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Wil
Sweden
150 Posts |
 Posted - Dec 20 2020 : 12:36:44 PM
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Hello, Merry Christmas!
I came to notice..after half a year of Samyama. That these past two months has been me doing the picking up of sutras..aiming for all nine..but always hearing my alarm go off when on 'Health or even 'Unity. Continually lost in thought, loosing track. I can not seem to let go for 15 seconds even though it feels like I am doing it..when I try to decrease the interval, I again get lost in very imersive thoughts and end up missing the last six or five sutras.
I'm sure this is common as thoughts come and go but this seems continual and not like it is supposed to be.Unlike when one get lost in thought in Deep Meditation as a part of the procedure. Samyama feels hopeless, exhausting and like I am missing out nowadays even though I feel the benefit just like the first couple of months of Samyama practice.
Suggestions? Can someone relate?
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interpaul
USA
524 Posts |
Posted - Dec 20 2020 : 3:47:39 PM
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| Wil, Are you able to sustain focus for extended time in deep meditation? Are you able to keep your focus while you are releasing the sutra into silence and then loose your focus once you release the sutra? Are you getting enough sleep as I find that will make focusing tough? Are you doing samyama after DM? I find I am much more focused after my 20 minutes of DM. Since the timing seems to correlate with my breath I am able to use the end of the breath as a reminder to move on to the next sutra. I have definitely had troubles at times in my practice with drifting off. Yogani recommends just going back to the practice without any judgement as it is the long term effort you put in that gradually pays off, not whether you succeed on any given day. |
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Dogboy
USA
2193 Posts |
Posted - Dec 20 2020 : 7:03:24 PM
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Hello Wil
You said your “alarm goes off”, are you using a timer, for your meditation, samyama, or both? If so, you may try practice for a while without one. I keep my practice without one because the anticipation of it going off was a distraction, in and of itself, especially if it interrupts finishing your samyama.
My problems early in samyama were losing track of the sutras, especially when I was tired. If it happened more than once then I’d skip to Akasha and then rest. Every sitting has its own story, and it’s okay to call it a day when conditions reveal it best. I would also find myself counting out the fifteen second interval, as hard as it tried not to. The eventual solution for me was this:
quote:
Since the timing seems to correlate with my breath I am able to use the end of the breath as a reminder to move on to the next sutra.
Although it is not official AYP procedure, by slowly inhaling and releasing the sutra on a slow exhale, it drifts away on the breath; the inhale/exhale cycle is about fifteen seconds, so I was able to free myself from counting it. The inhale also gave me the opportunity to anticipate the upcoming sutra. I have rarely forgotten a sutra since.
Even a fumbled practice moves you along. Keep on trucking, and be forgiving of yourself!
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Edited by - Dogboy on Dec 20 2020 7:04:27 PM |
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Wil
Sweden
150 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2020 : 4:32:18 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by interpaul
Wil, Are you able to sustain focus for extended time in deep meditation? Are you able to keep your focus while you are releasing the sutra into silence and then loose your focus once you release the sutra? Are you getting enough sleep as I find that will make focusing tough? Are you doing samyama after DM? I find I am much more focused after my 20 minutes of DM. Since the timing seems to correlate with my breath I am able to use the end of the breath as a reminder to move on to the next sutra. I have definitely had troubles at times in my practice with drifting off. Yogani recommends just going back to the practice without any judgement as it is the long term effort you put in that gradually pays off, not whether you succeed on any given day.
Hello Interpaul,
Yes I am able to sustain favouring of the mantra in meditation, with focus.
Yes, I am able to keep my focus while releasing the sutra and then I loose focus once released.
Sleep I get plenty of, maybe too much with no early morning responsibilities nowadays.
Yes, I do Samyama directly after DM.
I doubt this breathing reminder will work for my seemingly nonexisting and unpredictable breath but thank you I can now see this option.
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Wil
Sweden
150 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2020 : 4:45:43 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by Dogboy
Hello Wil
You said your “alarm goes off”, are you using a timer, for your meditation, samyama, or both? If so, you may try practice for a while without one. I keep my practice without one because the anticipation of it going off was a distraction, in and of itself, especially if it interrupts finishing your samyama.
