Samyama is an advanced meditation program that is conducted in Isha yoga center, There are 8 limbs of yoga and samyama is a way we are attempting the final three stages of yoga which are dharana, dhyana and samadhi. Samadhi is said to be an equanimous state where we our state of being is beyond the mind.
It is conducted once a year. It is usually conducted a week after Mahashivratri is over.
Its conducted as an 8-day program. It’s a silence program. Sadhguru takes the participants through meditations that are subtler in nature.
The pre requisites for attending the program are to complete the Inner engineering program, Bhavaspandana program, shoonya and hatha yoga programs such as Surya kriya or Surya Shakti along with and Yogasanas.
It can be seen as the final program as far as Isha foundation is considered because after finishing this program, the only program that you can do is Samyama Sadhana which is a refresher to the practice of Samyama.
Mistakes done in Samyama
When I was introduced to Isha yoga I wanted to finish all the programs, So I kept attending one after the other,I was able to complete all the programs in a span of 7 months. Due to this I was able to apply for the Samyama program.
When we learn so many practices so quickly it was not easy to keep up all the practices going. I feel its is best to leave atleast a gap of 2 months before adding any new practice. This will help our body to get used to the practices. So it was not the perfect Samyama experience when i wanted to do it. I opted to wait for a few years before I finally did my Samyama program,.
Mandala period for all practices are normally 40 days for twice a day. it will be better if we finish our mandala period well ahead for all practices before we attempt the samyama program.
I have also seen people who have finished all programs in a very short span span of time. It is totally your choice at the end on which route you want to try.
It is very importany that we are able to do all the practices that are required to do for Samyama daily, so that we can comfortably sit for long hours during the program.
Pre Samyama Meet
This meeting is done so that participants are oriented before they attend the Samyama program. It usually happens 2-3 months before the Samyama program in Isha yoga centre in coimbatore.Most of the times it is also conducted in local centres such as Bangalore,Chennai Mumbai and other major centres. This is meeting will be for a Single day and will get over in few hours.
Usually its conducted in third or fourth week of December .
Participants who have not completed the programs like bhava spandana and shoonya are allowed to attend the pre samyama meet and then go on to complete the pending programs in the month of January and early Feb before they attend Samyama.
I have seen some people who wait for a long time before they attend Samyama program as they want to prepare more to be ready for the program.
The practice can go up 4-5 hours in total a day when we are preparing for the samyama program. Its important that we dedicate atleast two – three months for preparation.
If you are not finding time to do all the practices you can do the hata yoga practice of surya kriya and yogasanas on alternate days while doing the kriyas like shakti chalana and shambavi mahamudra daily. On sundays you can do both surya kriya and yogasanas.
We also need to do balancing practices also like Sukha kriya for an hour daily durin gthe preparation phase. you can break down the sukha kriya of one hour into three slots of 20 minutes each. Make sure that you leave sufficient gap in time after a ful meal before siting for sukha kriya.
We should also take care of our diet by including more fruits and salads into our diet and cutting down on al the junk food we eat.
Dairy products, meat , egg also are not recommended during the preparation phase for the program
Samyama program is offered free of cost even though there will be lots of participants. People who are dedicated to their practices are only encouraged to do Samyama program. It
Once you are selected for the program after the pre samyama meet. Ensure that you attend the program.
Program is conducted in English . In some years it is conudcted exclusively in tamil.
Isha Samyama clothing
White clothing for both t shirt and pants or orange t shirts with white pants are needed for the program. The orange suggested is of a shade that is different than the usual shade of orange that we use generally. The orange t shirts are available at Isha shoppe. if you find the same shade of orange somewhere else also you can purchase it from outside also. As the program is for 8 days we will need to purchase 8 pairs of clothing.
Washing clothes in yoga centre wont be allowed in order to reduce water consumption. AS there will be thousands of participants for the program it wont be practical also to allow people to wash clothes during the program.
Most programs in isha are teacher led nowadays, Sadhguru only conducts certain programs. like Inner engineering , That too only for certain programs.
Samyama is the only program which is conducted by Sadhguru himself. So this program in a way is the longest any meditator will be able to spend with Sadhguru in yoga program. No other program is this long. Inner engineering completion in person usually is over within two days.
I would say everybody should attend Samyama at least once. Unfortunately I am not able to keep up my practice at the same level as I did while I did samyama. But whenever I do my practices we can clearly notice a difference in the way we are approaching everything .
For an article on anapana meditation click here
for reading about yoga for weight loss click here
for post on inner engineering program click here
for post on eye care yoga click here
for post on isha yoga click here
for a post on mantra meditation click here
Thanks for your blog, nice to read. Do not stop.