Notes on Samyama

If there is inner silence, there will also be moral responsibility and conduct (yama and niyama), due to the connectedness of all the limbs of yoga.

Samyama is having inner silence (samadhi) and the ability to pick up a thought (focus/dharana) and let it go inward (meditation/dhyana). Then the results of samyama come out from inner the silence

It should be understood that the experience of any powers we have as a result of samyama are only to be used for the benefit of humanity and not for personal gain. In addition, it is vital not to become attached to the experience and its manifestation.

As with all advanced yoga practices, the real benefits from samyama are to be found in long term daily practice of a particular routine of sutras. If we keep changing sutras around every day or week, and are irregular in our practice, the results will not be realized.

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 mentioned. The suggestion is for each one to be practiced for two cycles, two times with about fifteen seconds in silence for each sutra.

The sutras are:

Love, Radiance, Unity, Health, Strength, Abundance, Wisdom, Inner Bliss, Akasha (ether) or Lightness of Air

For example, "Inner Bliss" is a single sutra followed by fifteen seconds of silence. It is for pratyahara, introversion of senses. "Akasha – Lightness of Air" is also a single sutra, followed by fifteen seconds in silence.

The meanings for the sutras can be translated to your own understanding, except for "Akasha, "which is a Sanskrit word meaning of "subtlest ether, inner space.

Samyama is a kundalini technique that brings much energy up through the nervous system. It is not uncommon to experience physical symptoms such as panting (automatic bastrika pranayama) and "hopping" during samyama with the lightness sutra.

 If this happens, make sure you are sitting on a soft surface. There can be various symptoms manifested with the other sutras as well. We are moving the infinite inner silence within us, so the manifestations coming out can be very real and noticeable. Patanjali calls these manifestations "supernormal powers," or "siddhis."

For those who are full with bhakti for enlightenment, samyama repetitions can be increased to four for each sutra, and then ten minutes with a preferred sutra at the end (default is the lightness sutra). This is about twenty minutes of samyama practice. Make sure to take plenty of rest when coming out of your routine of practices, especially when doing samyama.

Lying down for five or ten minutes at the end is good. As always, use self-pacing in your practices. Mental techniques such as meditation and samyama are very powerful, to overdo them is to court uncomfortable energy flows. We each will find our comfortable limit through prudent self-pacing.

Samyama greatly strengthens our presence in the silence of pure bliss consciousness. It promotes the integration of the inner and outer aspects of our nervous system. Samyama stimulates the nervous system to purify and open it to stages of enlightenment, as well as enhancing our inner silence (first stage) in everyday life. Samyama makes the overall power of our desires much stronger. When we want to accomplish something that is in tune with the divine flow, resistance will be much less and obstacles will seem to melt away.

For those who live in the silence of pure bliss consciousness and develop the habit of functioning naturally from that infinite level of life, a constant stream of "small miracles" becomes commonplace.

Do samyama practice after your meditation for a few months and see for yourself. Samyama is more than a sitting practice. It is a way of thinking and doing in our everyday life as we travel on the road to enlightenment.

The teacher is in us.