"In the second chapter of the Yoga Sutras, Patanjali begins his discussion on how to practice yoga with the word tapas -and he's not talking about Spanish cuisine! Sometimes tapas is translated as "learning from our suffering," but it basically means "to burn" in the way that you might burn away impurities by heating gold. This is why I often call yoga a form of alchemy."
"Tapas is mentioned again as the third aspect of niyama, which is the second limb of yoga's eight-limbed path. With this focus on tapas, Patanjali is making a life-altering statement about the value of our suffering. We can transform our pain through the alchemy of yoga. That doesn't mean we use spiritual bypassing to avoid suffering. It means that by experiencing the pain, and understanding why we're suffering, we can become wiser and eventually experience more peace."
Patanjali introduces tapas as a central practice within kriya yoga and niyama, defining tapas as a burning away of impurities akin to heating gold. Tapas pairs with svadhyaya and ishvara pranidhana as transformative practices. The practice requires experiencing and sitting with pain rather than avoiding it, and investigating the reasons behind suffering. Honest self-discipline and reflection can transmute pain into wisdom and greater peace. Tapas demands willingness and courage and can be more challenging than advanced physical asana, emphasizing inner work over mere technique.
Read at Yoga Journal
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