Sutras is a companion to the eightfold path of Patanjali’s Yoga, inviting us to experience our potential for freedom step by step. We read each sutra first in Sanskrit transliteration, then learn the meaning of each word. Next, we discover the sutra in English (Friedmann uses translations of Sri Swami Satchidananda), unpack it, and expand upon its wisdom and meaning with Friedmann as our guide.

Her commentary and reflections are clear and insightful. She uses metaphor, storytelling, and references to musicians or their lyrics to illuminate meaning. Especially when getting into padas 3 and 4, Ms. Friedmann’s skill as a teacher shines. She instructs, reminds, clarifies, and defines. She explains and, a little bit later, explains again.

Practicing the Yoga Sutras

Friedmann illuminates the path of classical yoga, weaving her personal experience into teachings that are both accessible and profound. She shows us how to apply the wisdom of the Yoga Sutras to our own lives. With her guidance, the text becomes more than a philosophy to study; it becomes a practical philosophy, an invitation to “understand the cause of our suffering and to actively search for a remedy in yoga.”

She is thorough and generous in her commentary. She doesn’t rush. She wants us to apply these concepts and takes the time to ensure we fully understand them. 

With the wisdom of Patanjali’s terse instruction clarified, we discover the possibilities; the aims of yoga may be within reach if our practice is “well-attended-to for a long time, without break, and in all earnestness (1.14).”

Finding Freedom in Each Moment

As I reviewed all of the highlights and comments I had made during my first reading of Practicing the Yoga Sutras, I found myself eager to reread and recommend the book to anyone interested in diving into yoga philosophy and the roots of yoga practice. You might spend months of half-hour-a-day sessions to work through it all—and then find yourself returning to it for years to come. Each time you open the book, you will start again in the now; you may quiet your mind enough to experience how this ‘now’ truly is all. As Friedmann states, “Patanjali’s ‘now’ (atha) of the first sutra culminates with it, which means ‘this is all.’ When we live in atha, we find iti. This is the joy and freedom of yoga.”

For yogis and seekers of truth, Practicing the Yoga Sutras is an invaluable and resonant resource. Carroll Ann Friedmann’s compassionate guidance offers a path to understanding and applying the wisdom of the Yoga Sutras in a profoundly personal way. Whether new to these teachings or looking to further your longstanding practice, this book promises a transformative journey. Find a good pen, sit down with your book and a cup of tea, and discover how you can bring the principles of the sutras to life.