THE SIXTH LIMB OF YOGA

Dharana- is a gentle contemplation, easy awareness &

a friendly single minded presence with what is!

An often overlooked limb. It is the first step of the deep ‘concentration’ meditation. In which one’s mind thinks about one object/mantra/breath and avoids other thoughts; awareness of the object is still interrupted.

The idea is not to empty the mind of thoughts, instead, train your mind to concentrate on one point, place, object or idea for the purpose of staying in a state of deep concentration meditation without letting the mind wander! Thus leading oneself to the next state ‘Dhyana’ and then the Ultimate Goal – Samadhi!

Sage Patanjali in Yoga Sutras states that the last three limbs: Dharna, Dhyana & Samadhi, should be considered together, as they are progressive stages of concentration.

The 5 types of Dharana:

• Vitarka – practice of focusing on a thing – breath, mantra, object, chakra
• Vichara – practice of focusing on a thought or idea
• Ananda – practice of achieving joy while in the meditative state
• Asmita – practice of focusing on individuality of the ‘self’ or ‘I’
• Pure Concentration – focus on the aspects of the mind’s concentration in it’s initial state of being

AUM (OM) is your starting point for all the bliss there is in this world! And there is no limit on what you can achieve with repetition of AUM.

Limits to our learning come from the limits of our concentration!

Maharshi Patanjali

The first five limbs (yamas, niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara) are all necessary to prepare for: dharna, dhyana and samadhi (concentration, meditation and absorption).
While the first five limbs have their own importance, each can help us develop our concentration and the ability to concentrate supports the rest of our practice and our lives.

In other words, once the senses have been controlled and withdrawn, we choose an inner point of focus. Dharana is the practice of training the mind toward a point of attention that envelopes our whole being.

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I have accumulated information on what resonated the best with me. This post is written for reading purpose, only. There’s no intention of copyright infringement. I hope you had fun reading this post.

^{Sending you all love and light from the mountains !}