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TensorTympani
USA
69 Posts |
 Posted - Feb 20 2024 : 2:26:33 PM
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On a recent solitary retreat I experimented a lot with samyama and cosmic samyama. And I thought about (in retrospect after each session) what made certain samyama sessions feel more "successful", in the sense that my mind in those 15 sec gaps was less likely to wonder off into other thoughts, or cling to the sutras. I think what made these sessions more likely to be "successful" was the intention or earnest right before samyama and then an attitude to trust the samyama process while it is happening.
I'm putting "successful" in quotation marks there, because we all know of course that we should measure that success in daily life. Still, for me personally, how deep individual sessions feel and their short term after-effect poise, are still the major reason for why I feel the urge twice a day to sit down and meditate.
The following analogy came to mind that captures the two aspects of intention/earnest right before samyama, and also the passive attitude while samyama is happening. Imagine you want to skip a stone over a smooth water surface. In order to achieve sufficiently many jumps of the stone (e.g. 18 in core samyama), and a consistent distance of single jumps (e.g. 15 seconds), you need to be concentrated and skilled at the moment you throw the stone. And once it's thrown you passively allow the stone (your awareness) to briefly touch and disturb the water surface (stillness) on its trajectory. |
Edited by - TensorTympani on Feb 20 2024 2:29:11 PM |
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Dogboy
USA
2201 Posts |
Posted - Feb 21 2024 : 02:16:59 AM
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1532 Posts |
Posted - Feb 22 2024 : 10:59:18 AM
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What a beautiful analogy.
I would say what determines the "success" of a samyama session for is, is how much Inner Silence is present and the quality of that Inner Silence; in other words, how still is the mind at that point.
The qualities of the nine sutras are certainly present in my life but are they truly the result of samyama? I can't tell. It could just as much be the result of deep meditation.
I just go on trust with this practice, plus it is a beautiful practice and I love it.
Sey |
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DreamWeaver
USA
44 Posts |
Posted - Feb 22 2024 : 6:31:13 PM
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| beautiful |
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TensorTympani
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Feb 22 2024 : 9:37:16 PM
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Thanks 
Regarding, the "successful" aspect. I would love to know what exactly samyama and cosmic samyama have done so far in my daily life. But it's very difficult to judge since I can't ask a counterfactual me who hasn't done these add-ons to the base AYP practices. So, cause and effect from individual AYP components are difficult to assess in my daily life. That's very different from their short term effects. SPB, bastrika, DM, samyama, and cosmic samyama have very distinct short term effects on me, so that I can easily assign "success" through what appears optimal short term effects (and optimal means here optimal for the subsequent elements of the AYP sitting practice). For instance, once I'm done with cosmic samyama, and it was "successful", meaning that I managed to go through the sutras like that skipping stone from the analogy, I feel very floaty and my mind is naturally still without doing anything. The optimal state for resting. As if the stone just magically continues flying above the surface for a long while. |
Edited by - TensorTympani on Feb 23 2024 12:34:00 AM |
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th1996
Germany
23 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2024 : 07:48:37 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by TensorTympani
Thanks
Regarding, the "successful" aspect. I would love to know what exactly samyama and cosmic samyama have done so far in my daily life. But it's very difficult to judge since I can't ask a counterfactual me who hasn't done these add-ons to the base AYP practices. So, cause and effect from individual AYP components are difficult to assess in my daily life. That's very different from their short term effects. SPB, bastrika, DM, samyama, and cosmic samyama have very distinct short term effects on me, so that I can easily assign "success" through what appears optimal short term effects (and optimal means here optimal for the subsequent elements of the AYP sitting practice). For instance, once I'm done with cosmic samyama, and it was "successful", meaning that I managed to go through the sutras like that skipping stone from the analogy, I feel very floaty and my mind is naturally still without doing anything. The optimal state for resting. As if the stone just magically continues flying above the surface for a long while.
What are the long term effects by your practise? |
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TensorTympani
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Feb 23 2024 : 4:44:00 PM
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The long term results are what Yogani mostly emphasizes: switching on and increasing ecstatic conductivity through energy practices (like SPB, bastrika and other pranayamas with mudras and bandhas) and building up abiding inner silence ("the witness") through DM and samyama. Samyama, is also supposed to assist in eventually going beyond the witness state, into a permanent non-dual state of unity and "outpouring divine love".
I am currently at a stage where ecstatic conductivity is part of my daily round-the-clock experience. Both through introspection and touch ecstatic sensations are ever present (I posted elsewhere about all those enjoyable things I discovered and keep discovering in my body).
But the quality, the intensity and area of ecstatic sensations is constantly changing and mostly increasing, so I don't think I'm capable of estimating how that will develop.
The inner silence has definitely built up as well, I notice this in many ways from time to time in daily life. E.g. things that used to make me angry lost their grip. Letting go of such thoughts either comes easily or often automatic. Sometimes I watch myself react without the sense that it is "me" who is reacting, it is more like watching an obsolete reflex coming alive and dissipating. People around me notice that too, especially those who only see me a few times a year. But the abiding inner silence isn't as tangible as the ecstatic conductivity yet. And from reading about it in Yogani's lessons and books, and from other more experienced practitioners here, I also know that I'm still far away from being in the witness state. But these things have been developing within 1.5 years to a level where I at least can believe in such states, and also the more outlandish sounding long term effects like the permanent non-dual state or "outpouring divine love".
Another long-term effect that isn't related to daily living is i) the depths reached during sitting practices and ii) the reproducibility with which these depths are reached. I'm not anywhere close to being an expert meditator (having started a daily meditation practice only about 2.5 years ago), but the ability to sit down and reach minutes of stillness and bliss reproducibly every day twice a day is already more than I every wished for from a daily meditation practice in such a short time. Reaching deep states reliably was my original desire for starting a meditation practice. The long term effects affecting daily life that Yogani advertises as the main goal of AYP, I did not even believe in when I starting AYP |
Edited by - TensorTympani on Feb 23 2024 5:40:09 PM |
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Dogboy
USA
2201 Posts |
Posted - Feb 25 2024 : 02:38:39 AM
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quote:
Another long-term effect that isn't related to daily living is i) the depths reached during sitting practices and ii) the reproducibility with which these depths are reached. I'm not anywhere close to being an expert meditator (having started a daily meditation practice only about 2.5 years ago), but the ability to sit down and reach minutes of stillness and bliss reproducibly every day twice a day is already more than I every wished for from a daily meditation practice in such a short time. Reaching deep states reliably was my original desire for starting a meditation practice. The long term effects affecting daily life that Yogani advertises as the main goal of AYP, I did not even believe in when I starting AYP
Yogani coins this the "Flywheel Effect", when your practices reach a stage that bear spiritual fruit with little effort. You will begin to bring yoga into every corner of your day when conductivity fuels the Bhakti in this way; I often find myself inquiring "am I quiet? am I open?" which automatically puts me in a state to receive. |
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SeySorciere
Seychelles
1532 Posts |
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TensorTympani
USA
69 Posts |
Posted - Mar 03 2024 : 10:54:50 AM
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Hi Dogboy and Sey! Thanks for your comments and link to your discoveries! I will also properly roam the 20 years of forum archive to see what other people discovered about their samyama practice. And post some links here if I find something cool
I'm really looking forward to get the flywheel to proper speed, and curiously excited about how my daily life will continue to change thanks to AYP. |
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Stone skipping over water analogy for samyama
