Classical Yoga · compiled by Patanjali
Yoga Sutras 1.14
Long time, without break, with earnestness
स तु दीर्घकालनैरन्तर्यसत्कारासेवितो दृढभूमिः॥
Practice becomes firmly grounded when well attended to for a long time, without break, and with earnest devotion.
What this verse points to
Three conditions, and the middle one is the one people fail: nairantarya, without interruption. Not intensity, not duration — continuity. A short sit every day outperforms a long one whenever you feel like it.
The third condition, satkara, adds that it has to be done with regard rather than mechanically. Grudging attendance is not what is meant by continuity.
Sit with it
Set the shortest daily sit you are certain you will not miss, and protect the streak rather than the length.
About the Yoga Sutras
The Yoga Sutras are 196 terse aphorisms compiled by Patanjali, organised into four books: samadhi (absorption), sadhana (practice), vibhuti (attainments), and kaivalya (liberation). The style is deliberately compressed — each sutra is a memory-thread meant to be unpacked by a teacher — and the text is the foundational statement of the eight-limbed (ashtanga) path.
References to this text are given as book.sutra — here, 1.14.