Cultivating Concentration (to Support Meditation)

[Sat1176]

 

Cultivating Concentration (to Support Meditation)

If you think that the goal of meditation is to make the mind blank, you have created an insurmountable obstacle to developing a rich, nourishing meditation practice. As Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isherwood observe in How to Know God, if making the mind blank were desirable, this condition could be “easily achieved by asking a friend to hit you over the head with a hammer.” It is not the mind’s nature to be blank, and trying to force it into that state is both futile and harmful. A meditative mind is a concentrated mind—a mind that is not blank; it is one which has become stilled by holding an unbroken, one-pointed focus on a single object for an extended period of time. In short, meditation is sustained concentration. (i.e. concentration on WaheGuru Gurmantar)

Concentration (dharana), meditation (dhyana), and spiritual absorption (samadhi) are interwoven. At the beginning of the third chapter, the Yoga Sutra explains how one state merges into the next: “Concentration is focusing attention on one object and holding it there. When awareness flows evenly toward the object of concentration, that is meditation. When in meditation the true nature of the object of concentration shines forth, undistorted by the mind of the perceiver, that is samadhi.”

Multiplying Concentration

Experienced practitioners tell us that concentration is 12 seconds of unbroken attention on one thought wave. Sustain this for 144 seconds (12 x 12) and you have reached a state of meditation. If the mind can maintain that state for another multiple of 12 (12 x 144 seconds, or 28 minutes, 48 seconds), it will have entered the first stage of samadhi.

Trying to meditate without training the mind to concentrate is like trying to write a novel before learning to read—it can’t be done. Until the mind is trained to concentrate, it will never flow into a meditative state. Yet we may avoid training the mind to be one-pointed because we’re accustomed to thinking of concentration as a mental effort, like the effort required to analyze a calculus problem. Concentration seems tension-inducing somehow, and not particularly “spiritual.” But the sustained inward focus that is a prelude to meditation is neither stressful nor unpleasant—it is relaxed, focused awareness, a state of mind that is soothing and calming, once you get the knack of it.

Making a Start

If you doubt this, try the simple breathing practice that follows. It fosters relaxed concentration and is a good way to introduce the mind to the pleasures of one-pointed attention.

Sit comfortably, with the head, neck, and trunk aligned and the body relaxed. Close your eyes and focus on the flow of the breath as it passes through the nostrils. Feel the warm touch of the exhalation and the cool touch of the inhalation. Breathe smoothly and evenly. Pay particular attention to the transition between the exhalation and the inhalation because it is here that the mind has the greatest tendency to wander off.

When your attention has come to rest on the breath, begin to count your inhalations and exhalations from 1 to 5 and 5 back to 1 again in the following pattern: Exhale 1, Inhale 2, Exhale 3, Inhale 4, Exhale 5, Inhale 1, Exhale 2, Inhale 3, Exhale 4, Inhale 5.

Work with this practice over a period of days or weeks—as long as it takes—until you can attend to it for five minutes without getting lost or confused. Notice how relaxed and refreshed you feel. This is the beginning of the one-pointed focus that, with time and practice, merges into meditation.

 

Edited November 23, 2015 by Sat1176

[Sat1176]

Useful tips...

 

I’ve Got One (and Only One) Thing on My Mind

The Power of Concentration

Scattering our attention becomes such a deeply ingrained habit that we hardly know we’re doing it. We barrel down the highway with the tape deck playing, munching on an apple, and carrying on a conversation—and think nothing of it. Yet we’re surprised to find we have trouble keeping the mind focused on one object when we sit for meditation.

Concentration is the prelude to meditation. Unless we cultivate the habit of concentration in other areas of our life, progress in meditation will come slowly or not at all. There’s not much point in sitting in a quiet corner for thirty minutes every morning, trying to make our mind stay in place—focused on the mantra—if we let our mind run amok the rest of the day. It’s like expecting a three-year-old, used to singing and tossing food around at mealtimes, to sit quietly and keep his food on his plate when his parents have guests for dinner. Like a well-behaved child, the mind will calm down and focus at the meditation hour if it has been trained to stay calm and focused at other times.

