Can We Really Avoid Stress?
TL;DR
Patañjali reminds us in Yoga Sutra 2.16 that future suffering can be avoided.
Stress is part of life — but how we meet it determines whether it settles in or moves through.
By noticing our thoughts, pausing before we react, and gently changing our inner “search terms,” we prevent small stresses from growing into deeper imbalance.
Awareness, steady practice (abhyāsa), and letting go (vairāgya) are the real tools for calm — and the medicine we can apply every single day.
What Patañjali’s Yoga Sutras Teach About Preventing Future Suffering
Yoga Sutra 2.16 — Heyam duḥkham anāgatam
Future suffering can be avoided.
Stress Is Inevitable — Suffering Isn’t
We all know what it feels like to be pulled in too many directions, right?
Emails piling up, family needing you, your mind racing at 2 a.m.
Modern life keeps us in “go mode” — and while stress is part of being alive, suffering is what happens when stress takes root and starts shaping how we think, react, and live.
That’s where Patañjali steps in with one of my favourite sutras:
Heyam duḥkham anāgatam — Future suffering can be avoided. YS, 2.16
He’s not pretending life will be smooth.
He’s showing us that we can stop pain from hardening into long-term struggle, the kind that festers and eventually shows up as sleepless nights, digestive issues, or hormonal imbalances.
It’s prevention, not denial — a kind of spiritual medicine.
And this is exactly what I teach inside Stress Less, Live More — learning to recognise early signs of stress and working with your mind and body before it spirals.
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Understanding the Source of Suffering
Patañjali describes five root causes of suffering (kleshas):
Avidyā — Ignorance: forgetting who we truly are.
Asmitā — Ego: taking everything personally.
Rāga — Attachment: clinging to what feels good.
Dveṣa — Aversion: pushing away what feels bad.
Abhiniveśa — Fear: grasping at control and safety.
You don’t need to memorise Sanskrit to see how this plays out.
It’s the overthinking after a conversation, the comparison on social media, or the subtle procrastination when we’d rather avoid an uncomfortable task.
Every time we act from these patterns, we plant the seeds of tomorrow’s stress.
Recognising them early is the first step in preventing suffering — and if you’d like to explore these kleshas (the obstacles of the mind) in more detail, I’ve written about them in 5 Obstacles Yoga Can Help You Overcome.
Awareness Is the Antidote
Yoga philosophy always begins with awareness, not more effort.
Notice when tension creeps into your shoulders.
Catch the moment your mind says, “I’m already behind.”
Pause before reacting.
That pause is prevention.
It interrupts the loop before it deepens into fatigue, resentment, or burnout.
Try this:
When you feel overwhelmed, close your eyes and ask,
“What is actually happening right now, and what am I adding to it?”
or
Simply tune in to the natural pause after your inhale and exhale.
That small space — quiet and unforced — is where awareness lives. Each time you rest there, you are already practising heyam duḥkham anāgatam in real life. Awareness itself grows stronger the more we return to it — just like the thoughts we feed.
When the Mind Becomes Like Google
You know those moments when you think, “I can’t do this — it’s too much,” or “I’m too tired to even start”?
That’s the mind caught in one of its search loops.
Our mind works a little like Google.
Whatever you type in — “Why am I so exhausted?” or “Why does this never work for me?” — it obediently finds more of the same.
It digs up proof, stories, and memories from your past that reinforce the belief.
That’s how we slide into the spiral of self-doubt, comparison, and low energy.
This is what Patañjali meant by citta vṛtti — the whirlpools of the mind that keep us from seeing clearly.
The more we feed a thought, the stronger its current becomes — and this works both ways, in the negative and the positive.
He offers a solution in Sutra 2.33 — vitarka bādhane pratipakṣa bhāvanam:
When disturbed by negative thoughts, cultivate their opposite.
In modern words — change the search term. Or, what we now call positive thinking — though the concept is far from new.
Patañjali described it over two thousand years ago as a way to redirect the mind’s current before it gathers strength.
If the mind says “I can’t,” pause and ask instead:
“What could I do toward this?”
“How could I make this a little easier?”
That small question redirects the inner search engine.
The mind starts scanning for possibilities instead of problems.
It’s not forced positivity — it’s retraining the mind to look in a more constructive direction. That’s why so many people struggle with “positive thinking” — it can feel fake when we try to cover a negative thought with a shiny one.
Patañjali’s teaching is subtler: it’s about changing direction, not denying what’s there.
If this resonates, you might enjoy reading more in Self-Doubt and Confidence — What the Yoga Sutras Teach Us, which expands on how this teaching helps build trust in yourself.
Try this today:
Notice one repeating “I can’t” thought.
Take a slow exhale.
Then ask, “How could I?”
See what shifts.
This is abhyāsa — practice — in real life.
Two Timeless Tools: Abhyāsa & Vairāgya
Earlier in the Sutras, Patañjali gave us the method:
Abhyāsa vairāgyābhyām tan nirodhaḥ —
The mind becomes steady through practice and non-attachment. (YS 1.12)
Abhyāsa (practice): small, steady effort — showing up regularly for what keeps you grounded.
Vairāgya (non-attachment): doing it without the pressure of perfection or timelines.
Together, they’re the wings of balance.
Without practice, the mind drifts. Without letting go, it tightens.
In between lies ease — and that’s where prevention happens. The same energy that fuels striving can, when redirected, become steadiness. It’s never lost — only waiting for a different use.
From Awareness to Action
Think of your day:
Saying no before your schedule overflows.
Eating to nourish, not to cope.
Taking three conscious breaths before checking your phone.
Each of these small choices prevents tomorrow’s exhaustion.
This is yoga beyond the mat — everyday abhyāsa guided by a soft vairāgya.
If you’d like some practical ways to start right now, you’ll find simple ideas in 5 Yoga Tips for Stress Relief.
Inside Stress Less, Live More, we explore how to recognise your personal stress pattern, understand which dosha drives it, and build simple rhythms that keep you steady before overwhelm begins.
Final Thoughts
Heyam duḥkham anāgatam.
Future suffering can be avoided.
These four words hold the whole promise of yoga: awareness → choice → freedom.
We can’t prevent every challenge, and we shouldn’t, because they help us grow. But we can stop feeding the roots of suffering.
So today, ask yourself:
“What small action could I take right now to ease tomorrow’s load?”
Start there. That’s medicine enough.
This week only: Stress Less, Live More is open for enrollment — your six-week journey to calm the mind and prevent stress before it starts.
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Reading this later? You can still explore the course and learn how to bring these teachings into your daily life.
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Resources
If you’d like to go deeper into these teachings, you might enjoy:
5 Obstacles Yoga Can Help You Overcome — a closer look at the kleshas, or mental and emotional hindrances, that Patañjali lists in Chapter 1 — and how to work with them.
5 Yoga Tips for Stress Relief — simple, grounding ways to put the teachings from this post into practice.
Self-Doubt and Confidence — What the Yoga Sutras Teach Us — explores how yoga philosophy helps us move from “I can’t” to “I can.”
What Are the Yoga Sutras? — if you’re new to Patañjali’s work, this gives you the bigger picture of where these ideas fit.
And if you’d like to explore further into the path of yoga itself, stay tuned — the upcoming posts on Kriya Yoga and Samadhi will unfold these later chapters in more depth.