My problems early in samyama were losing track of the sutras, especially when I was tired. If it happened more than once then I’d skip to Akasha and then rest. Every sitting has its own story, and it’s okay to call it a day when conditions reveal it best. I would also find myself counting out the fifteen second interval, as hard as it tried not to. The eventual solution for me was this:
quote:
Since the timing seems to correlate with my breath I am able to use the end of the breath as a reminder to move on to the next sutra.
Although it is not official AYP procedure, by slowly inhaling and releasing the sutra on a slow exhale, it drifts away on the breath; the inhale/exhale cycle is about fifteen seconds, so I was able to free myself from counting it. The inhale also gave me the opportunity to anticipate the upcoming sutra. I have rarely forgotten a sutra since.
Even a fumbled practice moves you along. Keep on trucking, and be forgiving of yourself!
Hello Dogboy,
First off, I will definetly try without an alarm. I use a timer for both samyama and meditation. Although I may stick with alarm for the meditation as I am self pacing down to 10 minutes now.
When you say go straight to Akasha, I assume you mean where you have one sutra at the end to keep longer. That seems like another option to keep in mind as I feel there you do not have to know how many repetitions you have done NIETHER which sutra to switch to. |
Edited by - Wil on Dec 21 2020 6:48:35 PM |
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Wil
Sweden
150 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2020 : 4:52:03 PM
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...Furthermore.
To put it in perspective. For about two months I have done 10 min DM followed by 15 min Samyama (10 min x 4 letting go' of the sutras and 5 minutes repeating one) and then nothing less than 10 minutes rest.
Thank you for your input and humbling encouragement Interpaul and Dogboy! |
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Dogboy
USA
2193 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2020 : 7:06:03 PM
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From lesson 150:
quote:
In advanced yoga practices we can do samyama after every meditation session before we go into yoni mudra kumbhaka (if doing that then) and our ending rest period. Samyama is a continuation of our meditation practice. First we are going in with meditation, and then we are coming out with samyama.
For this purpose, a balanced series of nine sutras are given here. The suggestion is for each to be done for two cycles of samyama, two times with about fifteen seconds in silence for each sutra, and going straight through the list in order like that.
You are doubling up samyama (2 vs 4) sutras, not necessarily a bad thing, unless it is becoming a chore. I don’t believe it would lead to overload, you are the best to judge that. Overall your basic practice sounds solid, the next time you get the “itch” for more, increase DM gradually upward, back to 20 minutes. |
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Christi
United Kingdom
4364 Posts |
Posted - Dec 21 2020 : 7:51:39 PM
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Hi Wil,
It is not a problem if you are getting lost in thoughts during samyama practice. It is quite normal.
This is from lesson 317:
"Losing track of our sutras is common, even for advanced practitioners, due to ongoing purification and opening occurring in the nervous system. It can happen to anyone at any time, and there is nothing to worry about. When we realize we have wandered off from our sutra practice, we just easily come back to it, wherever we left off.
If we find ourselves in a blizzard of thoughts, we do not hang on to them or try to force them out. We just easily come back to our samyama practice whenever we realize we have wandered off into a stream of thoughts, or any other experience.
Of course, wandering off and coming back to our sutras after some time has passed can mean our overall time will be longer. That is fine if we have the time. If we run out of time, then we can end our session as necessary wherever we happen to be in the sutra sequence and lay down to rest. There will always be other sessions, so we do not have to fret about an interrupted sequence of sutras. It has been for a good cause - our purification and opening, and for the ongoing process of our enlightenment." [Yogani]
I hope that helps.
Christi |
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Wil
Sweden
150 Posts |
Posted - Dec 22 2020 : 08:55:58 AM
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| I will keep on trucking with a more loose grip on Samyama, other than that I am probably not going to change anything in a while. Great that you adressed that lesson Christi, makes me feel confident. |
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Samyama - Lost in thought
