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Concentration

Dharana

Use concentration to go beyond the ego
into pure experience.

Concentration (dharana) stems from the Sanskrit root of dhir, which means “to hold or retain.” When we concentrate, we cause the mind to hold firm, steady, still, and fixed on one spot, object, or idea. Concentration is the sixth step in The 8-Fold Path of Yoga, of which we have already discussed the first four steps: (1) restraints, (2) observances, (3) poses, and (4) breath control. This chapter introduces the next steps, sensory mastery (pratyahara), intended to minimize the distraction, and concentration (dharana).

Discovery

To demonstrate the power of concentration, try focusing on your right hand. Think about the hand, examine it with your eyes to trace the lines of the palm and notice the color of the skin tone. In the few brief seconds that you took to concentrate on your hand, physiological changes started to occur, the most common and perceptible change being an increase in temperature. If you compare the feeling of your right hand to your left, it is likely that the left hand feels cooler than the right.

Similarly, yoga poses transform physiology through concentration on specific body points. In Sanskrit, this concentration is called single focus (desha). This process often relates to the chakra system, but there is more than the chakra system to consider in the process. Mental focus on a particular point in the body takes consciousness to a deeper level. Just as a simple thought can change the temperature of the hand, concentration on specific body points can deepen the experience of a yoga pose. You will discover subtle aspects of yoga poses simply by using concentration.

Minimize Distractions to Enhance Concentration

To date, there are no other books that cover the fifth step of Patanjali’s 8-Fold Path outlined in The Yoga Sutras (2:54). This fifth step is sensory mastery, and it enhances concentration in yoga poses as well as meditation.

Most distractions reach us through our five senses, most notably sound and sight. Distractions can easily disturb spiritual practice, whether it is a car alarm, people yelling outside the yoga studio, or a phone ringing. They can also trigger memories very easily. For example, the specific call of a bird that we heard in childhood can bring up memories when we hear that same call as an adult. Even though the memory may be pleasant, it becomes a challenge in our yoga practice. The distracted mind slips very easily out of the present-moment experience of a yoga pose and into the past or future.

The same type of distraction can happen through sight. Perhaps a picture on the wall is crooked, and it becomes bothersome to see it and not be able to correct it. The distracted mind moves from the discomfort of the crooked picture to memories, to impulsive thoughts, and then to other concerns or worries. Due to the amount of sensory stimulus in life, the mind can go from here to there and back again in a microsecond, greatly interfering with one’s ability to concentrate on the task at hand. Someone arriving late to a yoga class, leaving to use the bathroom, or even coughing or breathing heavily can be very distracting to the untrained senses.

By bringing our awareness to the conscious self, we can begin to see how we perceive the world through the senses. A positive person sees everyone in a good light and puts a happy spin on everything that happens. A more negative person will always feel stressed by their negativity. While stress and negative energy interfere with concentration, the ultimate goal of sensory mastery in yoga is to rise above both positive and negative perceptions.

How to Minimize Auditory Distractions

Think about a sound that bothers you. What is it about the sound that irks you? The first step in transcending the irritation is to remove negative associations with the sound and recognize that it is just a sound, a neutral phenomenon. The same lawn mower that bothers one person may bring a smile to someone else’s face. Sounds are just a part of the world and they are not inherently good or bad. Some sounds are louder than others. Can you listen to the noise without judgment? When we alter our perception, the sound of a young child whining incessantly is no different than the sound of the wind whistling through the trees.

case study Suzie the yoga student

While Suzie is in yoga class, she is faced with a fellow student who continually interrupts the flow of the class to ask questions of the instructor.
At first Suzie thought the questions were somewhat interesting, but after the fifth question in fifteen minutes, she felt angry that her peaceful time was being interrupted. Every new pose had Suzie tensing up in anticipation of the next question. After some reflection, Suzie realized that she felt trapped in class, like she felt trapped in her cubicle at work. Suzie had always done the “right thing” in life. She was a good girl, a good student, and now a good member of her company. However, she’s beginning to understand that she is a prisoner of her own mind. If she can learn to shift her perceptions, she won’t feel trapped in any part of her life.

The key point that Suzie has recognized in her self-study and reflection is that part of her personality caused her perception to be narrow. Once she understood that, she was able to release her projections and reactionary behavior pattern, including choosing to not react to the “question man” in future yoga classes. Instead of feeling irritated, Suzie felt compassionate toward him as a new yoga student. She now has the insight to see that he may one day become a wonderful yoga teacher because of his curiosity and diligence. She smiles to herself now when he asks questions and has even grown to like him. She realizes that his nature is to question and, to him, those questions are a virtue. By understanding him, Suzie is free to accept reality as it is and remain at peace in her yoga class. This example helps us recognize how we are responsible for being distracted, not the sensory stimulus.

