The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali is a compilation of roughly 195 Sanskrit sutras (aphorisms) describing the practice and purpose of yoga. The exact date of the text’s compilation is uncertain, with researchers proposing dates ranging from 500 BCE to the third century CE. Given the challenges of precisely determining the date of the text’s authorship, it is likely a synthesis of knowledge drawn from antiquity and Patañjali’s own insights. There is substantial evidence in the Rig Veda (c. 1500–c. 1200 BCE) and other Vedic texts alluding to the existence of yogi-like ascetics in ancient Indian society. Archaeological evidence suggests that yoga has been practiced on the Indian subcontinent for well over 4,000 years. The significance of Patañjali’s text lies not in the invention of yoga as a practice but in its systematization. The Yoga Sutras offers practitioners a systematic method for understanding and practicing yoga through the eight limbs of yoga (Ashtanga Yoga).