AYP Lesson 155 - Samyama - Lightness, Lurching

Advanced Yoga Practices
Main Lessons

Note: For the Original Internet Lessons with additions, see the AYP Easy Lessons Books. For the Expanded and Interactive Internet Lessons, AYP Online Books, Audiobooks and more, see AYP Plus.

Lesson 155 - Samyama - Lightness, Lurching and Levitation? (Audio)

AYP Plus Additions:
155.1 - Relationship of the Body with Akasha and the Lightness of Air (Audio)
155.2 - Optional Enhancement of the Lightness/Levitation Sutra (Audio)

From: Yogani
Date: Mon Apr 5, 2004 11:32pm

New Visitors: It is recommended you read from the beginning of the archive, as previous lessons are prerequisite to this one. The first lesson is, "Why This Discussion?"

Q: I'm doing the sutras about a week and having good feelings since the beginning. Tonight during the lightness one I got a rise of energy that also felt good making me feel very light inside. Then I started to shake and lurch. My arms were going up and down and I was shaking and I thought I was going to yell, but I didn't. I don't know where it all came from. The next thing I knew I was near the foot of the bed and I don't know how I got there from the head of the bed where I was sitting with crossed legs. I went back to the head of the bed and started again and it happened again. This time I peeked when the lurching started after the sutra and saw my body hop from one end of the bed to the other. I did it a few more times and then lay down feeling like every nerve in my body had an enema. Is this levitation, or is it just physical? Whatever it is it feels good during and after, so it must be an ok practice. I want to keep it up. Do you agree? But I'm afraid about going off the end of the bed. Should I move to the floor for this?

A: It came from your inner silence, and it is a wonderful start with the lightness sutra. If you feel good afterwards, then keep it up. Make sure you take plenty of rest when coming out of practices. If you are more comfortable doing the lightness sutra on pillows or a mattress on the floor, then do that. You can continue to do the rest of your practices on the bed if you want, and then move to the floor at the end for the lightness sutra. However, you will find that there is not much risk of falling off the bed, as you will be intuitively aware of your location during the practice. It's more likely that the bed will get damaged more than you will during the dynamic beginnings, so that is a good reason to get on the floor also. Make sure you have good thick padding under you.

Is it levitation? Well, it is trying to be, isn't it? At this stage there is a lot of purification going on in the nervous system and the body is responding to the energy surging through by lurching and hopping. In time it will settle down and be much smoother, and the movements will become very subtle. There will be more energy moving inside and less external indication of it.

Movement and dramatic sensations inside (including ecstasy) are caused by friction in the nervous system as the energy moves through, blowing out the obstructions in large quantities. Karmic debris is getting cleaned out in a wholesale fashion. Hence that feeling of having the nerves purged. That's the great power of samyama. It enables us to systematically purge the nervous system from the inside with relatively little discomfort. Getting purged by using samyama is usually very pleasurable. This is because, when samyama becomes functional in our nervous system, we already have sufficient inner silence available to enable it. So it is pure bliss consciousness that is surging out through our nervous system in response to the sutras, and that's why it feels so good. It is silent bliss moving out through us in large quantities. It benefits all of our other practices, and everyone who is within miles of us as well.

With the lightness sutra, as the obstructions become less over time there is less friction and the movements refine. The same happens with the experiences with the rest of the sutras. It all becomes very smooth, pleasurable, and light.

Whatever experiences come as samyama practice advances over time will be a by-product of the purification in our nervous system. By the time we are having more advanced experiences (siddhis), they will not be nearly as pleasurable or attractive as the divine love and joy we will be naturally radiating in every direction in every moment.

The guru is in you.