I started meditating to relieve my anxiety after some highly stressful experiences. Recently I heard another meditator describe the Shambhavi Mahamudra meditation practice as “the bomb” meaning it’s awesome. I wondered what he experienced and in that moment made a commitment to myself to persist with this practice for 3 months. Several experiences have since stretched my perception of life as a human being.
- Being the Observer
On my way to a wedding I stopped in at the local department store to collect the pre ordered wedding gifts. I rushed in, found the counter, collected the gifts which were in a big bag and were very very heavy. I was rushing out of the store when a security man stopped me and asked to see my receipt for payment. I opened the bag and showed him the gift wrapped presents.
“Do you have a receipt?” The security man asked.
“No I don’t have a receipt” I responded. The items had been purchased on-line.
He grinned “You don’t have a receipt?”
I said “Yeah I just got these from the wedding registry. I’m going to a wedding now.”
He said with excitement “But you don’t have a receipt.”
I politely said “Look let’s go back inside and you can talk to the woman in there”
I just wanted to get to the wedding but by the time I found her and dragged this heavy bag back in there with the security man marching behind me and not offering to help I found myself getting very hot and frustrated. I could feel the tears welling in my eyes out of sheer frustration. I was dressed up for the wedding. I’d paid a substantial amount of money for the wedding presents and now I was starting to sweat and was being inconvenienced by the very store that I’d paid good money to.
However, at the same time, I noticed a space between myself and the emotion. I knew I was feeling frustrated yet I wasn’t. The unpleasant feelings were numbed down as if with an emotional anaesthetic.
Perhaps the ego was experiencing that and the real me was just watching. This is very difficult to explain but if you can imagine you’re inside a sturdy and secure motor vehicle, like a Toyota Landcruiser. Inside you’re totally safe and secure yet outside of the vehicle there is bad weather. I’m in here and the emotions are out there.
Prior to finding Sadhguru I was a student of Dr Wayne W Dyer and Deepak Chopra. Deepak Chopra speaks of varying degrees of consciousness and his description of “Soul Consciousness” might describe what I have been experiencing recently from Shambhavi Mahamudra taught to me by Sadhguru. I think Deepak’s “observer” or “silent witness” is what I experienced at the department store.
Anyway, the gift registry representative cleared it up with the security guard. He apologised and was probably very disappointed not to nab a thief. I was frustrated but tried to make light of the situation and told him not to worry about it. As someone with somewhat of a short fuse, in the past I would not have granted him any grace at all.
2. Grace entered my life
Grace is not something I have ever been familiar with or conscious of but now I notice I am the receiver and giver of grace. My personality is such that I can get very impatient and annoyed very quickly. My personality is also such that I don’t mince words. Since doing the Shambhavi Mahamudra as taught by Sadhguru, I rarely get frazzled. Traffic doesn’t bother me. The rage has been converted to a river of grace.
Do you have someone in your life who pushes your buttons? I do. My buttons still get pressed but I don’t react. I get over it incredibly quickly and am generally a lot kinder than I would have been in the past.
3. Less Pain
At our last monthly sathsang one of the meditators was describing experiencing a distance between himself and his physical pain from vigorous exercise.
It was after a trip to the hairdresser that I realised this might be happening to me too. The hair salon is a place of pain and torture for me. I have a sensitive scalp so the pulling and prodding is often just too much for me and I end up in tears. So I often precede the appointment with a strong painkiller but not this time. I realised that this week’s hairdressing appointment was completely painless. Is it the Shambhavi Mahamudra putting a distance between myself and my body pain?
4. Enhanced Perception / Sharper Intelligence
So Sadhguru says that some of the benefits of Shambhavi Mahamudra include increased perception and intelligence. After 3 babies in 15 months and many many years of sleep deprivation plus brain overload from a hectic business and family life I could definitely benefit from being smarter.
I wondered if this could or would happen to me and what would it look like. I might have found out when and how I was least expecting it.
I am in real estate and had a call from someone I’d never spoken to before. His number was not saved in my phone. I also didn’t have any computer access during this phone call as I was with the kids. It went something like this:
Voice on the phone: “Hello I want to find out about your property management services”
Me: “Ok. What’s your name”
Voice on the phone: “Tom Jones” (not his real name)
Me: “What’s the address of the house?”
Tom Jones: “27 Neem Street”
Note: There are 10,000 homes in our trade area. I do not know this Street. I have never spoken to Tom Jones before and I do not have any access to look online to see what the house looks like. I also had no access to check him out in my databases at the time of the call.
Me: “Do you own this property with a group of others?”
Tom: “Yes I own it with my 2 brothers”.
Me: “Is it a brown brick house?”
Tom: “Yes it is.”
Me: “Did someone’s wife phone me about this house? I am not in front of a computer so am just guessing here.”
Tom: “My wife, Rihanna might have phoned you a while ago.”
So it turned out that she did and it was the same house. His wife had enquired about our services some time back and I had done an online search of the property at that time.
How I connected the dots on this phone call back to one from his wife 6 or 12 months ago on a property and the image of the same property popped into my head – I still do not know. I suspect that this may be an example of the enhanced perception / intelligence that Sadhguru speaks of in relation to Shambhavi Mahamudra benefits.
When a colleague mentions a property address to me – generally takes a certain amount of time for me to access my memory banks and be able to get a picture the house in my mind. Sometimes it will take 30 seconds to a minute.
The information just seemed to conveniently surface from deep in the recesses of my sub-consciousness.
Given that there are over 10,000 houses in our core trade area and I have so many properties come across my desk, this is amazing if not miraculous. I don’t know how it happened but I am grateful. I’m also not sure what the customer thought either but they did give me the business.
Another example was at the car dealership last week when the salesman was looking for the price of the vehicle. I didn’t know how much this vehicle was going to be because it had extra features than others that we’d looked at. Sitting in his office while he was trying to find the price, a number kept popping into my head. A number much larger than I wanted it to be so I didn’t blurt it out. Low and behold, it was the same number he finally said.
5. Enhanced Sense of Smell
I don’t recall ever being able to smell. Even as a child. I’ve been to an ear nose and throat specialist who could do nothing for me. Yesterday at the markets I could actually smell a candle. It was amazing so I bought it and took it home and can smell the fragrance in the house.
This morning I ate a banana which is nothing unusual for me but this morning the flavour of the banana was incredible.
I am really hopeful that the energies awoken by regular Shambhavi Mahamudra practice will restore my sense of smell. That would be miraculous.
6. Meditative all day
On 27 July it was Guru Purnima which is a National holiday in Nepal and of special significance to Buddhists, Hindus and meditators. On this day I was surprised to find myself feeling meditative all day. I was so relaxed I could have sat in meditation or nodded off to sleep but weirdly, I wasn’t tired. This was such a new and unusual experience for me. I felt very grateful. Next Guru Purnima I might take the day off and meditate.
7. Happier Husband
According to my husband I have completely changed since doing my daily sadhana. He says I am much calmer and joke around more like when we first met. He says I have more clarity about what’s important. I don’t sweat the small stuff!
He asks me “Have you done your Sham-bam-a-whama today?” every morning because he prefers the wife who meditates.
In Summary
Overall my well-being has improved since practising this meditation for three months. I can report a general feeling of joy and happiness. My personality hasn’t changed but I feel like a better version of myself. I have my moments of getting irritated by certain circumstances but again, there is a distance between me and the emotion. I am insulated.
Have you been meditating regularly or practising Shambhavi Mahamudra? What are your experiences? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments below.