By cultivating attitudes of friendliness toward the happy, compassion for the unhappy, delight in the virtuous, and disregard toward the wicked, the mind-stuff retains its undisturbed calmness.

This sutra is traditionally used to classify and help deal with four types of people, namely the happy, the virtuous, the unhappy, and the wicked. However, as discussed in the Raja Yoga course, it can also be used to classify and manage our thoughts. There are happy thoughts, unhappy (sad) thoughts, virtuous (higher vibrational or more sattvic) thoughts, and wicked (lower vibrational) thoughts. The clients will be taught to be friendly with their happy thoughts (don’t immediately think of something negative, for instance), be compassionate to themselves when sad thoughts arise, delight in their higher minded or spiritual thoughts, and ignore their negative thoughts. I will teach clients these concepts during the first session. This is the conceptual aspect of the session. The client will then do a practice to help understand these concepts. I will teach the practice of sitting and watching one’s thoughts, for 10 mins. A timer will be used. The client will do this practice. After that, the client will write down each of the thoughts he or she could remember on separate pages in a small legal pad. Then, we will review each page together, and classify each thought into the category of happy, unhappy, virtuous (higher vibrational or sattvic), or wicked (lower vibrational). As each thought is classified, it is to be placed into a file folder. I will have four file folders, each with a different label written in large print on the front of the folder. The labels will read, “Happy,” “Unhappy,” “Virtuous,” and “Wicked.” When the folder is opened, the corresponding attitude will be written inside: “Friendliness,” “Compassion,” “Delight,” and “Disregard.” Each sheet of paper will be placed in the corresponding folder. Once all of the thoughts are classified, the client will take the sheets from the ‘Wicked’ folder, and shred the papers. Homework: The client is to use this practice 2-3 times per week. If the client does not have a shredder at home, he/she can simply tear it up and put in the trash/recycling. Folders used in the session will be given to the client to take home. Client can use separate sheets of paper instead of a pad. During the second session, the client will bring in the folders and discuss their experiences with the practice. Any questions will be answered and if the practice needs to be adjusted for the individual client’s needs, that will be done. If the client stopped the practice, reasons for this will be explored. One month afterwards, the clients will each have a brief 30 minute session in order to assess if negative thinking has decreased. Assessment will be done using an a depression rating scale. If the client did not continue the practice for one month, reasons for this will be explored.

Client Group: 1-2 clients of mental health clinic who have expressed interest in the psychology of yoga and mindfulness techniques. Client details: Client A: 35 year old female who recently lost her job during COVID-19, and has been having increases in negative thinking Client B: 40 year old male with depression who recently got divorced and has been having negative thoughts about the future and himself

During the first session, the sutra (as described above) will be taught. Additionally, I will teach the practice of sitting and watching one’s thoughts, for 10 mins. A timer will be used. The client will do this practice. After that, the client will write down each of the thoughts he or she could remember on separate pages in a small legal pad. Then, we will review each page together, and classify each thought into the category of happy, unhappy, virtuous (higher vibrational or sattvic), or wicked (lower vibrational). As each thought is classified, it is to be placed into a file folder. I will have four file folders, each with a different label written in large print on the front of the folder. The labels will read, “Happy,” “Unhappy,” “Virtuous,” and “Wicked.” When the folder is opened, the corresponding attitude will be written inside: “Friendliness,” “Compassion,” “Delight,” and “Disregard.” Each sheet of paper will be placed in the corresponding folder.
Once all of the thoughts are classified, the client will take the sheets from the ‘Wicked’ folder, and shred the papers.

Homework: The client is to use this practice daily. If the client does not have a shredder at home, he/she can simply tear it up and put in the trash/recycling. Folders used in the session will be given to the client to take home. Client can use separate sheets of paper instead of a pad.

During the second session (one week later), the client will bring in the folders and discuss their experiences with the practice. Any questions will be answered and if the practice needs to be adjusted for the individual client’s needs, that will be done. If the client stopped the practice, reasons for this will be explored.

Reflection and witnessing one's thoughts is a practice being taught. This supports the goals of helping the client to use the sutra to manage his/her thoughts. This is a practice of self care.

Client A was a bit skeptical about the practice when it was first explained, but still was able to complete both the in-session and take-home exercises. She used the file folders appropriately and their contents were reviewed. Since the notes of her negative ("wicked") thoughts were shredded at home, it was not possible to review the negative thoughts. She noted, however, that she had considerably more negative thoughts than other types of thoughts. She found that after shredding the thoughts, she felt relieved, and was less bothered by those negative thoughts, even if they recurred in the future.

There was some difficulty the practice of her watching her thoughts at first, as this was not a practice that she typically did. However, over the course of the week, she was able to better observe her thoughts and more accurately record them. There was also some difficulty in knowing how to classify certain thoughts, for example, an unhappy thought versus a "wicked" or negative thought. A few examples were reviewed in order to help clarify the classification.

Overall, client A, despite some skepticism at first, was able to express great benefit from the exercise. She was very thankful and plans to continue this practice.

It would be very helpful to continue following up with this client weekly, to reinforce her practice and answer any questions that arise. Another scenario, is that she could obtain a "sutra partner," so to speak. Instead of meeting with me weekly, she could meet with another client, who is also doing the same practice (with the permission of both clients). Once a month, each could have a session to meet with me in order to answer any questions.

Yes. I was able to apply the intended plan and the client was cooperative. The goal of teaching how to apply the sutra was achieved. The client was able to classify her thoughts in the folders and to discard the negative thoughts. Meeting for a followup session one week later allowed sufficient time for the homework to be done, giving the client so much time that her motivation might wane.

The client did not require adaptation of the plan. I did learn that it may be helpful to focus first on the skill of observing one's thoughts before teaching how to classify them.

This client did struggle a bit with witnessing her thoughts. It may be helpful to have a separate session, which would precede the previously described 'first session.' This session would introduce the concept of witnessing one's thoughts. The homework assignment from that session would be to witness her thoughts daily for 10 mins and write them down. After that assignment is complete, then the session teaching the sutra and classifying one's thoughts could be done. In this way, the client is able to focus on witnessing her thoughts as a separate skill, honing that skill to allow for her to later classify her thoughts in a separate assignment. With this plan in mind, the total number of sessions for the exercise would be three instead of two.