The goal is to understand why you react to stimuli in the way that you do. While it may take you a fair amount of time to understand each reaction, here is a short formula to help you work through this process:

Steps to minimize and eliminate sensory distraction

1. Choose one sensory stimulus that disturbs your yoga practice.

2. Notice the characteristics of this stimulus in terms of intensity, quality, and frequency.

3. Notice the feeling or emotional reaction this disturbance evokes in you.

4. Try to understand the roots of the feeling. If the sound annoys you, try to understand why it annoys you.

5. Accept that the stimulus could be interpreted in a different way.

6. Move the pre-conceived notion from a negative association to a positive. What can you focus on about the stimulus that is funny, interesting, beautiful, or inspiring?

7. Release the negative association, hear the sound for what it is, and then continue to listen or choose to ignore the stimulus. When you accomplish this last step, you will have realized freedom from sensory distraction.

Sound exercise to remove distraction and enhance concentration

Find a consistent sound. In summertime, it could be the chirp of a particular bird or the choir of crickets at night. Another common sound might be the hum of a machine or passing cars. Any sound will do, as long as it is consistent. If there is no continuous occurring sound, use an instrumental piece of music and isolate one instrument within the music. Focus your attention on the sound and then notice how other sounds pull your attention in other directions, disturbing your concentration on the original sound. Once you have started to master this exercise, it can also be done during relaxation.

Stage 1: Simply focus on the sound and maintain consistent concentration. As you continue, recognize when and how the mind wanders to think about other errant sounds. If a truck drives by, how many thoughts sprung from the mind before you returned to the original sound? Be patient and non-judgmental with this process, as it may require some time to master.

Stage 2: The next step in understanding your responses to distraction is to notice why certain sounds grip your mind’s attention and others do not. In Suzie’s example, the questioning student caused her to associate feelings from work with her time in yoga class. As a continuation of her self-inquiry, Suzie explored why she associated the trapped feelings from work with the question man. Each time you become aware of a new level of your emotions, you’ll master the senses in a new way as well.

Stage 3: With practice, moments of unbroken concentration occur for one to three minutes at a time. At this proficient stage, you can begin to work on the sounds that you find annoying in daily life. Apply this same process to the neighbor’s dog yapping or the sounds of rush hour traffic and discover that you can consciously ignore the sounds.

Stage 4: The fourth or final stage of the listening exercise occurs when you can listen to one sound and not react to other sounds that used to be disturbing. While listening to a sound and the telephone rings, you would simply notice the phone ringing and let the sound vibrate through the eardrum with no reaction. The sound is noticed but there are no thoughts attached to the sound and attention remains fixed on the original sound.

Sight exercise

To master the sense of sight, candle gazing is very helpful. To get started, sit twenty inches from a lit candle with the flame placed at eye level, in a room free of strong air currents to ensure that the flame stands straight. Avoid eye strain and consult with an optometrist if you have any pre-existing eye conditions. If for some reason candle gazing isn’t an option, you can substitute a landscape to gaze at.

Look at the flame and examine it from the following perspectives:

Note your first perception of the flame
Relax the eyes and temples and notice the flame
Observe deep breathing while viewing the flame
Feel your heart while looking at the flame
Ignore everything in your field of view except for the flame

For most candle gazers, the flame is seen in a variety of “lights.” The flame will seem small at certain times and then larger at other times. The flame’s heat is felt in other moments. Add your own observations to the variety of responses and realize that your eyes perceive a limited field of reality.

Flames, as well as other objects, are a complex aspect of nature and can never be fully understood by watching them. Yet, how often do we make assumptions from eyesight alone? Imagine what life could be like if we saw things with a more open mind. For example, the unspoken language of facial expressions is prime ground for misinterpreting others’ thoughts and feelings. Have you ever caught yourself assuming what someone was thinking, perhaps that they were judging you in some way, only to discover that your assumption had no bearing?

After working with the candle gazing exercise, you’ll find that a relaxed, soft gaze takes in more than a strained gaze does. Eyes that dart to and fro or that are squinty and tense constrict the nervous system. A soft gaze greatly reduces nervous strain and enhances concentration. In a yoga pose practice, maintaining a soft gaze with the eyes open or closed is always recommended.

