Dharana — Tying up the Strands of the Mind

I have a relative who has dementia. It is a horrifying thing to see someone who has spent their lives reading, discussing, and even writing the introductions to books, now sit with a book in their hand for hours, seemingly not to comprehend what is on the page. It is not that they cannot read – it is that she has lost the ability to focus long enough to make sense of the images before her.
Focus or concentration is a skill that in the modern age is slipping out of our grasp. It is said that the average attention span is now 8.25 seconds, down from 9.2 in 2022, and from 12 in 2000! But without concentration – known in sanskirt as Dharana, reaching the goal of yoga – which is to silence the mind – is near impossible.

What is Dharana?

We find this term in the Yoga Sutras, the textbook for the Ashtanga Yoga System. This text was written down by the great sage Patanjali, because he saw that even way back when – before pop up adds, and insta-everything, humans were losing their ability to focus and concentrate – so what was once spoken, and then understood instantly, had to be written down. What would Patanjali think now, I often wonder, about the way machines take notes for us? Ask yourself this question, “In the time I have been reading this post – how many moments has my mind jumped to something else?” I won’t be insulted – I know my writing isn’t that good – but do you see my point?

Let’s look at some key elements of this practice:

• It is the sixth of the Ashta (Eight) Angas (Limbs) – that make up the Ashtanga Yoga System – one of the four traditional paths of yoga
• Because the way of the Ashtanga Yoga practitioner is to silence the mind through meditation, Dharana is the preparatory practice. If one cannot concentrate, there is no way one can meditate – which is the next limb in this system called Dhyana.
• The Yoga Sutras (3.1) define Dharana in this way “Concentration is the fixing of the mind in one place.”
• It is interesting that this concept comes in the third pada (Patanjali uses the word for foot – pada – to describe the four chapters of the Yoga Sutras). Unlike previous practices on this path: Yamas & Niyamas, Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, that are located in the second pada, called the pada of practice – Dharana is the first concept listed in the pada called “Mystic Powers”. So, yes, if you think it’s hard to concentrate – Patanjali is telling you – you are very correct!!
• In the Yoga Sutras, Dharana is listed as being the beginning of the most internal of the limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.
  An often used analogy to describe Dharana is the rain at the beginning of a rainstorm. At first, it is intermittent. Drip…..drip….drip….. Much the way we may be able to focus on say a candle, or a mantra for a few seconds, but then our minds rebel, and we pull it back, only to have it drift off again. Drip…drip..drip
• The Bhagavad Gita, in the sixth chapter (6.26) states: From wherever the mind wanders due to its flickering and unsteady nature, one must certainly withdraw it and bring it back under the control of the Self.

Although this is one of the Eight Limbs of Ashtanga Yoga – it is certainly a concept found in Bhakti Yoga as well. In this case, instead of the practitioner fixing their mind on the breath, or their third eye, or an inanimate object, the source of concentration is The Supreme Being. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krsna says (12.8 ) – Just fix your mind upon Me, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and engage all your intelligence in Me. Thus you will live in Me always, without a doubt.

Dharana, Dhyana – What’s the difference?

In the progressively internal practice that is Ashtanga Yoga, this practice of Dharana, is followed by Dhyana. I know, did they have to make them sound so similar? Isn’t Sanskrit confusing enough? But, the reality is that Dharana and Dhyana are actually the same thing – one is just a deepening of the other.

Let’s go back to the Drip…Drip… Now, rain could stay a sporadic drizzle, but many times (especially if you do not have your umbrella with you), the drops come faster, closer together, and harder – almost like being in a shower with really good water pressure. When the concentration that is Dharana is held long enough – what is intermittent becomes steady, and more encompassing, harder to deviate from. This is when Dharana turns into Dhyana. In English this translates into meditation. The Yoga Sutras define it this way (3.2) Meditation is the one-pointedness of the mind on one image. Where Dharana comes and goes, Dhyana is fixed. Without the focus of Dharana, Dhyana cannot be achieved.

That’s nice – but how do I do that?

A verse from the Bhagavad Gita, I personally love is (6.19) As a lamp in a windless place does not waver, so the transcendentalist, whose mind is controlled, remains always steady in his meditation on the transcendent Self. Wow! That does sound nice, doesn’t it? But, how exactly does that happen?

To quote an old joke – “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice!!” But, how?

Yoga Sutras tells us this in sutra 1.13 – Practice is the effort to be fixed in concentrating the mind.
And what is practice? Sutra 1.14 tells us – Practice becomes firmly established when it has been cultivated uninterruptedly and with devotion over a prolonged period of time.

So what the yogi attempts is to take the strands of thoughts that roll around in our heads – things that are long gone, things that have never happened, things that will never happen, but we fixate on over and over again – and gather them to bring them into one point. Think of braiding a head of thick hair, or, for most of us, more like herding cats!

And, as sutra 1.14 tells us – this practice has to be done again, and again. People used to say it takes 21 days to break a habit – but studies, and you yourself, probably know it takes a lot longer than that. The tendency to let the mind wander hither and yon without any focus, is so imbedded in most of us, it would take a considerable amount of time, indeed! And, from a yogic perspective, that means lifetimes, not years.

Sutra 1.14 – also uses the words “with devotion” – this makes so much sense to me – because we don’t tend to do what is just good for us. Or what we think we should do. Or certainly not what we are told to do. No, we do what we feel in our hearts. And so, any of the practices of yoga would entail us acting from not just our heads, but our hearts.

Bringing Dharana into your everyday life

So, we understand that Dharana is a practice, and we feel in our heart that this is something we REALLY want to do strive for in our daily lives. What are next steps? I hesitate to write this next part, because I bet you already know the first thing I am going to say, but here it is:

1. Put your phone down – EEEK!! But, like I said – you knew that, didn’t you? A friend of mine calls the little devices that we are ridiculously attached to “weapons of mass distraction”. How many times have we not been able to concentrate on a meal, some work, or your partner, because of the pesky little alerts from your phone? Turning the phone off, putting it in another room, and really dedicating yourself to a task or a conversation, is a super way to focus the mind, as a preparation for meditation.
2. At the end of each day, ask yourself – how much was I present and concentrated in my activities? Was my body in one place, and my mind in another most of my waking hours? Set a goal to do better the next day.
3. Pick something to read (perhaps a YogaRenew blog hahaha!) Don’t skim, really read. After you have finished, ask yourself – how much do I remember? Keep trying to read with absorption, and then, either write down or repeat what you read out loud.
4. When you eat, really focus on the food – notice the textures, colors, flavors – don’t let you mind race ahead to the next bite.
5. Don’t beat up on yourself! If your mind drifts. Remember it is a practice – not a perfect!

What’s the payoff?

If the concept of focusing your mind seems too daunting – and, I totally get that – Patanjali gives us some motivation in sutra 1.4. He writes, if we don’t gather those strands of thoughts – “Otherwise, at other times, the seer (your soul) is absorbed in the changing states of the mind.” In other words, your mind continues in a loop that may resemble a hamster in a wheel. And, if that is the case, the goal of yoga – to silence the mind, so the soul can see itself, can never be reached. My teacher says, “Where attention goes, energy flows.” Through the practice of Dharana, we can begin to attune to that which is not just more internal, and, yoga tells us eternal, but ultimately who we really are.