Many people in the modern world meet yoga through movement. They come through the doorway of stretching, flexibility, mobility, fitness, injury prevention, or perhaps beauty. But in Patañjali’s map, āsana is not the first limb, nor the whole tree.
A mountain spring does not become clear by argument. It becomes clear when mud settles and fresh water keeps moving. Niyama is this fresh movement. Without it, yoga can remain a costume. With it, yoga becomes a climate.
In the modern world, many people meet yoga through the doorway of the body. They arrive through stretching, breathing, mobility, posture, perhaps even aesthetics. But in the classical river of yoga, the first stone is not the handstand. It is character.