The Eight Limbs of Yoga: Part 7: Dharana Explained | The Power of Focus

Dharana: The Power of Concentration in Yoga (Patanjali’s Sixth Limb)

In this episode, we explore Dharana (concentration), the sixth limb of yoga from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Dharana is the practice of single-pointed focus, helping us reclaim our attention in today’s distracted, fast-paced world.

What is Dharana?

Dharana is defined as “binding the mind to one place, object, or idea.” It builds on the earlier limbs of yoga, while also supporting meditation (Dhyana) and deeper states of awareness (Samadhi).

Why Dharana Matters Today

In our modern attention economy, concentration is more valuable than ever. Neuroscience confirms that focused attention improves memory, reduces stress, and increases productivity. What you focus on truly grows.

Dharana Practices You Can Try

• Trataka (candle gazing) for steadying the mind
• Mantra repetition (including Sanskrit mantras with vibrational qualities)
• Mindful everyday activities like eating, walking, or working without phones or music

Cross-Tradition Insights

We also explore similarities with Christian contemplative practices such as rosary prayer and lectio divina, showing how concentration is a universal doorway to inner stillness.

✨ Remember: the best practice is the one you actually do.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Dharana
• 3:26 Understanding Concentration in Yoga
• 6:10 Practical Dharana Practices
• 10:44 Reclaiming Focus in Modern Life
• 16:42 Benefits and Closing Thoughts

