Satya: the yoga of truth

We're talking truth this week. Not the dinner table kind, the kind yoga philosophy has been pointing to for thousands of years.

Satya, the second Yama, sits right after Ahimsa in the yoga sutras, and that order matters more than most people realise. This episode looks at what truthfulness actually means once you go past "don't lie," and why the sutras say that perfecting Satya changes what your words are capable of.

We get into the Sanskrit root sat, the difference between the truth that changes day to day and the truth that doesn't, and why sometimes the most truthful thing you can do is stay quiet.

In this episode, we explore:

• What Satya really means, beyond honesty in conversation
• The root sat and its place in sat-chit-ananda
• Why Yoga Sutra 2.36 says truthfulness gives your words the power to manifest
• Byron Katie's four questions for working with a thought that's causing you suffering
• Why Ahimsa still outranks honesty when the two are in conflict
• A guided meditation on the space between two objects, and why it's the whole practice in miniature

Underneath all of it is a simple question worth sitting with. How much of what you call true is actually just conditioning, and what's still there once you look past it.

Beyond the Diet is hosted by Kristina Wischnowsky, part of Yoga to Transform.