Exploring the roots, purpose, and transformative potential of yoga through the lens of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra. Each week, we dive into a teaching shared by yoga teacher Ann Schreppers, uncovering how ancient wisdom translates into modern practice and how yoga can become a living philosophy.
In the second part of our Yoga Philosophy series, Ann explores Patanjali’s Yoga Sutra 2.4 and the roots of suffering — how ignorance, or the forgetting of our true nature, gives rise to separation. Through awareness and gentle presence, we learn to transform suffering into wisdom and reconnect with the stillness within.
Sutra 2.4 — Avidyā kṣetram uttareṣām prasupta tanu vicchinna udārānām
"Ignorance is the field for all other forms of suffering."
Understanding the Root of Suffering
To walk the path of yoga is to walk through the layers of the self — from confusion to clarity, from reactivity to awareness and ultimately freedom. Patanjali describes avidyā, ignorance, as the root of all suffering. It is not a lack of knowledge but a forgetting who we truly are — a veil that covers our true nature.
When we identify with thoughts, fears, or desires, we lose touch with the stillness beneath them. We live from separation instead of connection, reacting rather than responding . Yoga teaches us to see through these layers, to remember that we are not the automatic thoughts of the mind but the awareness observing it all. It teaches us to stay with sensations, without immediately reacting to them.
The five causes of suffering — ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and fear — all arise when we forget this truth. Yet every moment of awareness brings us closer to remembrance.
Energy in Motion
Through asana and breath, we begin to sense how energy moves within us. We feel where it expands and where it contracts. The body becomes a reflection of the mind — a mirror that reveals what needs our attention & where there is space to open up. Because tension, when approached with attention, become a space for expansion.
Asanas are like people. Whatever feelings they evoke were already there existing within us. Our body holds this energy tied to (unconscious) memories and poses and people can give access to them. When we meet them with presence, we find freedom.
Each pose practiced becomes an act of awareness. Instead of resisting, we soften. Instead of reacting, we observe. In that space, energy begins to flow again, and what once felt heavy becomes lighter. Same situations, but they feel completely different. That’s the true power of our practice.
Awareness as Alchemy
Awareness is what transforms suffering into wisdom. It allows us to see life without judgment, to understand that every experience carries a lesson. The more we practice, the more we realize that awareness itself cannot suffer — it simply witnesses. It’s not bypassing … It’s very much acknowledging, but with discernment of what’s in our power and what’s not.
Through this understanding, yoga becomes an energetic practice, one that helps us live with greater sensitivity, integrity, and compassion. We start to recognize that peace does not depend on perfect circumstances but on our ability to remain present and engage in a more liberated manner with a wider range of experience(s).
Remembering Who We Are
The essence of this sutra is remembrance — to wake up from the illusion of separation and struggle to prove yourself to the world and return to the stillness within that knows its worth. In that remembering, we rediscover freedom.
Yoga is not about escaping life but about being fully alive in it, feeling everything without being consumed by it. When we live from awareness, even a challenge becomes a teacher and every conscious breath becomes an invitation to steer your energy to choose and show up in your best capacity. (Increasingly) freed from old imprints, driven from values and internal commitment.
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Ann Schreppers is a lifelong bodyworker, and yoga teacher devoted to personal and collective transformation. Her journey began in classical ballet, where her love for movement and the human experience first took root. For over a decade, she has shared the gift of yoga and heartfelt leadership across the world, in communities in Central-America and Kenya, where she lives partly. Through her platform, Conscious Corner, Ann creates programs, retreats, and teacher trainings that weave together movement, mindfulness, and purpose. With an academic background in Public Policy, she is passionate about fostering well-being through structures of self-awareness and conscious living — inspiring others to reconnect with their inner truth and make an impact for people and the planet.
Instagram: @ann.schreppers
Website: consciouscorner.be
Upcoming retreats: consciouscorner.be/retreats
Upcoming trainings: consciouscorner.be/sacred-sequence-trainings
Read more:
→ Part I: The Essence of Yoga Sutra
→ Part III: Vinyāsa & Asana as Tools
→ Part IV: Practicing from the Heart
