Day 23: Accessing the Soul Through Meditation
Exploring Purusha, Prakriti and the Practice of Samyama
Today, one of my Yoga Sutra study groups explored karma, the nature of suffering, and the concepts of Purusha and Prakriti. These foundational ideas in Samkhya philosophy offer a lens through which to understand our existence. (I call them P & P for simplicity.)
P & P
Purusha is the soul, the Atma, that transcends lifetimes. It is unchanging and eternal. In contrast, Prakriti encompasses everything that changes: the material world, our clothes, cars, bodies, and minds. According to Samkhya, Purusha resides within the body (the body I call Alexandra) to witness the human experience and learn from it. Purusha is distinct from the mind—it observes the mind, thoughts, and experiences. We can only operate from either a Purusha or Prakritik lense at one time. We’re either in the drama (prakriti) or we’re witnessing it (purusha).
The goal of yoga, as Sutra 2.17 explains, is to disentangle Purusha and Prakriti: “The original state of mind (purusha) and that which we observe (prakriti) is a union to be avoided” (“Drastr-drsyayoh samyogo heyahetuh”). This disentanglement reveals the truth that we are not our material possessions or experiences; we are the eternal soul.
The Entanglement
Most people remain entangled in Prakriti, identifying with the material world. For much of my life, I did too. It’s a natural state. I thought my car, my apartment, my job, my clothes, my instagram all defined me. Whenever I’m in the world that way, I’ve forgotten who I am. I’m operating in a purusha level at the moment, but the same was not true a month ago, when I was in prakriti.
Recognizing this entanglement in others helps me foster compassion. For example, last week, a woman in my yoga class took a selfie when the whole class was doing poses behind her. My initial reaction was frustration - it seems like really selfish and distracting behaviour right? However, through this lense of P & P, I saw she is just entangled in the material world, like all of us have been at some point, which helped me have compassion for it.
A student asked me this morning in my Yoga Sutra Study group, “I have moments of this awareness, but not consistently. How do you access it all the time?” I asked her, “Do you have a meditation practice?” For me, meditation is the gateway drug.
Meditation as the Gateway Drug
Meditation quiets the mind and opens the heart. Ekhart Tolle talks about living from our pain bodies. For years, I lived this way, shaped by childhood chaos. I kept replicating the chaos because it’s all I ever knew. When life felt too clear and solid, I became frightened of stillness and ease. But daily meditation has helped me find comfort in simplicity and beauty.
It’s ok if your mind feels incredibly hectic when you sit down to meditate. Just keep sitting down and doing it. If it’s hectic, it’s just a reflection of your inner state right now. The goal is just to continue to show up as your mind untangles itself. (For me, it took literally years. I’m still untangling it and I have been for about a decade. So don’t expect overnight changes).
This clarity from meditation for me, has led to tangible changes. Over the last year or so as I witnessed my unability to sit still for longer than a few minutes, I knew I had to let go of Instagram, because I didn’t have a long enough attention span to practice. In this letting go, a window of space has opened up. It triggered me to also let go of coffee, a habit that caused anxiety and dehydration. Other positive changes have also followed. I canceled financial commitments, including my custom built app, the magazine, and the podcast production team. (By the way, the Magazine is now moving to Substack. You can find it here!) which were draining me energetically and financially. Initially, I feared these changes, but I’ve already gained some revenue through Substack subscriptions, which wasn’t even planned, but gratefully welcomed! (Thank you Celeste, Cherie, Karin, Erin, Anita, Sarah, Brenda and Yvonne). Letting go created space for that alignment.
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I’m also no longer taking work calls before 7:30am, and with that, no longer reading texts and emails before 7:30am, either. This has dramatically changed my life as I can tap into a higher power before I start my day.
The Practice of Samyama
My meditation practice has allowed me to experience what is called samyama in Patanjali’s sutras: the practice of combining dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation), and samadhi (consciousness). Sutras 3.1 to 3.3 describe these final limbs of yoga. I experienced samyama while diving in Bali in September. It was the first time I can remember accessing a place of deep stillness and peace. The practice enabled me to arrive at the following stages of practice:
Dharana: Preparing for the dive, I focused intently on breathing and equipment—an act of concentration. (Sutra 3.1) This is like in meditation, when we sit down to utilize a particular technique, such as mantra meditation, mindfulness, etc.
Dhyana: In the water, my awareness expanded to the marine life and the ocean’s stillness. Effort dissolved, leaving seamless meditation. (Sutra 3.2) This is when the technique begins to dissolve of a seated meditation, and you enter a deeper state of stillness.
Samadhi: At the dive’s peak, I felt unity with the ocean. There was a state of complete absorption. (Sutra 3.3) This is during a meditation, when all effort dissolves, and you get to “the place.” My teacher Rory says that when you take an uber to a destination, the uber doesn’t stay with you, it leaves. The uber in this metaphor is the meditation technique such as mantra. And Samadhi is where we’re going, which is the destination.
Together, these three stages form samyama. Mastering samyama, as Sutra 3.5 explains, brings wisdom. Life becomes a meditation, and deeper truths emerge.
Meditation Across Traditions
Meditation is not just encouraged in Patanajali’s Sutras. The wisdom traditions I’ve been studying for the last few years continuously emphasize meditation:
The Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 6, Verses 11-15): Krishna advises meditation to purify the mind: “Sitting firmly, holding the body, head, and neck straight… one should meditate to purify the mind.”
The 12 Steps (Step 11): “Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God…”
Buddha Dharma: Meditation cultivates mindfulness and detachment from suffering.
Meditation is the thread connecting all these teachings, guiding us to access the purusha, the atma, or the soul.
Living from The Soul
Meditation has allowed me to recognize and release what no longer serves me, from caffeine to business commitments.
It’s a practice of disentangling Purusha from Prakriti, of living with clarity and presence.
The more we meditate, the more we align with our true nature—and the more our lives become an expression of the eternal soul.
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I have about 200 guided meditations from the last five years on my YouTube channel. You can practice them here.
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