Led by Melissa Goodwin

Melissa fell in love with yoga at the age of 10, when she and her mother attended a community yoga class. She is grateful to have found her long-time teachers, Tias and Surya Little, when she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 2007, and earned both her 200-hour and 500-hour teaching certifications through their Prajna Yoga program. Melissa also earned her Restorative Yoga Teacher Certification through Judith Hanson Lasater’s program in 2009. She taught for five years in Santa Fe before moving to Florida in 2013, where she joined the teaching staff at The Yoga Sanctuary. Always a student, Melissa is currently exploring how various yoga practices can assist in healing brain trauma and nervous system dysfunction. You can follow Melissa’s work at writeryogini.blogspot.com.

This meditation explores the concept of pratyahara through the teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.

Shining by the light of the senses

Yet freed from all the senses

Unattached, yet maintaining all,

Free from qualities yet experiencing qualities

Outside and inside beings,

Those that are moving and those that are still,

Because of its subtlety,

This is not to be comprehended.

It is far away and also near.

~ Bhagavad Gita, chapter 13, verses 14 & 15

The continued practice of dharana will eventually become dhyana. Dhyana is the second limb of Samyama, the simultaneous practice of the three last limbs of yoga. For meditation, Iyengar recommends placing concentration specifically on the breath because, “nothing penetrates deeper than breath or is more pervasive.” The breath is a common point of focus during meditation, as it is easily accessible—certainly, we can always come back to the breath.

To put dhyana into perspective, think about when you sit for meditation. Let’s say you begin to focus on the breath. Perhaps you choose to notice how the belly moves in and out with each breath. This moment of concentration is dharana. Then you think about how your foot feels—this is a distraction. Then back to the breath. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Then you think about how you need to stop at the grocery store on the way home. You think about what you need to buy there. Then you notice your mind is distracted and guide it back to the breath. This is the mind. The mind is always on the go, chasing thoughts. Dharana seeks to rein the attention back to the moment—to one single point.

When the moments of dharana become longer, say, a few minutes or more of maintaining your attention on the breath without distractions, the transition to dhyana has taken place. When the mind no longer chases each distracted thought, but rather remains concentrated on the object of choice, without interruption, dhyana is experienced. Dhyana opens up space, so to speak, for the calm that sets the stage for a deeper connection to be made in the next limb, Samadhi.

Next time you sit for meditation, notice the stream of concentration. Do the moments of concentration alternate with many thoughts? Do you notice longer stretches of time when you are able to maintain your attention on your breath (or the object of your focus)? Observe the patterns without judgment. Remember, this is practice. It will always be just practice.

Dharana is the first limb of Samyama, the simultaneous practice of the three last limbs of yoga. With dharana the focus moves inward. According to Desikachar, “This is what happens in dharana: we create the conditions for the mind to focus its attention in one direction instead of going out in many different directions. We encourage one particular activity of the mind and, the more intense it becomes, the more the other activities of the mind fall away.” He goes on to say that this one point can be anything at all, but it is always just a single object.

The object of concentration could be a certain chakra (energy center), mantra (sound), mental image, or anything you choose. For example, when you sit quietly and maintain your focus only on the breath for an extended period of time, you are practicing dharana. At first, the mind will wander to all sorts of thoughts, but over time, with practice, the distractions fade and the mind becomes more focused.

The practice of dharana can be particularly helpful if you find yourself getting caught up in emotions. During such times, the mind fills with distracted thoughts, many not even based on reality. (Think of the last assumption you made when you were upset. Often, these assumptions are not even real, and thus, not based on reality.) Taking some time to detach from negative thought patterns by first practicing pranayama (to center), then pratyahara (to remove sensory distractions), and finally dharana, can be a great practice for times when your thoughts seem to overtake you.

Stepping into the Temple

I often reflect on how fortunate I am to be on this yogic path. It has provided me with tools and skills that help keep me afloat when the day to day challenges of life get even more challenging. It’s a blessing to have mentors to go to, teachers that help hone one’s skills, thus calming and quieting what can feel like a thunderously noisy body, mind, or spirit!

My teachers, Tias and Surya Little of Prajna Yoga, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, have a yoga center – right on their property – that has become a second home to so many of their students, including me. It’s very different from what we have here at The Yoga Sanctuary. There are no weekly class schedules, no drop-in 60-minute classes, just day-long, weekend-long, week-long or month-long FULL immersions. The topics very and for many of the Prajna students, it is less about the topic of study and more about just being there, in Tias and Surya’s presence, absorbing their knowledge and experience, nourishing one’s spirit. It’s also a time to connect with the greater Prajna sangha. Students come from all over the world, many have been there before, others there for the first time.

This last visit to New Mexico was a week-long immersion called The Art of Self Practice. A session long put off… I was, in fact, unsure if I would ever attend. First, it didn’t ever seem to work with my available timing. Second, I already have a self-practice – I am comfortable with my sitting (meditation) practice, and competent in my asana (posture) practice. In other words, I know what to do. It’s just a matter of doing it.

