Patanjali's five kleshas (ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, fear of dissolution) map precisely to the core wounds and protective strategies that drive your parts' behavior and beliefs.
The five kleshas in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras are avidya (ignorance), asmita (egoism), raga (attachment/craving), dvesha (aversion/hatred), and abhinivesha (fear of death/dissolution). These are not moral failings but fundamental patterns of misperception that drive all human suffering and reactivity. In Internal Family Systems, these kleshas illuminate the deep wounds and limiting beliefs that activated your parts in the first place. A protective part may be driven by avidya (fundamental misunderstanding about safety), raga (desperate attachment to a particular person or outcome), or abhinivesha (primal fear of annihilation). By understanding which kleshas underlie a part's protective strategy, you gain profound insight into its true concern. Patanjali's yogic path involves neither suppressing nor indulging these patterns, but rather bringing clear seeing (viveka) to them. In Parts work, this means compassionately investigating what fundamental misunderstanding or fear fuels each part, then gradually updating that part's perception through dialogue, reassurance, and direct experience of your actual safety and capacity.
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