3.18 By self-control on the perception of mental impressions, knowledge of previous lives arises.

The concepts of past lives and Yoga are inseparable. I generally get a lot of skeptical responses when I talk to people about them, but when I go into the deeper meaning of why Yogis believe in past lives, I can at least bring someone to a neutral point of view. In any case, if you are reading this blog, you probably already believe in the concept of past lives, but lets have a refresher on the subject.

Before I get deeper into the subject, I have a confession: I get annoyed with people that over focus on the concept if previous lives. As an astrologer, I can do readings that focus on previous lives, but it’s somewhat of a self defeating action. Yoga is clear about this subject: focusing on past lives is a distraction from purifying awareness that exists only in the now. How much time do people spend worrying about the future or trying to relive the past. A great example is the many issues the new Star Wars trilogy is suffering from. The franchise is stuck between trying to please people who are stuck in the past and the ones who want something new and exciting to sink their teeth into, but I digress.

Living and dying are just part of a larger set of cycles. The first and most basic cycle is the breath. This is why yogis place so much emphasis on pranayama, or breath control. If you can control the most basic cycle, everything else will fall into place. I read somewhere, and forgive me for not knowing the exact source, that yogis believe the average human will take 66,000 breaths in their entire lifetime, so if the breath is slowed, it will extend life. The next cycle is the daily cycle of waking and sleeping. When we sleep, the consciousness withdraws itself into the spine until we wake. The last cycle is death and rebirth. Through all this, the conscious mind continues to store and record data. Do you ever wonder why people are born with natural talents that cannot be explained? The yogi would say that it was a talent developed in a past life, brought into this life. So, this sutra is saying that once the consciousness is purified, all the old memories stored deep in the mind, even those of past lives, will become apparent.