Bliss.

Samadhi - Enlightenment, Nirvana.

We made it, friends!

We've spent the last few months having a look at what the yoga sutras tell us about the holistic lifecycle of a yogi. We've looked at ways in which we live our lives (yamas and niyamas), move our bodies (asana), awareness of our breath (pranayama), withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara), single-pointed focus (Dharana) and meditation (Dhyana). Through this journey my hope is that you have found an appreciation, on some level, for the subtler components of a yoga practice.

Today's blog is the final stepping stone on the 8 limbed path. Patanjali defines Samadhi as a state of attention or concentration. The word Samadhi is made up of 3 separate words; ''Sama'' means equal or even, ''Adhi'' means hold and ''Di'' means an understanding or inner vision.

Similarly to last week's post on dhyana, I find the notion of Samadhi an impossible experience to describe. In essence Samadhi cannot be it be described, only felt. Through years of discipline and patience and a dedicated practice of deep meditation one may catch a glimpse of samadhi.

I've experienced moments of bliss in my meditation practice. They are fleeing, once noticed they disappear. They never arrive without a series of events that came before them, almost setting the moment up for nothing but perfection. Those moments are purposeful and powerful; they don't happen by chance, they can never be forced or replicated.

But because I can put words to those moments, I don't believe them to be Samadhi. Samadhi is infinite, a merging of meditator, the act of mediation and the object of meditation. When we put words on something and can describe an experience, we create boundaries and limitations. Samadhi exists outside of any limitation or boundary.

Instead tonight I will share with you the words of the brilliant Swami Sivanda, a person much better equipped to speak of such enlightenment,

''In trained Yogis, you cannot say where Pratyahara (abstraction) ends and Dharana (concentration) begins; where Dharana ends and Dhyana (meditation) begins; where Dhyana ends and Samadhi (superconscious state) begins. The moment they sit on the Asana, all the processes occur simultaneously with electric or lightning speed and they enter Samadhi at their conscious will. In the neophytes, Pratyahara first takes place. Then Dharana begins. Then Dhyana slowly commences. Before Samadhi manifests, their minds, getting impatient and tired, drop down. Constant and intense Sadhana, with light but nutritious food, will bring about sanguine success in getting Samadhi.”

With love, always and forever,

Leonie x