10/16/25 Live Session Recording (Module 13)

For me, the experience of samadhi is evoked when I am wholeheartedly present in the moment. I can experience this sense of unity on my yoga mat when I am synchronizing breath with movement, and when I intentionally pause to notice the effects of the practice on my mind, body and breath. I also find that I can experience this sense of bliss in the ordinary moments, connections and values that bring meaning to my life. I also notice I feel a sense of unity when spending time with my dog. I feel that animals have this ability to draw us into the present moment to the extent that nothing else matters in that point in time. This sense of pure unconditional love is another pathway into samadhi for me, and a gentle reminder that just being as we are is more than enough.

Samadhi, bliss, the 8^th Limb of Yoga. I don’t seek or try to achieve Samadhi, I AM Samadhi. The spiritual I AM this, or I AM that…

I don’t feel it’s about ‘becoming’, not becoming enlightened, not becoming aware. I feel that western concepts blackmail or seduce you into thinking you have to do something when you are already THAT. Rupert Spira’s podcast retreats emphasize that there is no linear time, no past or future, and nothing to do. We are everything all at once and all that is needed is to see that. Schrödinger said, ‘The total number of minds in the Universe is one. In fact, consciousness is a singularity phasing within all beings'. If quantum theory is also true, where every possible reality exists at once, then everything and everyone is right now. There is no tunnel and there is no light. It’s an abstract western construct.

I come to the understanding that I am Samadhi through yoga and pranayama. I become yoga, therefore I AM yoga, therefore I AM Samadhi, and I don’t ‘feel’ bliss, because I AM bliss.

God where is all this coming from?? I am free-writing and looking at my notes from the recording. Everything I’ve ever read, watched, felt, learned, is coming together…

There is another idea, I cannot remember the source, that we are God because your life is the word of God (Allah, Buddha, Shiva, Krishna…). You are the name of God because when you’re born the first thing you do is take a deep inhale: “Yah”.

The last thing you do before you die is a final exhale: “Weh”.

Breath in and say ‘Yah’, breath out and say ‘Weh’. Now fall into a forward bend, let your breath fall in and fall out as you move. If breath is the life force and breath integrates with yoga, then yoga is the portal to not knowing that you are God but BEING God. We are divine. Gregg Braden quotes The Gospel of Thomas where we can transcend the limits we set ourselves and become divine.

Now – here’s an interesting thing… My dissertation for my psychology degree is a project on flow states and how to induce them with three factors. Lo and behold, one of these beautiful slides reads:

1. Pratyahara: withdrawal of senses.
2. Dharan: focused concentration, and
3. Dhyana: meditation, where focus softens into flow

Well, I never! Western psychology ‘discovers what eastern philosophy has always known! I’m blown away… all the literature cites flow as a western concept, and I have just discovered through this sessional recording that it always existed. Wait until I cite this in my dissertation. I’ll tell you why I’m super excited about this. My tutor gave me the green light to do this project because it can be the ‘focus’ (ha ha pun intended) for a research MSc, leading into a PhD next September. I can’t believe the synchronicity – thank you Carl Jung!

Further, ‘…these practices shape the inner conditions to experience Samadhi (be Samadhi?)'.

Separation dissolves and awareness is.

Finally, my joy I cannot describe when Tatum shared that she took her first deep breath while camping. I really heard that. Good for you Tatum! That’s healing.

Thank you Jen, this session was AWESOME.

🤩

This week’s session felt really grounding for me. I loved reflecting on Samadhi and realizing it isn’t something we “reach” but something we can touch in small moments throughout the day. For me, it shows up when I’m fully present, like when I’m out walking or moving through a slow flow and everything just feels connected. It’s that deep ease that comes when I’m not trying so hard to be anywhere else.

Movement and breath always help me get there. When things feel stressful or uncertain, coming back to my body is what reminds me I’m safe and supported. Even a few minutes of mindful movement can shift everything and help me reconnect to myself.

As I think about holding space for others, I’m noticing how important it is to stay present and steady in my own practice. The more I can show up with genuine presence, the more others seem to relax into theirs. I’m starting to see how teaching isn’t about having all the answers but about creating a space where everyone feels safe to explore what connection means for them.

Samadhi, to me, feels like coming home again and again, even when life feels messy.

1. On Samadhi: How do you understand or experience the concept of Samadhi—bliss, connection, or unity—in your own life or practice? What helps you recognize those moments of belonging or ease?

