Patanjali’s eight limbs of yoga: DHARANA

The primary goal here is to move from a distracted mental state to a state of concentration. Once we’ve been able to master the roaming tendencies of our mind, create inner spaciousness and attraction through a building of Prana or energy. Pratyahara becomes available and we’re able to withdraw our senses in.

During the process of Pratyahara which Pantanjali says takes at least nine minutes we’re able to fully detach from the unconscious monkey mind. This allows us to become focused and concentrated on an object. The object during the process of Dharana may be internal or external. It could be a mantra, the breath, a chakra or a candle flame.

The goal here is single pointed focus, no distractions, this is why an object is important. As soon as we notice we’ve veered from the object we can quickly rectify and return. At this stage of the practice, the object is not as important as the realisation of a focused state, this wants to be firmly established first.

As we move deeper into the practice the object we’re focusing on does become very important as we eventually merge with it and we don’t won’t to merging with something less desirable than the current state we in.