Simple everyday tasks are a good place to begin. Experiment with focusing on brushing your teeth when you’re brushing your teeth, for example. If you find your mind rehashing an argument with a friend, or jumping ahead to fantasies about the party tomorrow night, gently but firmly bring it back to the task at hand. Focus on the bristles moving against your teeth, the way the toothpaste tastes, how the brush handle contacts your hand.

There are plenty of opportunities to train our concentration in routine tasks—washing the dishes, making the bed, walking up the stairs. Choose several, and each time you find yourself engaged in those particular tasks, form the habit of keeping your mind centered there, taking hold of it as it wanders off and bringing it back to rest here in the present. Buddhists call this mindfulness; yogis call it dharana (concentration). Practice it in more and more areas of your life, and notice its effect on your meditation practice.

The Still Point

“Concentration (dharana) is making the mind stay in one place.”

     —Yoga Sutra 3.1

Countdown to Concentration

Caught in a long line? Instead of feeding your frustration by mentally nudging the line forward, train your concentration by counting backward from 1,000 to 1 as quickly and smoothly as possible. Too easy? Try counting backward in multiples of three.

 

[sukrit kaur]

From few months back,I had been suffering some problems with my eyes .I can't see straight any more.I mean I lose my concentration while focusing somewhere.Like when I'm focusing on notebook ,on board or at any where then suddenly focus shifts to another place.The focus gets concentrated somewhere else.I thought It's due to my cylinderical no. Of spectacles as I've started seeing at an angle not straight.I visited eye specialist he said nothing is wrong with my eyes and now He has asked for MRI of brain.

I'm confused as if it has to do anything with meditation??

[mahanpaapi]

no, see what specialists have to say, and but do keep simaran on as much as possible, with many many blessings.

[Guest Guest]

On 29 December 2015 at 7:44 PM, sukrit kaur said:

From few months back,I had been suffering some problems with my eyes .I can't see straight any more.I mean I lose my concentration while focusing somewhere.Like when I'm focusing on notebook ,on board or at any where then suddenly focus shifts to another place.The focus gets concentrated somewhere else.I thought It's due to my cylinderical no. Of spectacles as I've started seeing at an angle not straight.I visited eye specialist he said nothing is wrong with my eyes and now He has asked for MRI of brain.

I'm confused as if it has to do anything with meditation??

What kind of meditation do you do?

[sukrit kaur]

On 1/26/2016 at 4:26 AM, Guest Guest said:

What kind of meditation do you do?

Actually I'm too suspicious whether it can be called as meditation or not! I just try to imagine what can it be!what can be its essence! What's the reality!! 

I dunno anything!!!

I dunno what is meditation!

Nothing!

[Guest guest]

Sukrit Kaur

the reason I asked was that I thought you may have been performing tratak (concentrating your vision on an object), which i dont think someone should do without a teacher.

the eyesight problem you describe, i don't think its anything to do with meditation, because i have experience similar things in the past and also remember reading about it somewhere.  you already wear glasses right?  i think i read about it when i was looking at something called the Bates Method, which is a series of excercises developed by an Optometrist and claims to restore vision in myopic people (but i didnt actually try the method and don't recommend it).  its basically eyes relaxing when you not tensing them or something like that. also maybe you are tired. 

[Guest guest]

On 06/02/2016 at 1:21 PM, sukrit kaur said:

Actually I'm too suspicious whether it can be called as meditation or not! I just try to imagine what can it be!what can be its essence! What's the reality!! 

I dunno anything!!!

I dunno what is meditation!

Nothing!

thats fine, its called 'vichaar karna', (contemplation)

[paapiman]

On 2/10/2016 at 7:04 PM, Guest guest said:

the reason I asked was that I thought you may have been performing tratak (concentrating your vision on an object), which i dont think someone should do without a teacher.

