Foundations · Reading
Kriya Yog
Patanjali's Yog of action: discipline, self-study and surrender.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
Philosophy
The second chapter of the Yoga Sutras opens by naming Kriya Yog, the Yog of action: tapas, svadhyaya and Ishvara pranidhana. These three return later as the last three niyamas.
The word kriya also appears in Hatha Yog, where it names the cleansing practices, the shatkarmas. The two are different things. Patanjali's Kriya Yog is a discipline of the whole person; the Hatha kriyas cleanse the body.
Further reading
- Yoga Sutras 2.1
Made of
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3
- Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 2.1