The Yoga Sutras are lovely in that they outline exactly what we see in modern psychology. The Yoga Sutras talk in a Jungian way about our samskaras (habits and patterns) and how some of them are conscious and some are unconscious to us. That we sometimes go through life with tendencies and everyone but us can see it. For example, we are controlling and have no idea, but everyone else in our life knows this about us. Hence, why we need relationships, to be able to learn and grow together.

Another idea the Yoga Sutras talk about in Chapter 3 is the modern idea of transference. When we help people to heal, they will project their problems/ views on to us unconsciously in an attempt to resolve repressed conflicts from childhood. For example, a student is angry and instead of recognizing this in themselves, they tend to think that everyone else is angry. This is challenging as a teacher, because it means that the teacher must know what "stuff" is hers and what 'stuff" belongs to the student and is simply a projection. Which is why every teacher needs a teacher; to have help discerning who's stuff is who's.

Another idea from the Yoga Sutras that applies to modern psychology is that of "cognitive restructuring. To replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Basically this is why yoga was created, to change the patterns of the mind. But the Sutras warn us that when an old mental habit is replaced by a new mental habit, that the old habit is dormant. The old habit could reappear at any time if given the right soil, sunshine and water.

So Patanjali was an early psychologist, providing a strong foundation for modern psychologists like Freud, Jung and Skinner.