Guest jee - Are there any side effects of doing Tratak? 

Thanks

 

Bhul chuk maaf

[Guest guest]

Hi Papiman

I don't actually know.  But it is one of the Hatha Yoga 'shat karmas', and I have read that people who did these without a proper teacher fell ill.

[ibrute]

On February 15, 2016 at 3:19 AM, paapiman said:

Guest jee - Are there any side effects of doing Tratak? 

Thanks

 

Bhul chuk maaf

 

Trataka is completely harmless, it is cleansing Hatha yoga technique, but if you are planning to do trataka on Sun, better look for a trained teacher. 

[paapiman]

5 hours ago, ibrute said:

 

Trataka is completely harmless, it is cleansing Hatha yoga technique, but if you are planning to do trataka on Sun, better look for a trained teacher. 

 

14 hours ago, Guest guest said:

Hi Papiman

I don't actually know.  But it is one of the Hatha Yoga 'shat karmas', and I have read that people who did these without a proper teacher fell ill.

Thanks for your inputs.

 

Bhul chuk maaf

[Sat1176]

Q&A: How to Train Your Mind to Support a Meditation Practice

I have been trying to meditate for six months without success. I can only focus on the mantra for a few moments before I start daydreaming, making plans, or attempting to solve a problem. How can I turn my mind inward?
Meditation is possible only when the mind is one-pointed, organized, calm, and tranquil. A fragmented mind cannot be turned inward, and so the first step is to collect the fragments by training the mind to concentrate. This is tricky in the beginning because concentrating a scattered mind is like collecting droplets of mercury—they slip away when you try to pick them up. Similarly when you try to collect and concentrate your scattered mind it slips away and you cannot get a good grip on all those hundreds of pieces.

A mind that is in the habit of running from one object to another cannot concentrate on one object for a prolonged period, and if you attempt to force it, it will make excuses and play tricks. While you are concentrating on one object—your breath, for example—another object flashes before your mind and the mind runs after it. When you notice that the mind is no longer trained on the breath, you bring it back, but before long it is distracted again. You bring it back, it runs off again. Eventually you give up in frustration.

That is why in the beginning it is not advisable to force your mind to focus on one object for a long time. A gradual approach is required. Asking a mind that is used to thinking of 30 things in 10 minutes to think of only one thing for 10 minutes is asking too much. Compromise by creating a situation in which you are neither forcing your mind to focus on one object for a long period of time nor letting it run constantly from one object to another. Provide the mind with a series of objects; focus it on one for a short time, then allow it to move to the next object in the series before it becomes rebellious.

Training the mind to travel from one point to another point according to your plan is the basis of all systematic relaxation exercises. This technique provides an environment where the mind can slow down as it moves from one point to the next in your body, so instead of suffocating the undisciplined, scattered mind, you are training it. It can still move from one place to another but instead of jumping from Florida to Las Vegas, from a phone conversation to what you are planning for supper, you are allowing it to travel from your forehead to your eyebrows, moving systematically through the body to the fingertips and toes and back to the forehead. In the 10 minutes it takes for the mind to move from point to point through the body it becomes concentrated. And this way a systematic and gentle mental training has begun.

If slowing down the movement of the mind is the goal, then why not simply ask the mind to attend to a series of thoughts at a slow pace? Is there a specific reason for confining the mind to the body and asking it to travel from one point to the next?
The relationship between the mind and the body is like the relationship between master and servant: mind is master and body is servant. When the servant sees that the master is dull and careless, the servant becomes careless too, and the body does not receive any guidance or motivation from a careless and scattered master. But when the servant knows that the master is attentive and vigilant, the servant becomes alert and active. For example, all the activities of the body are dependent on decisions made by the mind. The organs and bodily systems of an absent-minded person or a person with a disturbed and distracted mind are sluggish. But when the body notices that the mind is making its rounds, checking all departments—the brain, nervous system, circulatory system, respiratory system, etc.—it becomes alert and active.