Why are you here?

This year, the timing worked and my thoughts about the being in this immersion changed. As I said before, it no longer really matters what the topic is; it’s just important to me to be there. So, there I was, grateful to be in the Prajna Temple.

Each extended immersion begins with on opening circle. We introduce ourselves, say a bit about who we are and why we are there. My name is Jennifer. I come from SW Florida. I teach, I direct a yoga studio. I’ve been studying with Tias and Surya for many years now. I’m here to fill my cup…

It’s a long day… eight hours. We eat lunch together. This is time when we can develop our connection to the sangha. But just as in everyday life, one tends to connect with some more than others… For whatever reason, you find yourself deep in conversation with some people and perhaps have only said a brief hello to others.

Why are you here?

About mid-way through this session, I was chatting with a fella from California. It was his first time at Prajna. He is fairly new to the yoga practice, but hungry for knowledge. We were talking about our experiences on the yoga path and what it was like to study under Tias and Surya. Sometime in the middle of this conversation he paused. He looked at me and said, “So, you have a yoga studio, you’re a long-time practitioner and teacher… Why are you here?”

What seemed so very obvious to me, was unclear to another. A person studies, practices, studies more, practices more, and on it goes. They become more practiced, more proficient. Yet still, we must seek out our teachers. We seek out guidance and support. We seek out inspiration and community. Even feedback and insight into the true question of why are we here?

My triangle pose might look different from someone who is taking Triangle Pose for the first time. I might even be able to help you a bit with your Triangle Pose, but that does not mean that I am done. My Triangle Pose will never be perfect. No one’s ever will be. We need our teachers’ eyes, we need their experience, their guidance. They have walked just a bit farther down the path… and the path never ends.

That, my new friend, is why I am here.

As a culture, we are obsessed with looking young.  We dye our hair, whiten our teeth, use botox, have surgeries!  – all attempts to hide the signs of our encroaching age.  However, what we are truly seeking is not to look younger, but to feel younger.   We want to be vibrant and healthy, strong and confident,  vigorous and purposeful.  These states, yoga and Ayurveda say, are our birthright.  Our bodies and minds are capable of youthful resilience at every age.

Ayurveda, the sister-science to yoga and the traditional medical system of India, insists we  can retain our vigor if we are willing to pay attention to the way we live.  As we age, we can get stuck in old, unhealthy habits, that cause us to accumulate toxins, and sap our energy.  In this state, it is easy to surrender to the societal belief that “withering with age” is inevitable.  But Ayurveda doesn’t accept this verdict.  Instead, it recommends that we rejuvenate ourselves by dropping the habits that siphon off our energy in favor of habits that support the body’s natural intelligence and healing capacity.  Perhaps we stop overstimulating ourselves with caffeine and electronic media (constantly!).  Perhaps we take more seriously our nutrition and exercise requirements.

Modern medicine is beginning to see the value in Ayurveda’s approach.  There is mounting evidence that diet, lifestyle, sleep and stress reduction are our fountains of youth!   These basics help keep our nervous and endocrine (hormone) systems in balance, which then support the rest of our systems in staying healthy.   Science is also studying the importance of our microbiome and digestive capacity – and its far-reaching effects on every other system, including our minds.   Dementia is an epidemic – but studies are showing that mild cognitive impairment can be reversed with a lifestyle approach that includes daily relaxation/yoga practices, whole foods diet, and regular aerobic exercise – and in some cases, some basic supplements as needed (Vitamin D, turmeric, CoQ10, anti-oxidants, probiotics).  [https://www.alzheimersweekly.com/2014/10/25-ways-to-mend-memory.html]

Modern medicine agrees with Yoga and Ayurveda about another approach to well-being: meditation. Multiple scientific studies show that meditation is good for our brains and our peace of mind (yay!) – but science tends to sidestep the why of that.  Ayurveda and Yoga are more able to address the spiritual effects of meditation, and how it helps us connect to a deeper dimension of our selves.   They tell us that awareness of this part – our true nature – taps us into an immense, inexhaustible  well of energy, vibrancy, intuitive wisdom, and joy.  The catch is that it takes determination  – and regular practice! – to establish and maintain that connection.  But over time, with consistency, the fruits of our practice become more and more evident.  We become clear, purposeful, compassionate, vibrant and joyful.  Even post-retirement!

The external world makes demands on our energy and time.  And it is easy to keep our vision focused outward – and spend all our energy there.   But ultimately, the internal world gives us more return on our investment.   It is there, at the core of our being that we abide—ageless, limitless, and eternally vital.  If this is to be an experience rather than an act of faith, we must turn our attention inward and meet ourselves there at the center of all that is. That is the purpose of life and the gift of meditation.