My Experience of Shambhavi Mahamudra By Dr. Sonia Goel

My Experience of Shambhavi Mahamudra

By Dr. Sonia Goel

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Hello!! My dear friends… Hope you are happy and healthy. 

Today I want to talk about something very important that I had experienced recently. A very ancient yogic practice that was practiced by the sages and hermits thousands of years ago to attain the inner peace and to open their third eye.

You might be wondering what is its need, why so ancient practice in a such a modern world where we don’t even have time to focus on our mental wellbeing. It’s this dissatisfaction and unhappiness that we have in our lives. We might have all our basics covered like food, shelter, water, and safety but we humans somehow always long for something more. We all wanted to be happy but we keep chasing it our future. 

In between the quest of discovering my inner happiness I thought to join this wonderful programme of Inner Engineering. The time was right as my daughter was enjoying her summer vacations and I was a bit free. One day as I was chatting with my family and my brother suggested a wonderful programme by the famous Indian Yogi Sadhguru. He himself was a very religious follower of this contemporary Yogi and along with him I too got a bit hooked up about his inspirational and spiritual quotes. I used to follow him through a mobile app called ‘Isha App’ to get a daily dose of spiritual enlightenment.

But honestly speaking at first, I was a bit skeptical about attending the programme as I was a woman of Science and was not a big fan of Stereotypical Religious Godfathers. But after giving a bit of thought and trusting my brother’s intuition I registered myself into this programme.

So, it was the hot month of mid-June. I had registered for a four-day retreat of Inner Engineering Course and that was my first day. I freshen up and set out on the calm morning car ride towards my nearest Isha Foundation center. Expecting it to be a casual retreat programme, I reached there with a very curious state of mind. But to my utmost surprise, I found that it was a very strict, disciplined programme. 

As I entered the estate, the volunteers told us to switch off phones and digital devices that we are carrying with us. So, I got that the day will be a full digital detox, so yeah that was kind of a big and frustrating thing too because I had planned to manage work and staff from the phone. It was my first day and we were about to learn Sambhavhi Mahamudra- The Initiation process. The sole reason for this write up is to motivate you all to experience this technique all by yourself. And the best place to get started with this is Isha Foundation.

Someone who is seeking a path of spiritual enlightenment must join this amazing retreat programme. 

Now, let me tell you a bit about this technique in a layman’s language. As the name suggests, ‘Sambhavi’ means attaining a tranquil state of blissfulness while crafting your body and ‘Mahamudra’ means sacred posture to attain that state. The whole process needs approximately 21 minutes. It is recommended that after learning this technique you must do it 2 times a day which will take 42 minutes in total. This practice requires a lot of commitment and discipline to implement in our daily life. And if you could do this practice daily you will see that its effects over the entire day. You will feel more energetic, self-aware and Joyous than usual. Even though the day of stress and agitation the effects of this yogic practice will give you a strong mental Shield which will protect your emotional well being and attain your higher self.

So, as I’ve said earlier that the volunteers over there were very dedicated and disciplined as if their work ethics were saying everything about their devotion towards the teachings of their leader. I was quite intrigued by their gestures and working process. I was already feeling a very good vibe about that programme. Before starting the session, they told us that we might have some kind of emotional outburst because it is all about being self-aware and opening the third eye but we must ignore them.

So, the initiation process started with a Yogic namaskar. I was curious to understand the logic behind the process, so I asked the instructor that if there are any benefits of doing Yogic Namaskar. With a smile, she explained to me its significance. And that was, with our age our spine degenerates and the gaps between our vertebral column start to lessen up and therefore we get various backbone problem as our age progresses. But if we implement this practice in our daily lives then we can avoid such serious health issues. After hearing it I was a bit satisfied and gleefully carried forward.

After the yogic namaskar, it is the butterfly pose where flap your legs like butterfly wings.

The third step is rock my baby pose followed by Nadi shodan or cat-cow stretch.

These four sets of asanas were preparatory asanas for the next set of breathing exercise. This exercise starts with Anulom Belom or Alternate Nostril Breathing, 'AUM' Chanting and shallow breathing with the fluttering of eyes. And as you do this you will enter into a transcendental state of relaxation or Nirvana (Temporarily). And that’s how your third eye will open up or in other words, you will be more self-aware. And what I felt was a deep vibration throughout my whole body. I was very calm and composed. The result of that whole experience was simply breath-taking. 

I truly couldn’t find the words for describing the state of my mind. All I could say now was, my mind was lightened up. I felt as if my focus was enhanced. I had so many mixed emotions and all was because I was getting more and more self-aware. All these experienced was so much beneficial for me. I am religiously following this practice two times a day and I am getting my results. It has been 40 days from now since I’ve attended the retreat programme.

I am still on a journey of learning to ideally incorporate this process into my routine. As it is a very powerful and intense practice, I highly recommend that its initiation process must be done under the guidance of Sadhguru himself or his trained teachers  What I’ve learned from practicing this process for 40 days was that we consciously need to break our Karmic pattern if we want to achieve our higher self and it is the path of self-enlightenment. I am able to sail through the stressors of the day and stay joyful. And another thing was I got a bit more disciplined, especially with foods habits( I have stopped munching in evening hours so that I can be empty stomach to do the practice). So, that was a plus point.

Now, speaking from a clinical point of view, Sambhavi Mahamudra is a perfect practice for attaining a strong skeletal, cardiac, neurological and immune system. It not only aligns the Chakras’s of your system but also helps you to achieve a state of ecstasy which is beneficial for a good mental wellbeing. 

There are studies which show that prolonged practice may lead to lowering of the risks related to improved cardiac health, great coherence within the brain, improved sleep, improved attention and focus, decrease in psychological symptoms such as irritability, mood swings, crying spells, depression and menstrual disturbances. Various studies also showed that it helps to increase the brain activity, lowers sleep disorders and elevates mental focus.

So, that was my experience and review of this amazing practice I learned. And all the credit goes to Isha Foundation for teaching me such an amazing practice. I hope you too will get motivated after reading this and will consider yourself to be a part of this amazing retreat programme. Till then enjoy the day.