Essential Yoga Supplements??
No, I am not trying to sell you powders and pills.
No turmeric shots, mushroom coffee, ashwagandha gummies, ( No judgment if they’re in your kitchen—I have them too)
The supplements I’m talking about are internal. They don’t come in bottles or jars.
They are the yogic prescription for “when the going gets tough”. Times like now, when things may seem off-kilter, times of “adharma”, where right action seems to be collapsing, when truth can be hard to find in the web of distractions.
Here are the supplements according to the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: “Śraddhā-vīrya-smṛti-samādhi-prajñā-pūrvaka itareṣām” (I.20)
“Others (those not born with yogic mastery) proceed toward freedom through faith, energy, mindfulness, absorption, and wisdom.”
— B.K.S. Iyengar
These five qualities are the real yoga supplements—invisible but essential.
Let’s begin with the first two:
Śraddhā and Vīrya.
Śraddhā is FAITH. Not wishful thinking. Not blind belief. It is a steady, quiet trust in yoga itself—in the path, the process, and the promise that this work transforms us. It is faith in something greater than our current mood or the day’s uncertainty. It’s trust that, even when our practice feels dull or disrupted, it is still doing its work. It’s faith in the teachings, in the lineage, and in our own capacity to meet the path.This kind of faith becomes the ground we stand on.It brings us back when everything else feels scattered.
Vīrya is courage, energy and devotion.
It is sustained inner strength—fueled by enthusiasm, by love for the work, and by our commitment to truth.
It’s what helps us return—not with force, but with fire and resolve.
Patañjali places vīrya right after śraddhā because it gives faith momentum.
It allows us to act on what we believe in. It’s the quiet power that keeps us going, especially when things feel uncertain.
We don’t take these qualities once and move on. They are cultivated. Fed. Remembered.
They are essential.
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You’ve already tasted the benefits. You know what the practice gives you. The practice itself gifts us the qualities. It is the guide.
Let śraddhā root us. Let vīrya carry us forward.
I shared this sequence with these qualities in mind a couple of months ago when I need it to remember that I am resilient: https://youtu.be/sSoUyeIvu6s?si=P8A0omAJ-B93_Gox
Virasana, Hero’s Pose.