– Course 1 in the Advanced Steps Series –

‘Samyama’ is the supreme meditation method described by the great sage Patanjali, yet its true practice has been largely misunderstood by modern teachers and students alike.

From the state of Nirvikalpa Samadhi, my teacher Mark perceived the five components of mastery required to practice Samyama as it was originally intended — a precise method for transcending even the subtlest movements of mind.

– Course 2 in the Advanced Steps Series –

Turning off the senses is not a matter of will.

It is a matter of skill.

In this in-depth training, awareness is guided to the kanda — the subtle source from which the senses and energy channels arise. Here, perception itself can be allowed to fold inward.

For many, this is the first time the mind truly begins to stop. And yet, it is only the beginning of the inner adventure.

– Course 3 in the Advanced Steps Series –

It turns out that the ego is not a mystery but a mechanism — a subtle machine that can be switched off, just as the senses can be.

Through Samyama, awareness is drawn to the energetic center where the sense of “I” arises. When this function is seen clearly and allowed to release, the boundary between self and silence dissolves. This is the next great step toward the absolute thought-free state.

– Course 4 in the Advanced Steps Series –

There is something within us that seems bound to the very act of thinking — almost as if the mind were addicted to itself.

Using Samyama, we learn to locate and access a subtle switch within the energy body — a point of awareness that can quiet the compulsion to think and release the hold of mental habit. From here, the possibility of true silence of the mind begins.

– Course 5 in the Advanced Steps Series –

Manas means mind. Though the mind itself is vast and formless, it does have a seat within the subtle body.

In this practice, Samyama is applied directly to that locus — the energetic wellspring from which thoughts and movements of awareness arise. As attention steadies here, the churning waters of the mind grow still, revealing the silent depths beneath all thought.

– Course 6 in the Advanced Steps Series –

Unmanas means “no-mind.” To touch this point within the subtle body, even for a moment, is to dive into an ocean of peace beyond all intellectual understanding.

The Unmanas is the threshold to the higher mind — a gateway where thought dissolves into pure awareness, radiant with the unmistakable energy of consciousness itself.

– Course 7 in the Advanced Steps Series –

Hidden within the subtle architecture of the brain lies what the sages called the Cave of God — the inner sanctum where the individual consciousness meets the Divine.

In this course, we learn to locate this sacred chamber, to apply Samyama within it, and to understand the purpose of awakening it. We also explore the higher centers of the head — the Mahachakra and the internal Shivalinga — gateways through which awareness expands beyond individuality into pure light.

– Course 8 in the Advanced Steps Series –

Samadhi is the intuitive knowledge of the highest truth. It is both the goal toward which all spiritual practice leads, and the doorway through which the real spiritual practice truly begins.

In this final course, Samyama is applied to the subtle seats of Savikalpa Samadhi and Nirvikalpa Samadhi — the thresholds between consciousness and the Absolute.