Vritti: Mental Fluctuations and Pattern Recognition

Patanjali opens the Yoga Sutras by defining yoga as the cessation of vritti—the fluctuations, modifications, and ripples of the mind. Rather than seeing ADHD as a deficit, vritti offers a framework for understanding the hyperactive mind as one that naturally generates rapid, branching thoughts. The five types of vritti (correct knowledge, misperception, imagination, sleep, and memory) map onto common ADHD experiences: rapid ideation, hyperfocus, forgetfulness, and emotional flooding. By learning to observe these fluctuations without judgment, you develop metacognitive awareness—the ability to watch your own mind work. This is transformative: instead of being swept away by impulses or spiraling thoughts, you become the observer of them. Patanjali teaches that this witnessing itself is liberating. For ADHD, this means distinguishing between the neurological trait and your relationship to it, creating space for choice even within neurodivergent wiring.