Patanjali gets right to the point in the Samadhi Pada, chapter 1 of his Yoga Sutras addressed to the more experienced students. Wake up, and then stay awake, whatever life and the world tosses at you ! Easy to say, but very difficult to do with grace and equanimity
So, what are some of the practices you can do to help wake yourself up, to continue to let go of habits that are draining you of vital energy, and to keep you growing on as many levels as possible? Patanjali’s greatest gift to yoga students is the extraordinary number of different practices he presents, and for the student new to spiritual inquiry, he begins chapter 2, the Saadhana Paada, or “On Practice”, with the trinity he calls ‘Kriya Yoga”.
Saadhana comes from the root saadh, which refers to following a required process from beginning to completion. Saadhana is the intense effort of the whole process, not just a portion, so it is not a simple or trivial concept. The three practices introduced in II-1offer a complete saadhana for any and all students.
II-1 Tapah-svaadhyaayeshvara-pranidhaanaani kriyaa-yogah
Kriya yoga (path of action) consists of self-discipline, self-study, and surrender to the Divine.
If we look closely, we can see Patanjali beginning an expansion of the core practices first introduced in Chapter 1, sutras I-12 – I-16, abhyasa and vairagyam. Self discipline, tapas, is the first stage of abhyasa, choosing to cultivate steadiness of mind and firmness of will power in the study of yoga, day after day, year after year, with patience and persistence. The word discipline comes from the Latin root disciplina referring to instruction given, teaching, learning or knowledge, or discere meaning to learn.
A disciple is one who makes a dedicated effort to study and learn a subject. In the more masculine lineages, discipline takes on a sense of self abnegation, or implies a means of punishing bad behavior, like in a modern high school with a ‘head of discipline’. But discipline does require self control, self restraint and behavior modification. Old habits and patterns of behavior can drain your energy from the focus required to deepen your inquiry. In the time of the Buddha, tapas referred to serious austerities, and he is said to have explored this path and rejected it. Tapas does require a sense of balance in one’s actions.
The discipline of yoga is even more challenging as it requires attention to all aspects of ones life. Unlike the academic studies of algebra or Spanish which are limited in scope, yoga examines the physical, physiological, psychological, emotional, perceptual, cognitive and spiritual dimensions of aliveness. Discipline is not just on the mat, but throughout all aspects of ones entire life, at every level.
Self study, svadhyaya, follows tapas. The Sanskrit root ‘sva‘ refers to the deepest essence of our humanity, stripped away of the ideas, beliefs and conditioning that the mind generates. We can call it the ‘soul’, or the “True Self”. The root’ dhya‘ means to contemplate or meditate, as in ‘dhyana’, the 7th limb of astanga yoga. So svadhyayaa means contemplating on the True Self.
The first expression of svadhyaya is noticing all of the I – me – mine thoughts that claim to be the True Self, and how strongly they shape our behavior and emotional states. These mental constructs are not the ‘Self. They are just thoughts; transient mental activity usurping the throne. This usurping is mentioned in sutra I – 4 as ‘identifying with mind activity’ and is discovered in the meditation practice of just witnessing. Discipline leads to meditation practice which leads to the discovery of these ‘I’ thoughts which are not you. This takes time, as the ‘I thoughts’ and subsequent stories that follow seem be be ever present and never ending, even after years of meditation practice.
There may be a good reason for this. We all love to tell our own stories, over and over again, and neuroscience claims that narrative is an aspect of emotional growth and development. “The narrative process is thus a fundamental building block of an integrative mode, but insufficient by itself to create coherence across self states through time.” (The Developing Mind, Dan Siegel, pg 324). Insufficient because our stories can get stuck in immature states and stop evolving. In meditation, discipline and self study combine to create a much larger context that can listen to our stories objectively. As Byron Katie asks us to consider, when listening to our own self talk, ‘Is this true? Is this really true? If we are ruthlessly honest with our selves, the answer is usually ‘no’. This story is just the venting/whining of a wounded child who needs love and clarity. You have the rest of your life, and then some to work on this. No short cuts, no instant karma.
Pema Chodron, one of the wisest elders of our times, feels that the key to emotional stability in the face of our inner mental turmoil and self criticism is cultivating friendliness and kindness, 
(maitri in Sanskrit, metta in Pali), to ourselves. Our whole self/True Self: ‘sees’ the nature of the small selves, their confusion and dysfunction, and thus does not give in to them nor ignore them (the masculine); and simultaneously embraces them with love and acceptance, (the feminine). (Patanjali introduces ‘maitri’ in sutra I-33.)
Discovering and nurturing these masculine and feminine aspects of the True Self comprise the second aspect of svadhyaya. These are often articulately described and unfolded in the spiritual teachings such as the Upanishads and the Bhagavad Gita from Vedanta, the 
Hsin Hsin Ming and other writings in Buddhism, and the poetry of Rumi. Nurturing these qualities leads to the beginning of viveka, or discriminative awareness, differentiating Self from not-self, purusha from prakriti, wholeness from separation.
From this discrimination, we learn how to surrender to The Divine, the “Self”, in “Ishvara Pranidhana. In chapter 1, Patanjali devotes several sutras to Ishvara Pranidhana, and it will appear again as part of the 8 limbs (ashtanga) of yoga later in chapter 2. Many beginners raised in a patriarchal religion struggle with the idea of a personal ‘god’, and everyone struggles with the divine as ‘Absolute stillness/emptiness, so the easiest approach is to see Isvara as ‘Unconditional Love’ manifest as the whole of creation. The heart knows, while the mind argues. Isvara Pranidhana is the practice of unconditional love. Again, easy to say, not so easy to put into practice.
But that is why this is a sadhana, a life long disciplined practice that becomes the unfolding of the deepest layers of our soul as we live fully in the moment, riding the karmic waves of our times.