We all carry stories that feel so familiar they might as well be our own voice — the subtle doubts, the quiet assumptions, the emotional reactions that rise before we even have a chance to choose differently. In the yogic tradition, these inherited imprints are known as samskāras: subliminal impressions carved into us through repetition, experience and unexamined memory.
They’re not faults. They’re simply patterns. But when left unexamined, they become the unseen architects of how we think, what we choose and how we move through the world.
In the first part of this exploration, we looked at how yoga helps us notice these deep-rooted tendencies — the ways we overlay old interpretations onto present-day reality. Now, we go deeper into the antidote: yogic practices that can soften, untangle and release the samskāras that quietly shape our lives.
And in the words of Christopher Wallis:
“To facilitate the deep healing and clearing that makes this possible, we must allow our spiritual work to penetrate to the Paśyanti level, where our subliminal impressions or samskāras are lodged.”
This is the heart of it: spiritual practice not as an escape from life but as a way into the layers beneath the surface — into the places where our patterns live.
Below, you’ll find practices and invitations designed to help you meet the quieter voice beneath the mind, the one aligned with Parā - the deeper intuitive truth.
Cultivate the Pause: The First Doorway into Paśyanti
Samskāras speak quickly. Intuition speaks quietly.
Most of us live in a way that responds to the first voice that arises — the learned one, the patterned one, the one that defends itself with stories and “evidence”.
Wallis offers a powerful distinction:
“When you question a hunch born of samskāra, the mind will defend and justify it… When you question a true intuition, it remains silent - a gentle pull.”
Invitation:
Before acting, speaking or reacting - pause for three breaths.
Notice:
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Does the feeling want to justify itself?
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Is the mind mobilising arguments or explanations?
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Or does the sense remain quiet, steady, and unbothered by being questioned?
This pause is the first step in reorganising the internal hierarchy: letting deeper knowing soften the conditioned knowing.
Slow, Breath-Led Asana to Loosen the Body’s Memory
Samskāras don’t just live in the mind — they live in the fascia, breath patterns, tissues, shoulders, gut, jaw. Movement is one of the most accessible ways to meet what we’ve stored.
Kashmir Śaivism teaches that consciousness expresses through every layer of embodiment, including the physical form. When we move consciously, we disrupt the habitual pathways and create new ones.
Invitation:
Practice your next flow at half the speed.
Let breath lead movement.
Let movement reveal sensation.
Let sensation reveal meaning.
Ask your body gently:
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What do I contract around?
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Where do I rush?
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Where do I hold?
Each answer is a thread back to a deeper impression ready to be seen.
Meditation on the Madhyama Level: Watching the Whisper Before the Thought
In Wallis’ framework, Madhyama is the subtle layer where thoughts begin to form — where meaning condenses into words.
Meditation that invites awareness here helps us witness the moment before the story takes shape. This is the space where samskāras lose their power.
Invitation:
In your next meditation, rest your attention on the feeling-tone before thoughts arise.
Instead of fighting the mind, observe the early shimmer of thought:
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the tightening,
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the impulse,
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the emotional flavour,
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the movement toward meaning.
Say internally: “I see you forming.”
This gentle recognition softens old patterns without suppressing them.
Self-Inquiry: Questioning the “Evidence” the Mind Clings To
Wallis reminds us:
“When the hunch comes from samskāra, the mind will defend and justify it.”
This defence mechanism is one of the clearest signs that we’re operating from old programming rather than intuition.
Invitation:
When a strong feeling or belief arises, ask:
“What am I trying to prove?”
“Who taught me this?”
“Is this mine, or inherited?”
If the mind rushes to justify, you’ve touched a samskāra.
Sit with it instead of arguing back. That space alone weakens its grip.
Repeated Returning to Parā: Cultivating the Silent Pull
The deepest intuition — the movement from Parā — is not loud. It doesn’t explain itself. It doesn’t argue. It simply is.
Your job isn’t to amplify it. It’s to clear away what drowns it out.
Invitation:
Journal on the quiet pulls in your life. Ask:
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What choices feel right even without explanation?
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Where do I feel a soft yes?
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What keeps returning to me, gently, patiently?
Follow one of those pulls in a small way today. Let intuition become actionable.
Mantra Practice to Rewire Subtle Pathways
Mantra in the Śaiva lineage is not mere repetition. It is vibrational medicine that travels inward, bypassing ordinary cognition and touching the Paśyanti level where samskāras live.
Invitation:
Choose a mantra that resonates (e.g., So’ham, “I am That”).
Repeat softly for 5 minutes.
Notice:
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how the mind resists,
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where the breath opens,
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how the emotional tone shifts.
Over time, mantra creates new grooves — gentle rewiring that shifts identity from conditioned self to essential self.
Śānta Bhāva: Practising the Mood of Inner Quietude
One of the simplest but most transformative practices in Kashmir Śaivism is cultivating śānta bhāva — the attitude of inner stillness, even in movement.
It is not withdrawal. It is clarity.
This clarity is what allows you to feel the difference between intuition and conditioning.
Invitation:
Move through your next hour with the mantra:
“Nothing needs to be fixed.”
Notice how differently you respond when you’re not trying to control, protect or solve.
In this softness, samskāras loosen and deeper intuition becomes audible.
The Work Is Never Force - Only Awareness
The goal of yoga is not to eradicate samskāras.
It is to see them clearly enough that they no longer run your life.
To recognise the difference between:
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the voice that defends itself, and
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the voice that simply is
To listen beneath the mind’s noise until intuition becomes familiar — not mystical, but natural.
Through breath, meditation, inquiry, mantra and the embodied presence of yoga, the deeper levels of mind become accessible. And as Wallis teaches, the more our practice penetrates to Paśyanti, the more our intuition aligns with Parā — the deeper pattern of truth.
Healing samskāras is not a future event.
It is a thousand small moments of awareness.
A softening
A listening
A returning
Again and again, you come home.
