For everyone else, it comes through faith, energy, mindfulness, absorption and insight.

Unfolding the thread

For the rest of us there is a path, and Patanjali lists its five supports in order. Śraddhā: trust that it's worth doing. Vīrya: the energy to keep going. Smṛti: remembering to come back. Samādhi: the absorption that grows from that. Prajñā: the clear seeing that follows. Faith comes first, but it's the kind that practice goes on to confirm.