Focused Attention (Dharana): Developing Concentration
Focusing the mind on one point of
attention within is concentration.
Sutra iii.1
Multitasking is accepted as a necessary part of modern daily life. Although at times it fulfills the intended benefit of efficiency, it often comes at the price of lower-quality results and higher stress levels. If we allow ourselves to be in more than one place at a time, doing one thing but thinking about another, spending time with a person but daydreaming about someone else, we will never give our best. Far greater depth, success, and fulfillment come when we focus our full attention on the people and projects we are attending to. Also, by retraining ourselves to be mindful of what is happening right now, rather than occupied mentally with thoughts of the past or the future, we experience this moment more richly and completely.
This Sutra explains that single-pointed devotional attention brings our restless, wandering thoughts under control, allowing us to feel more serene, clear-minded, and creative. The practice of building steadfast focus on one thing that inspires love and devotion is called Dharana. It paves the way to enter the deep stillness of meditation and lasting happiness.
Single-Pointed Attention
Lack of proper concentration is the root cause of many failures in life. As explored in the last chapter on Pratyahara, sensory stimuli, as well as the feelings and thoughts associated with those stimuli, distract us in multiple directions all day long. Development of the ability to unplug the senses prepares the way for devotional concentration. Only when the senses have been brought under control of the higher mind can we sit still without being pulled around by sensations, desires, and habits.
To concentrate means to gather attention at one point. If we concentrate exclusively on one thing at a time, we increase both our creative efficiency and our loving presence. Our families, our spiritual studies, and even our alignment in Asana class will all benefit from undivided attention.
On a daily basis, the mind is in continuous movement, creating plans, analyzing conversations, checking to-do lists, reacting to external stimuli. The mind runs through information, personal experience, memories, inference, and intuitive insights constantly. It is ever-dividing concepts and experiences into positives and negatives, things to be desired or things to be avoided. Sri Swami Satchidananda calls the practice of Dharana taming the wild monkey mind. And like taming or training anything, this takes patience, commitment, and repeated effort.
The practice of Dharana is accomplished by binding the mind through concentration to one thought, idea, or concept, specifically one that arouses devotion, awe, or love within us. By using devotion (Iswara Pranidhana) to direct our attention through love, we align with the strongest focusing force. No material pleasure can ever deliver the happiness we receive through devotion.
Directing the mind toward our chosen focal point, regardless of external or internal distractions that may arise, builds mental stability, just as Asana practice builds physical stability. If we learn to concentrate completely, we clear the mind and intuitive perception dawns. We can then move through outer circumstances with discernment, knowing our right decisions and actions. Eventually the mind becomes like a tranquil lake, without the ripples of habitual thought, and we feel pure peace and clarity of understanding.
This devotional focus (Dharana) combined with the previous practice of sensory withdrawal (Pratyahara) primes us for entering the state of stillness that is meditation (Dhyana).
Focus Training Techniques
Think of the development of concentration like a muscle that needs to be strengthened, similar to a physical muscle. If we are just beginning to lift weights, we certainly would not expect to lift 200 pounds on the first try. If we are just learning Asana, we should not expect to accomplish an advanced yoga posture immediately. Only through diligent, daily effort do we find ourselves at our intended destination of strength, balance, or concentration.
To build the muscle of concentration, it is helpful to learn techniques to help us relax physically while remaining alert and peaceful at the same time. Any tension in the body will create disturbance in the mind as well, preventing single-pointed focus. But when the body and mind have an ongoing dialogue, necessary adjustments for comfort can be made quickly when the time comes to practice Dharana with intention.
Start with the common sense basics to put the body in balance. Exercise regularly. Eat a moderate diet of fresh, wholesome foods. Eliminate excess stimulation like background radios or televisions. Get a massage or other bodywork to relieve long-term stress that has built up. Pay attention to the body’s needs for rest and sleep. Listen within instead of pushing through physical signals of exhaustion. Balance work and play.
As a specific tension-releasing technique, periodically through-out the day take a deep breath in and squeeze all the muscles of the body. Then exhale and let all the tension and stress go. Repeat as needed.
Once the body is relaxed yet still awake and alert, then it is time to relieve the mind. Train yourself to think just one thought at a time. Do not mentally go around and around about problems. Do not interrupt others when they are speaking in order to get a point across. Choose books that require concentration. Set worries down often. And sometimes, just be quiet, doing nothing at all.
As a specific mind-relieving and focusing technique, try this experiment. Close your eyes and breathe into the quality of peace. Concentrate on the word peace. Feel your entire body relaxing, becoming calm and serene. If you notice stress somewhere in the body, say to yourself, “I am breathing peace in here,” and visualize that body part receiving rejuvenation. Then say silently, “I am breathing stress out now” and visualize the body part releasing all tension. “I am breathing in peace. I am breathing out stress. I am breathing in peace. I am breathing out stress. I am breathing. I am peace. I am breathing. I am peace. Peace. Peace.” Place wholehearted attention and feeling into the experience of peace filling your being. Allow all else to fall away as just that energy becomes pervasive in your mind.