I really appreciated the slides shown on Samadhi. I had struggled with the concept that its a linear trajectory, where you arrive at some enlightened bliss. Thinking of it as moments of connection/realisation has opened it up to me as something embodied and understood, because I have experienced that, even if it is in fleeting moments.

1. On Practice and Presence: How do movement and breath practices support you in feeling safe, grounded, or connected—especially when navigating stress or uncertainty?

I have found myself craving moment practices recently, which is a bit unusual for me. I am really realising the limits of my mind and how moving into the body helps cultivate presence - the seemingly innocuous act of dropping into the body and moving it around being the most important thing I can do in that moment. The breath is the natural support for the movement also, especially when navigating a more challenging sequence. Breathing, being present, staying with it.

     On Teaching and Observation: As we move toward facilitation and integration, what are you noticing about your relationship to presence—as a practitioner, a learner, and a future facilitator? How might this awareness influence the way you hold space for others?

There is something profound about a commitment to presence, it is something I have been making a conscious decision in my daily life. I have been re-evaluating my relationship with technology and where I spend my time, with a considered shift towards activities that simply allow for me to be present. Being aware of my own patterns of distraction, craving and aversion will help me see and understand this in participants. First and foremost working towards a commitment to my self and my personal practice will allow me to share from an embodied and informed place, which is authentic.   

It's interesting to think of Samhdi from the perspective someone with trauma, past issues with addiction, self harm, the myriad of ways I tried to escape my very being and waged war on my body and commodified it. At 16 I thought sitting in the back seat of town bad boy's car and listening to led zeppelin and smoking blunt and tripping on psychedelics was bliss. Then there was the first time I tried harder drugs. Blissed out. But then came the war. that it unfolds. The devastation the complete and utter dysregulation and the compounding trauma that is born for the insatiability. My whole life, has been me gnawing at the bit to get to not enoughness. So I wonder, can bliss live inside a body/mind/spirit like mine? Of course it can. I've recently been doing a lot of IFS ( internal family system) work with my therapist. and I've decided that while the exploration of the parts of myself and having acceptance toward the duality of my nature, there is an essence and bliss that forms when I feel integrated. I accept myself, therefore I am. I accept every fiber of myself therefore I am sacred. Therefore I forgive myself. Of course none of these things happen in a linear sense. So, what is bliss? Ironically all those times I was inebriated, the one thing they all had in common, was that I was paying attention to my body, and my mind and my reality. Meaning I was present. The moment was the answer. Now, my bliss comes in short moments when I am hugging my daughter, when I feel proud of myself, when I can accept things that I cannot change. When I am working with community. When I feel oneness with all beings. When I don't feel scarcity. When I feel like everything is enough, which was so far away when I was younger. 

Samadhi, sometimes a feeling, sometimes something more

I appreciate these live recordings so much! Being among a community of heart and soul, while we each navigate life on planet earth leaves me feeling more connected to how I am being with the moments that happen to me. 

I appreciate the discussion of plant medicine welcomed into the space this week. I especially appreciate the nuanced understanding of the reintegration and healing that can be provided through different plant medicines. I find myself reflecting on the privilege of being able to invite plant medicines to heal, sometimes to feel, and to Tatum's point, sometimes "to breathe". I think about comrades living through excruciating life challenges and circumstances, and how there are limitations, barriers, and obstacles in the form of criminalization, institutionalization, isolation, negative moral implications from others (... the list goes on) in being able to access these natural, living resources such as cannabis, mushrooms, etc. 

Upon completion of watching the recording, there was a moment I had that I would like to share about my body's experience of samadhi when I wasn't looking for it -- and yet, it found me. It was a day of errands and the usual hustle-bustle of a regular week day -- I was with my sister, attending an event on behalf of a new program she started in the fall. As we were walking throughout the city, we settled at the library for a brief moment before taking the train home. And at the library, I found myself just noticing. Watching beautiful strangers reading in cozy chairs, listening to music while drawing, and talking with one another by the computers. I glanced at my sister every now and again, noting how she scrunches her face every now and again. I then looked to the ray of sunshine peeking through the leaves of the trees, blowing in the wind outside. And for a brief moment, I really soaked that moment up. Really taking notice to the air that was filling up in my lungs, inhaling and exhaling with purpose, and letting my body sway in its movement. I smiled to myself, to the bright light that was shining through the window, feeling so much gratitude for all that had happened that day, before, and all that is to come.