Samyama - Cultivating Stillness in Action, Siddhis and Miracles

by Yogani

"Samyama - Stillness in Action, Siddhis and Miracles" covers a powerful yoga practice that has been shrouded in mystery for centuries. Yet, it is as close to us as our most immediate hopes and dreams, for it is the principles of Samyama that are operating behind everything good that is happening in our life. The key methods of Samyama are covered here, simplified to enable anyone to engage in daily practice leading to profound results. Our deepest desires can be enlivened by systematically letting go into our inner silence. Whatever we surrender will come back to us a thousand-fold, purified in a divine outpouring. This is "Stillness in Action." Yogani is the author of ground-breaking books on highly effective spiritual practices, Advanced Yoga Practices - Easy Lessons for Ecstatic Living (two comprehensive user-friendly textbooks), and The Secrets of Wilder, a powerful spiritual novel.
 The "AYP Enlightenment Series" makes these profound practices available for the first time in a series of concise instruction books. "Samyama" is the fifth book in the series, preceded by "Asanas, Mudras and Bandhas," "Tantra," "Spinal Breathing Pranayama," and "Deep Meditation."

Genres: Spirituality

112 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 2006

About the author

Yogani is the author of the Advanced Yoga Practices (AYP) system, including more than a dozen Instructional Titles available in Paperback, eBook and AudioBook editions, covering all aspects of Full-Scope Yoga Practice. Since 1970, he has crossed the lines between many traditions, developing an effective integration of methods including Deep Meditation, Spinal Breathing Pranayama, Hatha, Kundalini, Tantra, Self-Inquiry, and more. It is a flexible, scientific approach rather than a rigid, arbitrary one, and open to public scrutiny, as all spiritual knowledge should be nowadays. He has no desire for guru status - only to have the joy of making a small contribution to helping the disciplines of spiritual practice become open to everyone. He wishes to remain anonymous, preserving a quiet life in practices. AYP is not about the author. It is about all who long for knowledge. 


Reviews

[Luke Sebree · Rating 5 out of 5]

For Yogani, "Samyama" is a practice of active surrender that he recommends adding to your practice after deep meditation as a lead-in to your post-meditation rest period. Deep meditation takes us from the outside in cultivating inner silence with a meaningless mantra, and Samyama takes us inside out by infusing meaning into inner silence spurring the "witness" of our inner silence into action. This is my summary of the pre-requisites, technique, and effects:

PRE-REQUISITES:

1) Primary pre-requisite: Must have attained some level of inner silence from Deep Meditation. Usually this will mean at least several months of deep meditation.

2) Secondary pre-requisite: It is helpful, but not strictly necessary, to have cultivated some level of ecstatic conductivity (prana/life energy) through other AYP techniques like spinal pranayama, bodily postures (asanas, mudras, bandhas) and tantric sexuality.

TECHNIQUE

Yogani's "Samyama" technique revolves around the repetition of "Sutras". "Sutra" literally translates to thread. In this case, the thread is a word or phrase that joins our inner and outer life. Yogani gives us a list of "sutras" to repeat during this exercise which includes words like "love" and "strength".

After deep meditation, sit for 1-2 minutes, then begin:

1) Start by creating an impulse of meaning by briefly and subtly coming to a "sutra". Resonate the sutra for a split second.
2) Release the sutra.
3) Surrender and let the sutra fall into your inner silence for 15 seconds. This is one cycle. Perform two cycles for each "sutra" aiming to complete the repetitions in around 5 minutes. For the last sutra, repeat samyama cycles for 5 minutes.

Thus, Yogani's "Samyama" fulfills Patanjali's three stages of Dharana (focus) Dhyana (absorption) and Samadhi (union):

1) Dharana: Briefly, subtly picking up object (sutra)
2) Dhyana: Letting go of sutra
3) Samadhi: Absorbing released sutra into our inner silence

-Do Not: make a clear pronunciation of the sutras, visualize images, contemplate meaning, make a specific effort to locate the sutra in your body
-D0: Surrender the sutra to your inner silence

PURPOSE/EFFECTS

Samyama cultivates an "active witness" that manifests our higher purpose. First, deep meditation cultivates inner silence. We learn to identify with the "witness" in this inner silence and not our minds. Initially, there is a separation between the witness and the outside world. The witness is here, inside, and the world is there, outside. Samyama pulls this inert witness upward and outward into action, compelling it to move and externally manifest. As our witness becomes more active, we may experience:

-energy
-creativity
-intuition
-patience
-love/compassion
-etc.

As our inner silence (the witness and accompanying pure consciousness bliss state) and ecstatic conductivity (prana/life energy and the accompanying ecstatic state) increase, our every action becomes an act of samyama and part of an intentional divine flow. The culmination is "stillness in action" or the union of Shiva and Shakti, inert stillness and dynamic creative power, Father God and Holy Spirit, yin and yang, etc.

[Friso · Rating 4 out of 5]

De technologie/Samyama wordt fijn uitgelegd, is zeer goed te doen en neemt weinig tijd im beslag. Ben van plan om 2x per dag een vast moment van 5 minuten hiervoor te nemen (evt combineren tijdens andere activiteiten)

[Rajat Bansal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An insightful book. Meant only for people with necessary exposure to this subject. For some beautiful excerpts, please see my blog post.

[Micmoc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful practice to be added to the daily meditation practice!