When we first begin Dharana practice, unrelated and distracting thoughts will come and go through the mind. Use willpower to compassionately retrieve your focused thought. Both firmness and love are needed, as if calling a small, rambunctious child to sit beside you. With time and dedication, we will build the muscle of concentration, reaping benefits of success and ease. Remember muscles are built gradually. Consider all effort to be progress.
Deeper Than Contemplation
In some translations of the Sutras, Dharana is defined as contemplation, yet it is actually beyond contemplative introspection. When we combine concentrated thought with an attitude of devotion (Iswara Pranidhana), our love makes a profound difference. Dharana practice is not intellectual analysis. It is quieting the mind through one-pointed focus until thought drops away completely and we are left naturally in devotional meditative stillness.
In order for this to occur, Dharana practice must be dedicated focus on something uplifting, inspiring, or faith-inducing. Anything that awakens love, awe, or joy will do. Yoga philosophy acknowledges Universal Consciousness as manifest in all things, therefore, according to personal faith, we can choose anything that invokes love in our hearts and devotion in our souls. The focusing image is a way to train the mind into single-pointed attention, like a bridge from outer to inner awareness. Eventually, like all thought, it dissolves as we enter meditation.
Experiment in this way. Call to mind the image of something or someone that you love. Sink into the energetic feeling of loving as you did into the feeling of peace before. When the quality of love becomes your tangible internal experience, hold awareness completely on that and allow the image of the beloved to fade into the background of the mind. Recognize that you are one with this love that flows through you, the pure energy of Source Love.
Other good tools for focusing are mantras or sacred words infused with spiritual meaning, like Aum or So Hum. Images of a preferred deity or Self-realized master, or any spiritual quality like compassion or peace also work. The devotional aspect of yoga is called Bhakti, through which we personally realize the presence of and our unity with the one Beloved.
From Focused Awareness to Full Expansion
By binding thought to one devotional center, we release the mind from its daily work and allow perception to move beyond thought, into pure experience. Energy flows where focus goes. If we pour focus into love, joy, and devotion, then these become our experience. Eventually this focused awareness leads us beyond personal ego-driven experience, through the portal of stillness into the expansive field of pure Consciousness, wherein we become simultaneously aware of everything from the smallest atom to the infinite cosmos. The Sutras indicate that as we release the agenda of individual self into the realm of infinite Self, we experience grace and liberation from all our difficulties. This master level awareness is what the Eight Limbs of Yoga are moving us toward.
From here we delve into the subtler spiritual realms of yoga practice. Any haphazard approach must be replaced with wholehearted commitment and willingness to stay the course no matter what we see in outer results in a month, a year, or even more. Many people try something a few times and feel no result, so they walk away, determining that it does not work. This is like digging a few shallow wells instead of one deep well. Only patient diggers will find the life-sustaining water. It is useful to commit to one focusing technique for three to six months to give the practice of Dharana a chance to solidify. Nothing is accomplished overnight, much less full liberation! A dedicated habit of focus and concentration in both our daily activities and in our formal yoga practice is required.
It is important to recognize, too, that everyone’s movement toward expanded consciousness unfolds at a different pace, according to current effort, Karma, attitude, and openness. As the Serenity Prayer suggests, we accept the things we cannot change, have courage to change the things we can, and employ the wisdom of discernment to know the difference.
Summarizing again the building blocks of the Sutras up until this point, we see that the integrated Yamas and Niyamas give us increasing tranquility internally and in our environments. Asana creates steadiness in our body, and Pranayama controls and expands our energy flow. Pratyahara restrains the senses so we may establish a fertile field on which to cultivate the seeds of devotion. These first five Limbs can and should be practiced simultaneously.
The last three limbs build more concretely in order upon each other. Dharana develops concentrated focus into a devotional awareness in which we feel inner peace and enter meditative stillness (Dhyana). With regular and consistent practice, concentration and stillness create the space for mergence with Universal Consciousness (Samadhi). Then we live, move, and breathe in a state of inner tranquility and joy.
Daily Practice
Integrate an active practice of focused attention into your daily life. Gather your awareness into the now and experience each moment of life more completely. Offer this devotional concentration to the Divine in all that you do.
Questions for Further Reflection
Take a moment with your journal now to answer the following questions. Or find a quiet pause sometime today to remember the practice of devotional focus and contemplate these thoughts further.
Affirmations to Post and Remember
Affirmations solidify beliefs in our subconscious minds, creating a foundation from which we can then manifest positive change in our outer lives. Repeat these often with strong intensity and full faith.