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:04

Hello everybody and welcome back to the daily practice with me, Benita. Today's podcast episode is a part of the series on the eight limbs of yoga as described by Patanjali in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. So in the previous weeks we've been going through an outline of each of the other limbs. Yamanyama Asana Panayama Pratyahara and today we are in Dharana. So this episode once again is a perfectly good standalone episode if you just want to look into dharana or concentration in the yogic path. But if you wish to get a more holistic or complete picture of the eight limbs of yoga, feel free to go back to listen to all the previous episodes in this series. Okay, um so like I said, last week we talked about pratyahara, which is turning inward or withdrawal of the senses. And uh each of the limbs kind of naturally flow from the previous one, but they are also practices that support one another in a nonlinear fashion. So concentration helps with breathing, and breathing helps with concentration, and concentration helps with posture, and and good posture supports uh proper concentration. So it's uh a non-linear, mutually supportive way to achieve yoga or union with your highest self or the divine or however you want to conceptualize it. And um truly, uh, this is the first of the so-called inner practices that prepare for a deep meditation and the eventual union and kind of how do I say uh merging into the uh uh all uh or becoming one with all of creation through the practice of yoga and the final limb being samadhi. We're gonna look at that in a few weeks. So, uh what exactly is said about dharana in Patanjali's Yoga Sutras? It is in Yoga Sutra 3.1, it says, Desa bandha chittasya dharana. Concentration is the binding of the mind to one place, object, or idea. So as we can remember from previous weeks, is that one of the key things that is said about yoga by Patanjali is Yoga's Chitta Vritti Niroda. So yoga is the cessation of the fluctuations of the mind. So it's chitta is the mind, and once again, in concentration, we bind the mind to one singular place, object, or idea. So dharana is training the mind to hold focused attention without any scattering. So really it is a key, like non-negotiable step towards samadhi and towards the ultimate goal of yoga. And this is so important in today's world where often our mind is so scattered due to, you know, there's multiple things going on all at once, especially if you live in an urban environment, there might be advertisement, this or that, or our social media consumption, and maybe there's a big screen, small screen, and then your kid is over there, and and okay, you gotta attend to dinner, and and and everything is kind of all over the place. So darana is such a valuable tool and valuable practice in today's world where our focus and attention tends to be robbed uh by everything that's around us. So uh, and I've always liked to, in these episodes, also refer to uh how it contrasts or has parallels with Christianity. Um so we can look at Christian prayer practices like uh the rosary practice or lectea divina uh that encourage repetition and focus. So both in the yogic tradition and Christianity, it is understood that repetition quiets distraction and brings the mind toward God or source. Um we could see that there uh a slight difference, whereas Christianity frames concentration as devotion to the divine or to a saint, I guess in some cases in in Catholicism or or or orthodox Christianity. Well, yoga often frames it as a preparation for meditation. But I would also argue that in yogic practices too, we have the puja, or there there is like a devotion or some kind of like offering to deities or to the divine, and uh and really many of my teachers would always refer to as a repetition of a mantra, focusing on a mantra, having this strong focus, dharana breath uh on the breath or on a mantra or anything else that is really focusing on the divine and that keeps our mind away from any other so-called unholy thoughts that it's actually a devotional practice to. Um so what kind of practices count as dharana? Okay, so I just finished my Ashtanga Yoga posture practice, and in that too, of course, we practice dharana. I'm doing my best it to make it as much of a moving meditation as possible and keeping my focus uh on the practice. So that is like a single focus is my physical posture, my breath, and just focusing on that. But beyond the mat, um there's a really beautiful and uh I guess very recommended practice called a trataka, which is a single point focus in practice, is candle gazing. So you can simply light a candle, maybe set a timer for a few minutes, five, ten, whatever is available to you, and just keep your gaze, keep your eyes on the candle, and that's it. That's really the practice. And uh another alternative, of course, is repeating a mantra. So uh for a mantra practice, I find that what's really useful is to stick to one mantra for uh in a given period of time. So it could be short, could be long, could be um uh a more complex mantra. Uh for some time, for instance, I was working with the Ganesha mantra, om Gam Ganapataye Namaha, or uh shivaya, and just focusing on those words. Oh, this could also be uh an affirmation if you want if you prefer to do this in your own language, um is of course also possible and um might be effective, but there is something special about the Sanskrit language, uh uh as is in the language of Gurmuki, which is used in Kundalini yoga, and I would say that there are certain other languages that have the same kind of coherence and the actual what what's the word? There is the equivalence of the tone and the sound of each word and the meaning of the word. So the vibrational frequency of the sound is equivalent in Sanskrit, Gurmuki, uh I'd say Hebrew and old uh Japanese. There is something special about those languages where the actual sound of the word is equal in vibrational frequency to the meaning of the word. So there might be something more powerful about doing our mantra practice in those languages, that but that's again, it's a whole topic on its own. I could dive into a whole episode about that. But what I would really recommend is to yeah, uh find a mantra to work with and stick to that same mantra for uh a given period of time for your your dharana practice. So simply repeating a mantra to yourself silently or vocally, and letting your single-pointed focus rest on that uh phrase or mantra. Um, of course, dharana can be less formal too. So uh, like I mentioned last week, this is also very similar and and can be complementary and integrated with the pratyahara practice that I recommended last week of actually leaving your phone out, uh, whether it's you having dinner with your family or uh if you're reading or anything, just turning your phone off and like allowing yourself to be focused on the task at hand, whether that's doing the dishes, maybe, or reading a book, or uh maybe even you're doing your whether it's a yoga practice or a physical workout at the gym, see