The Power of Concentration in Yoga Poses

Note: In order to fully understand this section on concentration, it is important to have studied the previous step on chakras.

Concentration is extremely important in yoga practices, including the poses, breathing, and working with the chakras. Let’s take the chakras as an example. There are two main approaches to working with the chakras in yoga pose practice. The first approach focuses on the chakra activated by each particular pose, as we discussed in the previous chapter. Fish Pose, for example, is a heart chakra pose. The second approach, which requires significant concentration, is to focus on a single chakra throughout the poses, regardless of whether they are specifically reflective of that chakra. The yogi then has the opportunity to notice how their chosen chakra is affected by the dominant chakra inherent in each pose. For example, if the yogi superimposed the heart chakra in a forward bend (which generally relates to the third eye chakra), then attention would remain fixed on the heart. Because forward bends draw energy inward, practicing with a focus on the heart chakra influences the heart in a reflective, inward manner. Likewise, in a backbend, a focus on the heart causes the heart to expand and open.

Concentration in yoga poses improves our practice, stills our minds, purifies the body, and connects us to spirit. As you practice concentration in the poses, the first goal is to be aware of thoughts while in a pose. The second is to notice personal tendencies (e.g., fretting about finances, obsessing about your appearance). Then, the mind can connect to intention and empower you with greater self-realization.

Vital Zones

Swami Satyananda Saraswati, in his book, Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, recommends particular points for concentrating in yoga poses to gain the maximum physical benefits. He explains that “by directing the mind to a specific region of the body or the breath, the effect of a particular practice is increased” (Saraswati, 1991, p. 513). In Hatha Yoga Simplified, Shri Yogendra of The Yoga Institute of Mumbai writes, “Physiologists are agreed that the habit of such concentration produces sedative nervous effects like that of deep breathing exercises, which are conducive to the health of both the brain and the nerves. Moreover, the foundation of all success in life—whether physical, mental, moral or spiritual—depends entirely on the power of concentration” (Yogendra, 1991, p. 121).

	Point on the Body	Area Affected
1.	Tips of Toes	Feet, Legs
2.	Ankles	Ankle, Heel
3.	Knees	Knee, Calf, and Thigh
4.	Fingertips	Arms
5.	Tailbone	Hips, Low Back
6.	Lower Belly	Genitals
7.	Navel	Internal Organs, Lower Back
8.	Solar Plexus	Stomach, Mid-back
9.	Heart	Heart, Chest Area
10.	Lungs	Trachea/Lungs
11.	Throat	Throat, Neck
12.	Lips	Jaw, Lower Facial Muscles
13.	Tip of Nose	Sinus, Nose
14.	Eyes	Eyes, Behind Eyes, Temples
15.	Forehead	Thoughts, Forehead
16.	Top of the Head	Skull

Monastic yogis identify sixteen sensitive areas or vital zones (marmasthanani) that serve as focal points throughout the poses. Concentrating on the vital zones can improve our yoga pose practice dramatically, even with just a few minutes of daily practice. It is fascinating to notice the different feelings that arise when you focus on different parts of the body in the same yoga pose.

You may be interested to know that this experience is not limited to yoga poses: it can also be applied to reading. Reading can be very intellectual if the concentration is focused on the mind. If the focus is on the heart, a more emotional connection to the material can be cultivated. Reading poetry is the perfect example of these connections. Have you ever struggled to intellectually understand a poem to no avail and then had the same poem read to you by a heart-centered teacher? They are very different experiences. Reading can also be perceived by way of the chakras. Perhaps reading this book connects you to experiences that you already understood intuitively (third eye chakra), or it creates a feeling of groundedness (root chakra), and a sense of coming home to the kind of yoga practice you always wanted.

Seated Twist Pose

One unexpected pose for developing concentration is the Seated Twist Pose, which has a particular concentration point that aids the pose. To give it a try, sit on the ground, keep the spine vertical, and then twist the torso to the right and left. While detailed instructions follow in Part IV of this book, the primary thing I want to draw your attention to right now is the emphasis on turning the mid-back at the rib cage. Because the rib cage moves to the side in a twist, it might seem natural to focus on the area near the base of the sternum on the front of the body or the point between the shoulder blades on the back of the body. While this assumption makes logical sense, yogis’ empirical research discovered an unexpected area for concentration in this twisting pose.

