Yogini dasha: an 36-year cycle
Yogini dasha is a 36-year cycle of eight periods named after yoginis, and it is set from the Moon's nakshatra in a different way from Vimshottari.
What it is
The eight yoginis are Mangala, Pingala, Dhanya, Bhramari, Bhadrika, Ulka, Siddha and Sankata, with lengths of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8 years. Their sum is 36.
How it is worked out or read
The starting yogini is found from the Moon's nakshatra by a table in the classical texts. Because the table and its rules are not yet checked on this site, yogini dasha is described here and not computed.
Where it appears on this site
Yogini dasha is not in the dasha tool. The dasha systems article lists the others.
The eight yoginis and their lengths
Yogini dasha is a 36-year cycle of eight periods named after yoginis: Mangala for one year, Pingala for two, Dhanya for three, Bhramari for four, Bhadrika for five, Ulka for six, Siddha for seven and Sankata for eight. Their lengths add up to exactly 36. The names are traditional, and each period has its own character in the classical descriptions, with Sankata usually read as the most difficult and Mangala as the most gentle.
Because the cycle is short compared with Vimshottari, it repeats several times in a lifetime, and the reader can see in a single timeline how often each yogini comes around. The periods are short enough that the cycle is often used for a closer view of a shorter stretch of life.
How the starting yogini is chosen
The starting yogini is found from the Moon's nakshatra by a table in the classical texts. The table assigns each nakshatra a yogini, so the choice is fixed once the nakshatra is known, but the reader must use the correct table, since the texts differ in their arrangements. Because the table is not yet checked on this site, yogini dasha is described here and not computed by the tool.
A reader who wants to compute a yogini timeline should first confirm the table in a trusted source and then check the first few periods against that source. The periods then follow in the fixed order of the eight yoginis.
Using the yogini cycle
Yogini dasha is used by practitioners to look at shorter and more detailed periods, often in combination with the Vimshottari timeline. The reader should be careful not to treat the two cycles as competing predictions. They are different timing schemes, and when they agree on a period the reader may give it more weight, but the choice of which to read is a matter of tradition and of the question being asked.
Reading a yogini period in practice
A yogini period is short, so a reader who uses this cycle will often describe a few months or a year at a time. Because the periods are brief, the reading should describe the theme of the yogini in gentle terms and avoid making a single short period carry too much weight. The classical descriptions give each yogini a traditional character, and a reader can use these as a framework while keeping the account modest.
Since the cycle repeats several times in a life, a reader can also compare a period in one cycle with the same yogini in a later one, to see how its theme is expressed at different ages.