by Virginia Norman, Holystic Yoga, from the Winter 2024 Problems with Christian Yoga Journal “The Eight Limbs Of Yoga.”
Samadhi is the eighth and remaining limb as recognized within the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. There appears to be no actual consensus on what this really means. Some definitions embody enlightenment, non secular absorption, a clean thoughts, meditative consciousness, or union with the divine. Generally it’s outlined as bliss or ecstasy. In conventional yoga teachings, the primary 5 limbs lay the inspiration for the ultimate three, culminating in samadhi. Because the practitioner masters the primary 5 limbs, they turn out to be extra capable of follow the ultimate three.
In A Seeker’s Information to Samadhi, Pandit Rajmani Tigunait states that “In samadhi, the method of focus, the item of focus, and the thoughts that’s making an attempt to pay attention or meditate all have turn out to be one…all that continues to be in consciousness is the content material, the essence, of that object.” The writer additionally states that an exception to following the yogic path, the primary seven limbs, flows from full give up to God.
What does this imply for the Christian yoga practitioner? If yoga primarily means union, and samadhi (bliss) is finally the aim of the yogic path, then samadhi for the Christian is the bliss, the ecstasy, the rapture one feels when their complete being is immersed in God and full of the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we feature the Holy Spirit inside us, however a Samadhi expertise would fully take up His essence. Maybe this expertise would look totally different for various individuals.
There are Biblical examples of this sort of non secular expertise when the Holy Spirit falls upon or interacts straight with people. A fast search reveals the next handful of examples in no specific order.
Virginia Norman
Virginia is the creator of Holystic Yoga. Her ardour is integrating breath, motion, mindfulness, and devotion into an on and off the mat yoga follow.