Now, concentrate on your forehead in the pose. It may seem strange to do so, since it seems unrelated to the twist. As you may already be aware, focusing on a particular area of the body tends to relax that area. A relaxed forehead means no wrinkling of the brow and soft eyebrows. If it is difficult to relax the forehead, simply smile to soften the temples and muscles surrounding the eyes.

At this point in the twist, you may feel a sense of peace that flows through the center of the body. The relaxed forehead stimulates the vagus nerve, which travels down the center of the body to the stomach. In contrast, a tight forehead, often an expression of worry or concern, can cause an upset stomach. The psychosomatic response to feelings of worry impairs the vagus nerve due to the tension. Focusing on the forehead promotes relaxation in the nervous system and further enhances the benefits of the twist.

Connecting Intention with Concentration

When focusing on the concentration point, it is helpful to align it with spiritual intention (as mentioned in Step One). As an example, we’re going to work with the intention of peacefulness in a twisting pose, but you’ll use your own personal intention in your practice. With this intention, visualize feeling a sense of peace flowing through the nervous system and reaching the stomach as you twist. Concentrate not just on the intention, but also on the key opening point—in this case, the forehead. Keep in mind that tension can build in other areas of the body, preventing full expression of a pose. This may mean that while you normally concentrate on the primary focus point, on occasion you’ll want to concentrate on (and thus relax) the hips, back, legs, or jaw. If the forehead does not immediately relax or if it tightens again shortly after relaxation, then the tension is coming from another area. Observe where the tension is coming from and concentrate on that area with your intention. A peaceful intention will bring peace to the body, allowing you to practice the pose more fully.

Concentration Using Deep Relaxation

The sixteen sensitive points in the body (marmasthanani) serve as the key focal points for concentration in yoga poses. Marman refers to the joints, or any of the several particularly vital spots in the body. The concept of vital zones is reminiscent of Chinese medicine and acupuncture points. The yoga scriptures, the Upanishads (Shandilya Upanishad 1.8.1f), speak of the vital zones, as well, but they name of seventeen: the feet, big toes, ankles, shanks, knees, thighs, anus, penis, navel, heart, throat, palate, nose, eyes, third eye, forehead, and head. (Do not be confused by yoga scriptures that offer slightly different information. Because yoga is an unregulated ancient science with many schools of thought, minor differences will appear. Learn from both lists of sensitive points and experiment to discover what works for you.) According to the Sshurika Upanishad (14), one should cut through these vital spots by means of the mind’s sharp blade. The underlying practice is to focus the attention and breath on each marman, freeing it from tensions so that the life force can flow freely through the subtle channels.

By cultivating a daily mental focus on these points, the body deeply relaxes. It is recommended to practice the following marman point exercise every day for a few months. Remember that it is more beneficial to practice one exercise for three months than it is to practice twenty exercises one time. Your practice can occur at the beginning, end, or middle of the day.

Lie down on the floor, bed, or couch with your feet about a foot and a half apart and the arms in a comfortable position. Close your eyes and take a moment to center. Bring your attention inward and breathe deeply. Then focus attention and breath to the first point at the tips of the toes. Focus on each area for about thirty seconds. After the tips of the toes, move sequentially to the ankles, focusing there for thirty seconds. Focus on each concentration point, moving from the lower points to the higher points one at a time. Spend thirty to forty-five seconds on each point; the total time of the exercise may be eight to twelve minutes. Notice how concentrating on the specific point relaxes the surrounding parts of the body.

Sleep is likely if you practice this for more than twelve minutes. Many people are sleep deprived, so if you doze off, accept that your body may need to rest. Use the dozing as a signal to retire earlier at night and/or reduce your daily activities. However, there are times in life (raising children, caring for elderly parents and so forth) where there is heightened strain. In that case, enjoy a refreshing, short nap!

Continued concentration on these points over time develops certain levels of awareness. First is the ability to think of the area without daydreaming. When your mind inevitably wanders during this exercise, be very gentle with yourself. Self-effacing or self-critical thoughts merely add another disturbance, whereas self-acceptance encourages deeper concentration. Know that distraction is a very normal occurrence. Rather than obsessing about doing the exercise perfectly, notice when the mind wanders and gently call it back. Even people who have practiced concentration for many years experience occasional daydreaming. The difference with the experienced yoga practitioner is that they accept the fact that the mind wanders.

