The Practice
Ashtanga Yoga Chants
The Ashtanga Yoga practice begins and ends with chanting.
This ritual is a way of returning to source. Through sound, we reconnect with the primordial vibration that underlies all practice. The opening chant is an invocation to the teachings themselves, passed down through an unbroken lineage of teacher to student, tracing back to the sage Patanjali.
By chanting before we move, we gather the mind, focus the energy, and set the right tone. This is what shifts the practice from mere exercise into a spiritual discipline.
At the end, we close with a mantra of dedication.
Whatever has been generated — effort, heat, breath, attention — is offered back. It is a reminder that the practice is not only for ourselves, but for all beings. For more love, more justice, more peace, and more harmony across all dimensions of existence.
This is why we practice.
And this is why we remember, again and again, at the end of every day.
Opening
Opening Mantra
Sanskrit
ॐ
वन्दे गुरूणां चरणारविन्दे
सन्दर्शित स्वात्मसुखावबोधे
निःश्रेयसे जाङ्गलिकायमाने
संसार हालाहल मोहशान्त्यै
आबाहु पुरुषाकारं
शङ्खचक्रासि धारिणम्
सहस्र शिरसं श्वेतं
प्रणमामि पतञ्जलिम्
ॐ
Transliteration
Oṃ
Vande gurūṇāṃ caraṇāravinde
Sandarśita svātmasukhāvabodhe
Niḥśreyase jāṅgalikāyamāne
Saṃsāra hālāhala mohaśāntyai
Ābāhu puruṣākāraṃ
Śaṅkhacakrāsi dhāriṇam
Sahasra śirasaṃ śvetaṃ
Praṇamāmi patañjalim
Oṃ
Translation
I bow to the lotus feet of the Gurus, who awaken the happiness of the self-revealed Self, who act like the jungle physician — providing refuge and pacifying the delusion of the poison of Samsara.
To Patanjali — who takes the form of a man from the shoulders up, holding a conch (divine sound), a discus (wheel of time), and a sword (discrimination) — white, with a thousand heads as the divine serpent Ananta. To Patanjali, I salute.
Commentary
The opening chant is an act of gratitude — to the lineage, to the teachers, and to Patanjali, the sage who codified the science of yoga. The reference to the "jungle physician" is not metaphor alone: it speaks to yoga as medicine, and to the teacher as one who treats the root cause of suffering. We chant before we move so that what follows is not exercise, but practice.
Closing
Mangala Mantra
Sanskrit
ॐ
स्वस्ति प्रजाभ्यः परिपालयन्तां
न्यायेन मार्गेण महीं महीशाः
गोब्राह्मणेभ्यः शुभमस्तु नित्यं
लोकाः समस्ताः सुखिनो भवन्तु
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Transliteration
Oṃ
Svasti prajābhyaḥ paripālayantāṃ
Nyāyena mārgeṇa mahīṃ mahīśāḥ
Gobrāmaṇebhyaḥ śubhamastu nityaṃ
Lokāḥ samastāḥ sukhino bhavantu
Oṃ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ
Translation
May all be well with mankind. May the leaders of the earth protect the world by keeping to the right path. May there be goodness for those who know the earth to be sacred. May all the worlds be happy.
Om peace, peace, peace.
Commentary
The closing mantra is an offering. Everything generated in the practice — the heat, the breath, the effort, the attention — is dedicated outward. Not kept. Not accumulated. Given. The three repetitions of śāntiḥ address the three layers of disturbance: that which comes from the world, that which comes from the body, and that which comes from within the mind. We close by wishing peace to all three.