or outdoors, see if you can do that without music and actually just be focused on whatever you're doing at the moment without getting distracted by the phone, music, other conversations that are happening or anything else, just a really singular focus to whatever you're doing at that moment. This could also include writing or whatever you're producing or making, or even if you're folding laundry, can you just be really, really, really present and focused on just that? And this is kind of a Zen approach to life, uh just doing one thing at a time, and which is which is interesting because I will also talk about this next week, I'm sure, that dhyana and zen are actually the same word. So the Zen Buddhist tradition that is, I guess, prevalent in Japan or so, actually comes from this yogic practice of jhana of deep meditation. So zen and dhyana are actually from the same root word. Um yes. And of course, uh when we do our meditation practice, or even if you're not doing your formal seated meditation, can you just be really present with your breath? Can you, as you're sitting, maybe you're waiting for the eggs to cook, or maybe you're waiting for the a ride, or the next wave if you're surfing, whatever it is, can you just focus on one point? Can you focus on the sensation of the air uh in your nostrils? Can you? Or as you're going for a walk, can you really notice how each step, how this what's the sensation of each each step on your feet as you walk? And once again, um I'd like to a little bit have a conversation also from the scientific scientific point of view, why this is relevant to do today. Like I mentioned earlier, we are living in this attention economy where it's big basically built on distraction. Like one thing is money, but like the way big corporations and uh and such online especially make money is based on clicks and uh as a result eyeballs, attention economy, like that's really all that matters. And this is also a really useful thing to remember is that if a product is free, then you're actually the product, your data and your attention, your focused attention is what is the most valuable thing in today's economy and also in your life, because like we know what whatever you focus on grows, and you are actually through giving your focused attention, giving your eyes, ears, your b physical presence to something, you are actually increasing the reality of that thing, like you are making it more so. So giving focused attention to yourself, to your practice, to your family, to your children, to your food, to your environment is so much more important than giving your eyeballs to, I don't know, some random uh conversation that's going on Twitter or or or or you know, giving your attention to, I don't know, uh comparing your life to somebody else's on Instagram or something like that. So really, darana is such an important practice, especially in today's world where our attention is being monetized and is being actively that these applications, our phones, technology, everything is trying to rob you of your time and attention. So, truly, as much as possible, do these practices to reclaim your focus and attention. And there's so much to be gained from that, not just for you personally, but the gifts that you bring into this world uh are multiplied if you are able to reclaim your attention and actually put it to practice first through these yogic practices that I'm describing, but then also allowing that to bloom and allowing your focused attention to create something beautiful in this world, not just for yourself, like I said, but also for everybody else. Um, so really dharana practices on uh I guess neurological level benefit us in multiple ways, but uh, I guess fundamentally it's improved memory, lower stress, and like I said, greater productivity. So the more we're able to focus on one thing at a time, that's really the superpower of today in the uh in a world where where attention span is lower and lower, and we're more and more distracted, and little sound bites, little this, little that, and and we're not able to really harness our true potential when we're so scattered. Uh and like I mentioned, you know, neuroscience does back this, uh, where it is shown that concentration, focus, builds neural uh new neural pathways, and these met these meditative practices uh really begin with sustained focus. And from there, almost anything is possible. So there we go. Umce again this was um just a short outline on what the practice of dharana is and can be in both our formal yogic or meditation practice, but also in our daily lives and why it is so important. So we could call dharana like the art of attention and focus. So, really, I invite each and every one of you to try to reclaim your focus and attention, whether it's just being able to sit quietly and have your coffee without any external input, any extra stimulation. So just sitting there, taking a sip of your hot beverage, and really noticing how that feels and as the cup touches your lips, and what are the sensations and the taste that you're experiencing? There. And yeah, I guess that was it for this week. Next week, uh, we're gonna, like I mentioned, focus on dhyana, which is then flowing naturally from dharana, so dharana concentration, then we get to the actual meditation and actual uh I guess application of all the previous limbs. But like I said, it's not necessarily a linear path. We are go doing these in order, but these are all mutually supportive practices that combine to create the eight limbs of yoga. So it's not necessarily steps on a path, but it it there are eight limbs that are mutually supportive and that are all practiced uh at the same time. And yeah, uh once again, these podcast episodes drop each Monday at 10 a.m. Mountain Standard Time, and my short practice videos are online on YouTube each Friday at 7 a.m. And I have been enjoying uh being consistent with those. Once again, I I had a couple of weeks where I was traveling, so there was uh one week I guess I guess uh went missing, but now we're back on track and I am excited to keep going deeper into the practices and finding more ways to be of benefit through these channels. And uh I've been less active on Twitter or X just because I find that that is robbing me of my attention and time, so I am preferring to channel more of that time and energy I was spending on trying to kind of get engagement or whatever on X to actually be producing more long longer form content like this, uh, as well as I'm actually starting to again uh teach in-person classes where I'm living, so that's also taking some of my time and focus a little bit. But um, yeah, nonetheless, thanks so much for listening. And please do share, subscribe, and like these videos wherever you're listening. And uh, of course, if you're on YouTube, please leave a comment, let me know where you're listening from, and also if there's anything else you would like to hear about uh in these broadcasts. I guess that's all, and I am so happy uh to have connected with you once again. And remember, as always, a good practice is the one you do.