Foundations · Reading
Tapas
Discipline, the third niyama, and the first part of Kriya Yog.
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
Tapas comes from a root meaning to burn. It is the discipline of practice: the steady effort that keeps going when enthusiasm fades.
It is held within ahimsa. Tapas refines; it does not punish. Patanjali says that through tapas impurities are burnt away, and the body and senses come to perfection. It is also the first part of Kriya Yog.
Further reading
- Yoga Sutras 2.1
- Yoga Sutras 2.32
- Yoga Sutras 2.43
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3
- Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 2.1, 2.32, 2.43