Citta Vritti Nirodha in Practice — The Moment-to-Moment Application
The practical application of chitta vritti nirodha is not a permanent achievement but a moment-to-moment practice — the repeated, gentle returning of scattered awareness to its own still nature in every ordinary moment of life.
The great teaching of sutra 1.2 ('yogas chitta vritti nirodhah') is often misunderstood as a description of a final state to be achieved rather than a moment-to-moment practice. But Patanjali presents it as the very definition of yoga — meaning that any moment in which the mind's modifications are stilled, however briefly, is a moment of yoga. The practice is therefore not reserved for the meditation cushion but is available in every moment: the moment of returning attention from distraction to presence; the moment of releasing a reactive emotion to the clarity beneath it; the moment of letting go of an obsessive thought; the moment of genuine listening without mental commentary. Every one of these moments is nirodha — restraint of the vrittis — and every one of these moments is yoga as Patanjali defines it. The cumulative effect of thousands of such moments is the progressive stabilization of the Ekagra and Niruddha states.
Every moment of genuine presence is a moment of yoga.
Mindfulness researcher Jon Kabat-Zinn's definition of mindfulness as 'paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgmentally' is a direct secular parallel to Patanjali's chitta vritti nirodha — and the extensive clinical research documenting mindfulness's benefits provides empirical support for the universal applicability of this moment-to-moment practice.
Universal Wisdom