Patanjali Yoga Sutra: II: 44

Study your self

Swadhyayadishtadevatasamprayogaha|

By Swadhyaya - contemplating on the essence of your being, you achieve union with the deity you worship. Swadhyaya means many things, but everything leads to the same essence. It means study of the self. The Upanishads are books that speak of the self. Studying the Upanishads is Swadhyaya. Meditation in silence is also Swadhyaya as in meditation you get to know who you are. Studying your thoughts, your emotions, your physical body and all its components - so deeply that from whichever way you go, you arrive at yourself, which is the self in all. You come to that space in you where you, me and it vanishes. - Swahilya Shambhavi
(Pic: Swahilya Shambhavi - Gangaji at Rudraprayag.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2:2

The result of Yoga

Samadhi Bhavanarthaha Klesha Tanookaranarthascha

The practice of Tapas - austerities, Swadhyaya - studying one's own mind and the different aspects of one's self - the physical, bio-plasmic, mental, intellectual and bliss bodies and Ishwara Pranidhana - offering all our actions and the fruits of the action to God or the one supreme being, the three parts of Kriya Yoga is to first give us the experience of the Samadhi state of mind and to also lessen the potency of the various impurities in the mind and body. - Swahilya Shambhavi. (Pic. An evening on the Ganga. The Sandhya time when the sun sets is when nature is in a state of Samadhi. - Swahilya Shambhavi.)

Patanjali Yoga Sutra - 2:1

Sadhana Padaha

Here begins the second chapter of the Patanjali Yoga Sutra called the Sadhana Padaha. It outlines the different steps to the most famous Ashtanga Yoga. All the different Yogic practices that are being taught in the Yoga studies around the world have their beginnings in this chapter that gives us the eight steps to reach the state of Yogic union of the individual and cosmic consciousness.
Tapah Swadhyaya Ishwara Pranidhanani Kriya Yogaha
Kriya Yoga - the yoga of action has three steps or rather parts to it. The first is Tapas. Tapa is to burn. Just like how one burns calories which is converted and released as energy on the treadmill, con stant and conscious exposure of the mind to the light of consciousness generates a psychic heat that actually burns away the impressions or seeds in the mind that germinate as distorted thoughts. Taas has many variations - silence is Tapas, fasting is Tapas, physical, mental and breath workout is Taas.
The next is Swadhyaya. Swa - One's own, Adhyaya - study. To practice Swadhyaya is to study what is happening to us at five levels - body, breath, mind, intellect and bliss. These are five parts of our being. A constant attention to how these five parts are is Swadhyaya. Reading or learning aything that shows us the way to do this is also Swadhyaya.
Ishwara Pranidhana - Ishwara is Lord - consciousness. Pranidhana is to surrender. All practice bears fruit only with this complete surrender of our thoughts, words and action with love to this consciousness. Immersion into this consciousness gives us the strength. These three are the steps to the Yoga of Action. - Swahilya Shambhavi.