Samadhi-siddhir ishvara-pranidhanat

By total surrender to the supreme being, one achieves happiness

Yoga Sutras, aphorism II.45

And here we go with the 5th niyama or principle that the yoga practitioner applies for himself on his journey to samadhi - the ultimate happiness.

Ishvara often translates to the Divine, but this term is not limited to the religious meaning of the word. It is much more a term that includes the energy of life or what encompasses all lives.

Pranidhana on the other hand translates into abandonment or devotion. In a limited sense, it could then be possible to understand that the 5th niyama put forward by Patanjali includes only the fact of devoting oneself or surrendering oneself to God in order to attain supreme happiness.

Obviously, this niyama - which seems to be one of the most important principles in the Yoga Sutras since it is quoted 4 times - has a much greater purpose.

Trust and let go

The idea is much more than the practitioner understands that there is something greater (the Higher Self, the universe, God, the life energy, call it whatever you want) than its individuality, that he is a part of it and that he carries a spark of it.

It is therefore a question here of transcending one's ego - which often lives too much in the future and who wants to control everything. To let go, by being confident in the fact that this thing which is greater than us will guide us on the right path, for our good.

It is then possible to surrender, to let go and let our intuition guide us, without wanting to control the results of our actions.

So the more we trust this thing that is beyond us, the more our ego calms down. The more our ego calms down, the more we can live in the present moment. We can then simply welcome and appreciate what life brings us and approach samadhi.

As Deborah Adele says in her book Yamas & Niyamas, "Life knows what to do better than we do. Our task is simply to let go and accept every moment with an open heart and dance skillfully with it " whithout being limited by our ego.

How to apply the 5th niyama on the mat

There is many ways to apply this 5th principle on the mat.

For example, you can accept to not push your body beyond its limits or simply follow the teacher's instructions to the letter without asking yourself any questions in order to allow your ego to be silent.

You can also dedicate your practice to someone other than yourself or sing the OM sound that carries all the particles of the world in it: you will be able to unite with what surrounds you.

How to apply the 5th niyama in your everyday life

I have to say that, in our everyday life, letting go is not easy, because our mind has this tendency to always be active and to analyze situations to control what will happen in the future.

Letting yourself be carried away by life by trusting it and staying in the present moment is therefore quite a challenge.

However, there is one thing that we can do to begin: when we do something, we can do it as best as we can and with all our heart by appreciating what we do to get there, without worrying about the results.

Simply put, the best way to apply this principle is to enjoy the present moment!