Samyama

Lesson 12

Samyama is the ultimate tool in yoga. It is the combination of the final three Petals of Yoga — dharana, dhyana, and samadhi. Remember, dharana is cultivating one-pointed focus. Dhyana, or meditation, is sustained and unbroken one-pointed focus. Samadhi is when you become one with your focus point. Proper use of this yogic technique is said to be able to give you the truth of any object, as well as allow you to use any object optimally.

This all sounds very abstract. How exactly do you become one with your focus point you may ask? If you did not skip to this lesson, you already know about the basketball example. Let’s go through another example to illustrate how samyama is not as unbelievable as it sounds. First, you cultivate focus, then you maintain it. Finally, you become what you are focusing on.

Consider the aspiring professional baseball player. This child first has a dream of making it to the MLB. That becomes the focus point. For the next 10 or 15 years, this child becomes a young man, and he spends the majority of his time focusing on how to become a better baseball player. He eats healthy for baseball. He works out. He studies baseball. Of course, he practices actual baseball. Nearly all of his focus throughout the day is on how to become better at baseball. In essence, the focus becomes sustained and unbroken — turning it into meditation. Maybe you never thought of meditation like this, but this is actually how meditation works according to yoga philosophy. If the meditation (or unbroken focus) on becoming a professional baseball player is intense enough and lasts long enough, this young man merges with his focus point and becomes the professional baseball player. Do you see how this person’s journey to become a professional baseball player is actually samyama in practice?

This is also true for more subtle examples. If a person is dedicated to growing and becoming a better person, the same thing happens. Let’s say  a person named Kim is fed up with being stuck in the same old patterns and wants to become a greater version of herself. The focus is set. Now, if Kim allocates enough of her focus on becoming a better person by doing things like eating healthy, working out, managing her finances better, and meeting new people (just to name a few examples), she eventually merges with her focus and becomes the greater version of herself. Although not as specific as the professional baseball example, a similar result can be seen.

Whatever your goal or project is, don’t just put some energy into it. Don’t just focus on it now and then. When you work on your goal or project, pour all of your energy and resources into it. Place all of your focus on it. Before moving on, there is an important caveat. Obviously, this does not mean to neglect your essential responsibilities — whatever they are. What it does mean though is whenever you decide to work on the goal or project, do it 100%.

I want to provide another example more specific to building with AI to better illustrate samyama in action. Let’s say I am building a website. That is my set focus point. Using all of my energy and resources means directing focus towards the website, but it also means utilizing all the tools I have available for this specific task. In this simplified example, I could use AI tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Midjourney, and Suno to help build the website. It is most effective to use the tools only for building the website in that specific present moment, as opposed to researching stuff on ChatGPT or Gemini I really don’t need to know for the website, or getting lost in creating images or songs with Midjourney and Suno that really aren’t best for the website. There is a time and place, and samyama gives you that direction to use the appropriate tools at the appropriate times.