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JDH
USA
331 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 19 2010 : 11:18:07 PM
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Last week I added samyama to my practice of the basic pranayama and meditation.
During the actual samyama practice, I have not noticed much. When I hear a sharp sound during meditation it just passes by. But during samyama, a clicking or any sudden sound will often send a wave through me. Like ripples in the stillness. It is like a more subtle version of being surprised by a sound, how it sends a physical electric jolt through the body.
The sutras themselves rarely have an immediate effect, but I have had a couple flushes of warm feelings. I feel energy in my chest sometimes, which had not been noticeable from my previous practice of pranayama, meditation.
The most noticeable change has happened outside of practice. It may be an effect of ongoing practices, but I definitely noticed right after beginning samyama - that I can feel other people more. It is difficult to describe. When I am with people, it is not as disengaged as before. It is in small ways.
I work from home, and I keep to myself mostly, to the point that I can go days without meaningfully engaging another person. But since beginning samyama, I am a little more open. It is a small things, stuff like having a conversation where I would have normally brushed somebody off... or actually listening, and caring about what somebody is saying, or actually saying something real about myself when I normally would have said something totally impersonal - it is so uncharacteristic of me, and it has happened so often since I began samyama, that it is not a coincidence.
Possibly unrelated thing I've noticed - more, and stronger, strange twitches and vibrations near the surface areas of my body. And that these little energy shock/bursts are now happening in my upper core/torso region whereas before I remember them in the extremities only. Maybe samyama is activating my heart area somehow. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 20 2010 : 08:42:50 AM
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I am glad things are working so great for you JDH.
Yes, I find samayama has a heart opening effect too. Think it is because in samyama, the silence we cultivated in meditation, moves outward and this has a feeling like love pouring out of our hearts, healing us and the world around us.
Thanks for sharing your experiences with us. Wish you all the best. |
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JDH
USA
331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2010 : 01:16:37 AM
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Hi Shanti :) I have learned a lot from you, reading the old posts. Sharefest++
What a difference a day made. Samyama is putting meditation into perspective. It seems like a bridge from meditation to everything else. Meditation makes more sense. I can feel the purpose of the practice. I'm thinking "Ah, that's why I've been doing that." And it's weird that I'm thinking that because I don't do samyama outside of practice... it does itself. Which is how I notice it. Life could be a dream...
There are parts of life that seem out of my control. And parts that it seems I can control. Stuff is happening in the part that's not my control. Stuff that is too much of a coincidence, and too often, that it must be somehow affected by me. In small ways that seem impossible from a rigid cause/effect interpretation.
It's awesome. |
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Shanti
USA
4854 Posts |
Posted - Jan 21 2010 : 08:17:31 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by JDH
Hi Shanti :) I have learned a lot from you, reading the old posts.
All good I hope. 
quote:
Originally posted by JDH
What a difference a day made. Samyama is putting meditation into perspective. It seems like a bridge from meditation to everything else. Meditation makes more sense. I can feel the purpose of the practice. I'm thinking "Ah, that's why I've been doing that." And it's weird that I'm thinking that because I don't do samyama outside of practice... it does itself. Which is how I notice it. Life could be a dream...
There are parts of life that seem out of my control. And parts that it seems I can control. Stuff is happening in the part that's not my control. Stuff that is too much of a coincidence, and too often, that it must be somehow affected by me. In small ways that seem impossible from a rigid cause/effect interpretation.
It's awesome.
Yes it is awesome. You will soon realize, nothing is really under your control... and the more you let go trying to control, the more the stillness flows into your life. This is what samyama does, brings the still out into our lives. This is your inner guru, this is intuition, this is god, this is you.
Enjoy your practice. Don't forget to self pace. Samyama can bring a lot of stillness into our lives, and the mind gets confused when there is suddenly so much stillness and this can cause a lot of discomfort. This is where self inquiry will come in. But take it slow. Let the stillness ease into your life too. Then you will know when to add self inquiry. |
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JDH
USA
331 Posts |
Posted - Jan 30 2010 : 3:48:24 PM
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hey
thanks Shanti
Wanted to update here. For the first time, I did samyama practice in 5 minutes without "getting lost" between any sutras. For the first couple weeks of samyama, it would take between 10 and 15 minutes.
Hopefully the beginning of the end of the clunky stage - I was getting tangled in the meanings of the sutras - even if just barely so. I didn't want to do the next sutra right away because I wasn't back to stillness yet. Then in attempting (or waiting) to return to stillness I would have long strings of thoughts, or tiny dream sequences, and I would forget what I was doing. Then after maybe a minute I would remember, Oh! back to the practice!
Today was different because I felt where the sutra was coming from. Finding stillness again after the sutra was easy because that's where it came from. A sutra would rise out of stillness, into existence, and then I would let it sink back, right where it came from. And since it didn't have far to go in either direction , it was easy. :) What makes a thought real is barely anything at all. No effort. Just as effortlessly it can sink away. |
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YogaIsLife
641 Posts |
Posted - Jan 30 2010 : 4:13:03 PM
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quote:
Today was different because I felt where the sutra was coming from. Finding stillness again after the sutra was easy because that's where it came from. A sutra would rise out of stillness, into existence, and then I would let it sink back, right where it came from. And since it didn't have far to go in either direction , it was easy. :) What makes a thought real is barely anything at all. No effort. Just as effortlessly it can sink away.
uau, beautiful. well done! |
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Samyama observations
