Eight Limbs of Yoga - VI. Dharana (Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness)

Dharana means "immovable concentration of the mind". 

The essential idea is to hold the concentration or focus of attention in one direction.  "When the body has been tempered by asanas, when the mind has been refined by the fire of pranayama and when the senses have been brought under control by pratyahara, the sadhaka (seeker) reaches the sixth stage, dharana. Here he is concentrated wholly on a single point or on a task in which he is completely engrossed. The mind has to be stilled in order to achieve this state of complete absorption."xiii

In dharana we create the conditions for the mind to focus its attention in one direction instead of going out in many different directions. Deep contemplation and reflection can create the right conditions, and the focus on this one point that we have chosen becomes more intense. We encourage one particular activity of the mind and, the more intense it becomes, the more the other activities of the mind fall away.

The objective in dharana is to steady the mind by focusing its attention upon some stable entity. The particular object selected has nothing to do with the general purpose, which is to stop the mind from wandering -through memories, dreams, or reflective thought-by deliberately holding it single-mindedly upon some apparently static object. B.K.S. Iyengar states that the objective is to achieve the mental state where the mind, intellect, and ego are "all restrained and all these faculties are offered to the Lord for His use and in His service. Here there is no feeling of 'I' and 'mine'."xiv

When the mind has become purified by yoga practices, it becomes able to focus efficiently on one subject or point of experience. Now we can unleash the great potential for inner healing.

Sources:

 HolisticOnLine  http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_home.htm
Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit, by Donna Farhi
Light On Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar
Yoga Mind & Body, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center
The Essence of Yoga, Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, by Bernard Bouanchaud

 Notes:
Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit, by Donna Farhi, page 7.
Donna Farhi, page 9.
Light On Yoga, by B.K.S. Iyengar, page 34.
Farhi, page 11.
Iyengar, page 35.
Iyengar, page 36.
Farhi, page 15.
Farhi, page 17.
HolisticOnLine
Iyengar, page 41.
Iyengar, page 44.
HolisticOnLine
Iyengar, page 48
Iyengar, page 49
Iyengar, page 51
HolisticOnLine
Yoga Mind & Body, Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center, page 154
HolisticOnLine

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