Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras stand as a concise manual of classical, or Rāja, Yoga, whose central concern is the stilling of the mind and the attainment of liberation. The text lays out an eight-limbed path (aṣṭāṅga) that gives equal importance to ethical foundations (yama and niyama), posture (āsana), breath regulation (prāṇāyāma), sense-withdrawal (pratyāhāra), concentration (dhāraṇā), meditation (dhyāna), and absorption (samādhi). Within this system, āsana is treated briefly and primarily as a stable, comfortable seat suitable for sustained meditation, rather than as a complex repertoire of physical exercises. The overarching goal is kaivalya, the isolation or liberation of consciousness from the fluctuations that bind it to suffering.

Modern yoga, by contrast, tends to revolve around elaborate sequences of āsanas, often oriented toward physical fitness, flexibility, stress reduction, and general well-being. While many contemporary styles invoke Patañjali’s authority—sometimes through chants, references to the eight limbs, or the language of “stilling the mind”—the practical emphasis commonly rests on the body rather than on the full spectrum of disciplines outlined in the Sūtras. Ethical observances and the deeper meditative limbs are frequently minimized or left implicit, even though the classical framework regards them as integral steps toward samādhi. In this sense, modern postural yoga can be seen as both an heir to and a departure from Patañjali’s vision.

Yet the thread connecting the two remains visible. The Sūtras provide a philosophical and psychological backbone for those modern practitioners and schools that seek more than physical benefit, offering a map of the mind, its disturbances, and the possibility of their cessation. Practices such as prāṇāyāma, concentration, and meditation, when incorporated into contemporary classes, echo the classical aspiration toward mental stillness, even if framed in terms of relaxation or mindfulness rather than explicit liberation. Thus, modern yoga may be understood as a transformation of one limb of Patañjali’s aṣṭāṅga-yoga—āsana—expanded and elaborated, while selectively retaining elements of his broader, liberation-oriented path.