Chitta Vritti - Mind Chatter

In Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, one of the key foundational texts of yoga, he breaks down thoughts and thought patterns, which he calls "mental fluctuations," or chitta vritti in Sanskrit. He breaks them down into 5 types of thoughts/thought patterns: the actual truth (real knowledge), our perception of reality (perception), the way that perception fits into our narrative and the stories we tell ourselves (verbalization), memory (a mix of all three), and sleep (he's referring to deep sleep here, and refers to it as the delusion than nothing exists).

What I love about the foundational yoga philosophy around chitta vritti is that it resonates so well with what we already know about thoughts, mind chatter, breathing, and psychology. There are objective facts (chocolate exists), and then there is my perception of that (chocolate is delicious), and then there are the ways those perceptions fit into a story about ourselves, our lives, our intentions, our identity, etc (chocolate makes me happy). And those often tangle up together without us being aware of it.

This leads to the misconception that our perceptions are truth, our stories about ourselves are truth and immutable, that others are wrong, and lead to arguments, anger, hurt, denial. For example, if a friend is late coming to meet me, the only objective truth is that they have not yet arrived. But my perception may be that this is hurtful, and I may tell myself this is because my friend doesn't really care for me. Of course, none of this is true, except that my friend has not arrived.

If we are able instead to observe our thoughts, we car parse apart the objective truth, the perceptions we have about that truth, and how it fits into a narrative about ourselves without feeling that it must all be true—just observing this, without getting caught up into it or buying into those narratives. By observing these thought patterns objectively and passively, we can disrupt those patterns and actually change our brain pathways. Instead of reacting the same way as always, making the same assumption, we can look at our thoughts without attachment and give ourselves the option of changing the perception (or at least knowing it is a perception and not truth, and acknowledging others will have their own, different perceptions), and of choosing to change the narrative, and therefore our patterns and ourselves. In the case of my example, I can observe the thoughts without buying into them, and know in all likelihood, my friend is simply running late or their transportation was delayed, but this is not a reflection of their feelings towards me.

What is wonderful about yoga is that it provides the space each day for us to slow down the chitta vritti, the mind chatter, and to be present: to observe our breath, our sensations, and our thoughts without attachment. It offers us the space and peace to observe without judgement, and then the opportunity to reflect on those patterns and narratives. It offers us the chance to breathe, to move, and to be more ourselves. To me, my yoga practice is a sacred opportunity each day to know myself better, to practice compassion and kindness towards myself, to feel myself more fully in my body, to breath and quiet the mind and just be, and observe what comes.