Yoga: A self-regulation process

According to the ancient yogic texts, the origin of suffering is the ignorance of the true nature of things (avidya). The yogasutras of Patanjali posit that the main objective of yoga is to cease the origin of suffering by a process of involution called pratiprasava, through the development of awareness and consciousness. From a psychotherapeutic point of view, the cessation of suffering could be explained as the result of a process of self-regulation based on the development of self-awareness. It proposes that yoga practice promotes an embodiment process, providing the integration of the organism's systemic unit: brain, body, and environment. This integration process could be the central mechanism of affective self-regulation.