This is because the mind is a flow of energy. When it is moving from one place to another throughout the nervous system and the energy channels, it automatically notes toxins and impurities that impede its flow, and the bodily systems involved in the cleansing process usually rush to begin removing them. Thus in the course of this self-guided journey of the mind from one point to another, the energy channels are unblocked, impurities are removed, and a deeper level of cleansing begins.

What is more, after practicing systematic relaxation over a period of time, the mind gradually begins to sense that turning inward leads to a delightful sense of ease and stillness. Searching for happiness, it has been running in the external world, often finding only disappointment and frustration. But once it turns inward and slows down it encounters the centers of peace and tranquility within—for example, at the heart or the eyebrow center. This encounter leads it to wonder why it is wasting time running here and there in the external world when the best joy is within. And this dawning awareness causes the mind to become less interested in running after the objects of the world, which in turn allows the mind to go back to that restful place voluntarily, without repressing a desire for worldly objects. The delight that it finds inside overshadows the charms and temptations of the external world. The natural and almost effortless process of meditation begins at this point.

I have been using relaxation techniques with some success to train my mind to turn inward and confine its movement to the space occupied by my body. Yet it still pulls my attention here and there. What should I do now?
The first step of meditation is relaxation. In the scriptures the process of relaxation is called pratyahara (the withdrawal of the mind and senses). The next step is to focus the mind on one object for a longer period of time. This is called dharana (concentration). The best way to begin practicing concentration is to focus the mind on the breath. Observe it as it flows between the nostrils and the heart center. With inhalation the mind is traveling to the heart center and with the exhalation it is traveling from the heart center to the tip of the nostrils. Eliminate the pause between inhalation and exhalation and feel as though your breath is an uninterrupted stream of energy traveling between the nostrils and the heart region. Then focus on the touch of cool air at the bridge between the nostrils when you inhale and the touch of warm air as you exhale. This will confine your mind to the bridge of the nostrils rather than the space between the nostrils and the heart area, and your concentration will become more condensed, potent, and refined.

Soon, however, you will notice that the mind is refusing to watch the flow of the breath at the bridge between the nostrils. Its tendency is to move outward, and it will try to slip away again. To manage this, move to the next level of concentration by providing an object of concentration, more concrete and profound than simple breath awareness. It is at this stage that the yogis introduce meditation on the sound so-hum. While inhaling, mentally listen to the sound “sooooooo,” and while exhaling, listen to the sound “hummmm.” (or using the Gurmantar Waaaahe-Guuuuuruuuu) Synchronize the sound so-hum with the inhalation and the exhalation and let your mind be so absorbed that the sound, the breath, and the mind become an inseparable stream of awareness. This will bring a higher level of joy and restfulness to the mind, enabling it to drop all other objects effortlessly.

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/qa-how-to-train-your-mind-to-support-a-meditation-practice

[Lucky]

On ‎2‎/‎17‎/‎2016 at 0:41 AM, ibrute said:

 

Trataka is completely harmless, it is cleansing Hatha yoga technique, but if you are planning to do trataka on Sun, better look for a trained teacher. 

yes it's harmless but doing trataka on the sun can also be done with your eyes closed or just a slight squint. 

I enjoy nothing more on hot summer evenings than to sun-gaze for about 20 minutes.  It has a multitude of benefits including absorption of sun energy, cleansing and pineal stimulation.

As for GG mentioning the eye exercises and vision improvement as per bates method....of course it works!!..  ..I personally know a few people who have simply practiced vision exercises and got rid of their prescription glasses...I have had my own daughter do it!  ......The eyes work with muscles, and these muscles just like anywhere else in the body can be trained and maintained....Bates and some other scientists got fobbed off because they claimed glasses caused more damage.   With regards to that, I would agree because you ar just making an already weaker muscle even more lazy by using corrective lens which is why vision will always continue declining.