How Do I Meditate?

Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash

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The mind that is alone is not only innocent but young...only such a mind can see that which is truth and that which is not measurable by words. 
- Jiddu Krishnamurti

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This blog post is part of our Yoga Sutras series.  
​Want to start at the beginning?
Yoga Sutra 3.2
तत्र प्रत्ययैकतानता ध्यानम्
tatra pratyayaikatānatā dhyānam

Built upon the foundation of concentration, meditation is the uninterrupted flow of attention toward the object of concentration.

Patanjali distinguishes between concentration (dharana) and meditation (dhyana) within the eight limbs of Raja Yoga he lists.  This is a key distinction for practitioners because while we often describe what we are doing as “meditating,” in fact the only action we can actually take is to concentrate.  

When the power of concentration is established and the mind’s attention continually flows toward the object of concentration with one-pointed awareness, then we are meditating.  This goes hand in hand with Patanjali’s guidance in Yoga Sutra 1.12  that we can learn to restrain our thoughts toward one-pointedness by practice (abhyasa) and detachment (vairagyabhyam).  We cannot force our mind to become one-pointed but we can practice and let go.  In a way, meditation is less something “we do” and more something we undo.  BKS Iyengar describes it like this:

Dharana [concentration] is more concerned with the elimination of fluctuating thought-waves in order to achieve single-pointed concentration; in dhyana [meditation], the emphasis is on the maintenance of steady and profound contemplative observation. (180)

We learn to lessen attachment to our mental chatter, which is a way of controlling and directing our thoughts in the way we feel we ought to think.  Then, our mind is freed to fully experience the object of concentration.

Precisely because meditation is an activity of the mind beyond reason, it is very difficult to use the rational mind to explain how meditation feels.  It’s like using words to describe a piece of music.  You may get the general idea but you won’t actually know what the music sounds like until you hear it.

Swami Satchidananda explains that in Hindu scriptures, meditation is described “like pouring oil from one pot to another…[in] a continuous string.” (215)  Meditation is effortless and just happens when the foundation of concentration is well established and becomes “a continuous flow of awareness” (Stiles, 31).

This happens gradually and naturally.  As we dissolve the subtle impressions (samskaras) in our mind the effort to concentrate lessens and we can “penetrate deeper into the subconscious mind…eventually…[gliding] into a tranquil, peaceful state called dhyana.” (Bhakt, 129)

Multiple commentaries on the Yoga Sutras mention we will know we have finally reached the seventh limb of Raja Yoga (meditation) when we lose sense of time and place.  “Time has no meaning in meditation, and space also is lost.  You don’t know where you are.” (Satchidananda, 215)  

“Time has no meaning in meditation, and space also is lost.  You don’t know where you are.”
- Swami Satchidananda

When we set aside a specific time to meditate and that time seems to disappear in the blink of an eye, we have probably experienced an uninterrupted flow.  When five minutes feels like an eternity, we are still working on our power of concentration.

Sometimes, we may even experience a feeling of being out of body.  This is because our cognitive powers are flowing so continuously toward the object of concentration, it is as if we actually become the object of concentration.

As the Shoshoni Yoga Retreat’s guide to The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali says, “here the separation between the practitioner and the object dissolves.” (31) We learn what it means to experience union - or yoga - with something we typically regard as existing outside of ourselves.  From there, we can learn to experience union with all of existence, which will lead us to the profound peace and contentment we seek in practicing yoga.

Next month, we will explore the final limb of Raja Yoga, which is the culmination of the process of meditation.
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​Have you ever noticed when your mind is fully engaged in an activity, time seems to pass quickly?  Or how a 20 minute commute seems to take forever when your mind is racing from thought to thought?  Have you ever had an experience of full absorption during a yoga practice?  During a meditation session?