With practice, begin to notice new levels of awareness. Initially, you may notice physical sensations like:

tingling, heat, warmth, or cold
complete stillness or a floating feeling
sounds
relaxation or tightness prior to tension release
overall weightlessness, or a heavy, still feeling
a pulse or a sensation of blood flow
a sensation of the focal point “breathing,” as if through your nose
an electrical rush, a chill, or some type of energy movement
color or a pure white light
emotional release
a feeling of compassion, optimism, love, peace, acceptance, or general well-being
a vast sense of infinite space or of oneness with the greater whole of the universe

These sensations are based on the reports of thousands of students over years of observation while practicing this exercise. Follow the focal points and observe your own experience.

Concentration in Yoga Poses

The partial list of yoga poses I have given you here corresponds to the poses listed in detail in Part IV. As mentioned in Step Two, it is possible to discover the attitude of a pose or it is possible to superimpose an attitude on the yoga pose. The suggestions below follow the former approach of using concentration points that “go” with a specific yoga pose.

As each person is unique in their mind and body, your experience and needs in yoga practice will differ from others. A forward bend benefits the person who needs more surrender in the mind while a backbend is more suitable for someone needing more energy. Focus on the concentration points that satisfy your personal needs. The suggested points are a good introduction to understanding how concentrating on specific areas of the body can enhance yoga poses. Over time, personal experimentation is recommended. This is a tool that needs to be practiced!

Remember that this level of study in yoga poses requires effort to notice the more subtle aspects of a pose. I recommend beginning students first master the preliminary steps mentioned in this book, such as intention, attitude, breath, and alignment. As those steps begin to feel more natural, beginners can use the additional techniques offered to continue to make fresh discoveries in their yoga pose practice for many years to come.

Connecting to the Poses

Pose	Spinal Movement	Focal Point
Tree (page 256)	Balance	Soles of feet, navel area, center of gravity
Dancer (page 258)	Balance	Soles of feet, navel area, center of gravity
Boat (page 260)	Balance	Soles of feet, navel area, center of gravity
Palm Tree (page 262)	Upward Stretch	Third eye chakra
Wheel (page 264)	Forward, Back	Solar plexus and throat chakras
Seated Forward Bend (page 266)	Forward Bend	Navel area, sacral chakra
Child’s (page 268)	Forward Bend	Navel area, sacral chakra
Cat Stretch (page 270)	Backward, Forward	Navel area, throat chakra
Cobra (page 272)	Back Bend	Top of head
Bow (page 274)	Backward	Heart and throat chakras
Triangle (page 276)	Side Bend	Navel area, sacral chakra
Extended Side Angle (page 278)	Side Bend	Navel area, sacral chakra
Partial Seated Twist (page 280)	Twist	Third eye chakra, forehead
Supine Twist (page 282)	Twist	Base of spine, heart chakra
Butterfly Pose (page 284 )	Extremities	Base of spine, perineum, root chakra
Pigeon (page 286)	Extremities	Throat chakra, or back of neck
Warrior I (page 288)	Extremities	Solar plexus chakra
Downward Dog (page 290)	Inversion	Heart and throat chakras
Shoulder Stand (page 292)	Inversion	Throat and crown chakras
Plough (page 294)	Inversion	Throat and solar plexus chakras
Corpse (page 296)	Relaxation	Sixteen points
Easy Pose (page 298)	Meditative	Sacrum, third eye and crown chakras
Half Lotus (page 298)	Meditative	Sacrum, third eye and crown chakras

Connecting to the Infinite

In Indian yoga ashrams, as well as many yoga retreat centers, the ego still rears its head, even in the quest for enlightenment. Leading teachers may be brilliant lecturers with loads of charisma but also have an equally big ego. In the end, we are all human beings struggling to find inner peace. For this reason, many expert yoga teachers keep the subtle ideas of yoga secret. Only senior students are taught some of the concepts outlined in this step. This prevents eager students from becoming engrossed in perfecting the subtle aspects of yoga and thereby missing the bigger picture.

Therefore, please use these guidelines to help enhance your life in a positive direction and ultimately reduce suffering in the world. Few things are as important as accepting your strengths and faults. Acceptance, while sounding basic, is an extremely esoteric practice, and very few human beings actually accomplish it. As the songwriter mystic Eden Ahbez once said, “The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is simply to love and be loved in return.” The aim of self-exploration is to bring inner peace and outer harmony.

Let virtue be your superhuman feat (siddhi). The purpose of these exercises is to help you to have a deeper spiritual experience of yoga poses. May your yoga pose practice inspire you to be a more peaceful person with yourself and loved ones, as well as a more productive and helpful member in the whole of society.

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