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AYP Wiki

A living encyclopedia of AYP

Group Practice

Practicing with others amplifies the effects of spiritual practices beyond what any individual produces alone. This is recognized across all contemplative traditions and reflects the underlying interconnectedness of consciousness.

Lesson 386: "When it comes to spiritual evolution, we know we can accelerate our individual progress by engaging in effective daily spiritual practices at home. When we bring powerful practices like deep meditation into a group setting, the results can be amplified and radiated far beyond the physical location of the group."

Satsang — association with truth

Satsang means "association with truth." It is often interpreted narrowly as association with a guru or enlightened one, but Lesson 394 broadens this considerably: truth is all around us. Anyone longing to expand in happiness is seeking truth — the word "satsang" encompasses that universal movement.

Lesson 394: "So satsang can also be seen in that broad way of communing with the higher vibrations found in nature and in all human seeking for the divine, whether it is called that or not."

As we are drawn to people and places in resonance with truth, amplification occurs — an upliftment affecting everyone involved and the surrounding environment. The Internet has extended satsang globally. The AYP community is a large loose-knit global community of practitioners: "Satsang is constantly occurring in such a diverse community, providing inspiration for practice, and the fostering of purification and opening on many levels around the world."

The deepest principle: "The awakening of inner silence for one is the awakening of inner silence for all." And: "We gain enlightenment by giving it away in each moment."

Why groups amplify

The same interconnectedness that links the limbs of yoga within a single nervous system also links practitioners across a group. When one limb is stimulated, all the others respond. When one practitioner deepens, the whole group is uplifted — and the effect extends beyond the room to the vicinity and further.

Lesson 386 quotes the Biblical formulation not as a sectarian statement but as a universal recognition: "When several are gathered in my name, I am there also." Any gathering for a higher purpose — not necessarily religious — produces noticeable beneficial effects.

Global Internet group practice

The AYP community holds coordinated online group sessions several times each weekend, including both deep meditation and samyama. These are globally distributed practitioners meditating at coordinated times with the shared intention of group practice.

Yogani observes that this Internet-coordinated form may actually exceed localized groups in overall effect simply due to the number of participants:

Lesson 386: "What we are finding in the age of the Internet is that groups of meditators who are widely dispersed around the world can have a similar effect when the meditation time is coordinated with the intention for 'group practice.' It can be argued that this effect is greater than a localized group, due to the large numbers of people who can participate simultaneously everywhere."

The "wave" framing: practitioners worldwide sitting twice daily create a rolling wave of cultivated pure bliss consciousness traveling around the world every 24 hours as the clock advances.

Group samyama for targeted healing

Samyama releases intentions in stillness. When performed by a group with a shared target, the healing influence flows outward from within omnipresent pure bliss consciousness:

Lesson 386: "If a friend is ill, their name can be used in group samyama practice, and beneficial healing energy will automatically be coming their way. If it is openly received, the results can be amazing."

The structure of a group session: 1. Deep meditation together 2. Core samyama (standard sutra list) immediately after 3. Targeted samyama (specific person or cause agreed upon by the group)

Group samyama for healing a specific person requires their openness to receive. It is not imposed.

Starting a local group

Any deep meditation practitioner can start a local group. Lesson 37 provides early-AYP guidance on group meditation practices — group dynamics, format, managing energy during group sittings. The AYP support forums offer assistance for those setting up groups.

Online forums — self-pacing participation

Lesson 396 addresses a concern raised by practitioners: can online forums create or perpetuate spiritual ego-identification ("spiritual materialism")?

Yogani's answer: spiritual materialism exists everywhere — in forums, in-person satsang, with books, and even in the lone yogi in a cave. It is the very thing practices are overcoming. The correct response is not to disengage but to self-pace participation as with any practice.

Lesson 396: "If we are becoming increasingly distracted from our practices through interactions in an online forum, or elsewhere, then it is time to 'self-pace' our activity there. … It is about regulating both spiritual practices and activities in a balanced way, always favoring that which cultivates the abiding witness within us in a stable way."

The key diagnostic: is participation inspiring continued practice, or substituting for it? Forums at their best provide confidence to keep practicing through difficulty. At their worst, they become another form of identification — spiritual materialism in the intellect instead of in possessions.

Inner silence cultivated in DM will, in time, dissolve all identification regardless of context. Meanwhile: "take what is useful and leave the rest alone."

Retreats as intensified group practice

Retreats are an extension of the group practice principle — extended time with a group amplifies the effects of the already-amplified group sitting. The group dynamic provides stability that solo retreats lack. See retreats.

How this relates to other practices

  • Samyama — the practice used for group healing intentions
  • Deep meditation — the foundation of group sessions
  • Retreats — intensive group practice over multiple days

Source lessons

  • Lesson 386 — Group Practice (group amplification; Internet coordinated practice; group samyama for targeted healing; how to start a local group)
  • Lesson 394 — Satsang: The Importance of Spiritual Community (satsang = "association with truth"; any gathering for higher purpose; amplification exponential; Internet satsang; "awakening of inner silence for one is awakening for all"; "we gain enlightenment by giving it away")
  • Lesson 396 — Do Online Forums Inhibit Spiritual Progress? (spiritual materialism exists everywhere; self-pace participation; inner silence dissolves all identification; take what is useful)
  • Lesson 415 — Samyama and Prayer for Dissolving Global Problems (samyama can be used for global problems using "obstruction sutras" — sutra represents an obstruction, inner silence dissolves it; two categories: quality sutras (enhance) vs obstruction sutras (dissolve); group amplification is powerful but individual daily practice also moves mountains; self-pacing applies to global samyama; 415.1 — AYP samyama reduces suffering even when physical cure is uncertain; "discomfort is inevitable, but suffering is not for those in the witness")
  • Lesson 37 — Group Meditation (early discussion of group meditation practicalities)