| In yoga 'siddhis' is a term for the special abilities that | | | | the control of one's thought. Beginning with |
| people have or develop, such as psychic abilities. The | | | | contemplation and progressing into meditation, samadhi, |
| term encompasses everything from seeing into the | | | | and beyond, one eventually develops direct control of |
| future and the past, reading the thoughts of others, | | | | mind and the result is the awakening of supernormal |
| levitation, shrinking and expanding one's body, and even | | | | powers and consciousness. |
| healing and flying. Interestingly, even such abilities as an | | | | Contemplation and meditation are done by focusing on |
| extraordinary capacity for memorizing or making | | | | one object of thought alone. To effectively explore |
| money are seen as siddhis, too. | | | | siddhis the main principle is control over and use of the |
| Most traditional forms of yoga vehemently discourage | | | | mind's wanderings through the use of controlled |
| the pursuit of siddhis, claiming they are an impediment | | | | attention. Controlled attention upon one's imagination |
| to SELF-realization, a form of enlightenment. This | | | | and mental processes naturally leads to controlled |
| conventional view is that siddhis distract from | | | | imagination. |
| enlightenment and are best left alone, perhaps briefly | | | | Imagination can sound unreal, which is unfortunate, |
| noted yet best left alone. | | | | because controlled or creative visualization is |
| Other traditions, such as shamanism, deliberately work | | | | essentially the same as imagination. The term |
| at cultivating siddhis to help the tribe or even just to | | | | 'visualization' can also be a problem because actually |
| gather personal power. | | | | generating visual imagination is not important - you can |
| Even within the often conservative world of yoga | | | | use imagined feelings, sounds, tastes, or smells, too. |
| there are writers and teachers such as Sri Aurobindo | | | | If you wish to begin exploring your own ability to |
| who prophesies the coming of what he calls the | | | | develop siddhis, learn to use and guide your imagination. |
| Supramental Race. In Sri Aurobindo's vision, this new | | | | One very easy way to do this is to do guided imagery |
| race is a select group of people who become to | | | | exercises. |
| humanity what humanity is to the apes by acquiring | | | | By doing so you will set down the first steps on the |
| siddhis. | | | | road to discovery, discovery of your own potential to |
| In the Yoga Sutras it is explained how to acquire | | | | unleash siddhis, explore enlightenment, and transform |
| siddhis. It is done through assorted forms of discipline in | | | | your self and your view of what it is possible for a |
| how one lives, and most especially it is done through | | | | human to become. |