Samadhi and Relational Integration

Samadhi, the final limb of yoga, is often described as enlightenment but more precisely means integrated, unbroken awareness where the separation between observer and observed dissolves. In attachment language, this maps onto earned secure attachment where individuals integrate past relational wounds, acknowledge both positive and negative aspects of self and others, and maintain coherent identity across relationships. Secure attachment requires what John Bowlby called an 'internal working model' that coherently integrates experience—essentially a samadhi-like unity where fragmented attachment memories and beliefs cohere into a stable sense of self. Insecure attachment creates splits: anxious individuals fragment into desperate need and shame; avoidant individuals split self from emotion; disorganized individuals experience contradictory internal states. Patanjali's samadhi suggests that healing involves progressive integration where conflicting aspects of self and relational history merge into unified awareness. This isn't emotional blankness but rather dynamic unity where vulnerability and strength, needs and boundaries, love and autonomy exist together without contradiction. Samadhi as an attachment goal means developing the integrated consciousness that characterizes earned security.