Samadhi Saturday Session

The last of the eight limbs of yoga: Samadhi. Bliss. Contemplation. Nirvana? Enlightenment? It may be described as, "a state of spiritual ecstasy in which the mental consciousness leaves the physical body."

When I arrived at our session, Kathy was explaining the koshas (more notes on koshas from August). When you experience the anandamayakosha, it is pure bliss.

More than half of the people in the room were furiously scribbling notes. Another third had notebooks open, some words written. The rest were listening, a few with eyes closed. I quietly listened. I thought about how far I had come in my training. In eight months, the terms were becoming familiar enough so that I knew I had notes and research on the topics already.

There are several schools of thought on samadhi.

• There is the idea that it takes many lifetimes of good deeds and spiritual dedication to experience samadhi-as in Buddhist thought.
• Then there is the idea that anyone, anywhere, can experience samadhi. It can be spontaneous.

There is also many levels of samadhi:

• A level of samadhi the removes all koshas that which a saint will go into for a very long time, several days or weeks, even. They can not function, therefore rely on others to take care of them.
• A level of "walking samadhi" where a person in a state of enlightenment is still aware of other koshas, and using them.
• Circadian samadhi is the level where everyone experiences a few minutes of thought cessation, IE "blank out" and can't remember what just happened. You weren't really taking in any new info, just your physical body was existing.

After discussing samadhi, Kathy explained the 8 limbs of yoga again.

• Yamas (moral codes)
  - Ahimsa (non-harming)
  - Asteya (non-stealing)
  - Aparigraha (non-hoarding, non-greediness)
  - Satya (truthfulness)
  - Brahmacharya (celibacy)
• Niyamas (self-discipline)
  - Saucha (purity, cleanliness)
  - Santosha (contentment)
  - Svadyaya (self-study)
  - Tapas (heat, endurance of extremes)
  - Isvara pranidana (devotion to the divine)
• Asana (postures)
• Pranayama (breath/life-force control)
• Pratyahara (sense withdrawl)
• Dharana (concentration)
• Dhyana (meditation)
• Samadhi (mental bliss)

We practiced with Kathy's guidance for about an hour before lunch. These sessions are great because every once and a while Kathy throws in new postures or gives us things to think about trying in new ways.

After lunch we broke up into groups and discussed moments in our lives where we felt samadhi or recognized a blissful moment. Here are a few that I mentioned:

• Driving for several hours, "blanking out" in the sense that you think "huh, I know I was driving, but not sure what I was just thinking about and now I am further down the road than I thought."
• Once, while getting a massage, I tried meditating during it, focusing on my meditation image (a flame on a white candle in the dark) and realizing that I lost moments while the masseuse went from my feet to my head.

Things that others mentioned:

• Being caught on a boat in a storm and focusing totally on getting to safety. The adrenaline rush after was blissful or a sort.
• Being ina high-intensity sport like climbing.

I asked others what their meditation was. Did they meditate, if so, did they visualize anything in mind's eye? (like I did with the flame).

• Imagine water, or floating in water
• A running mantra
• Airline takeoff mantra (to overcome fear of flying)
  

Kathy reiterated assignments:

1. Name 5 people who you think may have experienced samadhi
2. Name 5 people who influenced your spiritual path
   
3. Read a book (as mentioned before like an autobiography, an ancient text)
4. Eat in the dark
5. Find out the name of someone that does a service for you (like the mailman, garbage collector)
6. Donate food, clothing or something to the needy

Kathy polled the room to see how many people were teaching, if not, why not. Some people said that they did not have the opportunity to teach. Kathy gave ideas on how to teach. She also asked what was keeping them from teaching or anything else they wanted to discuss. One person brought up the fact that she is uncomfortable leading a group to "OM". Kathy said, then don't do it, but the person said that she wanted to do it. It started a discussion of a fear of teaching "wrong". I read the article to them about "To Each Their Own, To Teach Their Own" in Yoga Journal.

We closed today's session with a few assists of Downdog, Uttkatasana, and Virabadrasana I and II. And OMing 12 times (using finger joints to count.)