Does your mind whirl and twirl all over the place? Do you often feel overwhelmed with your thoughts and unable to still your monkey mind? Do you want to learn how to clear and master your mind by using tried and tested yogic techniques and principles? Read on!
“Who am I before the mind?”
The great sage Patanjali defines yoga in his/her yoga sutras as yogash chitta vritti nirodhah. Let’s break that down:
- yoga – of yoga, union; literally, to yoke, from the root yuj, which means to join; same as the absorption in samadhi
- chitta – of the consciousness of the mind-field
- vritti – operations, activities, fluctuations, modifications, changes, or various forms of the mind-field
- nirodhah – control, regulation, channeling, mastery, integration, coordination, understanding, stilling, quieting, setting aside of
Putting this all together, we can translate the Sanskrit to mean something like ‘yoga is stillness of the mind.’
“Yoga is an inside job”
Patanjali goes further in his/her sutras, exploring the five fluctuations of the mind in sutra 1.6. It is said that all thoughts can be categorised into one of five areas, pramana viparyaya vikalpa nidra or smritayah. We can translate these from Sanskrit as the following:
- pramana – real or valid cognition, right knowledge, valid proof, seeing clearly
- viparyaya – unreal cognition, indiscrimination, perverse cognition, wrong knowledge, misconception, incorrect knowing, not seeing clearly
- vikalpah – imagination, verbal misconception or delusion, fantasy, hallucination
- nidra – deep sleep
- smritayah – memory, remembering
Patanjali tells us that by witnessing and starting to distinguish between our thought types, we are taking the first step towards mastering our thoughts.
“All problems originate in the mind”
There are a number of practices we can use as tools to further master our minds, including asana, pranayama, dharana and dhyana.
Asana
Asana is third limb on Patanjali’s eight-limbed path of yoga and is the physical postures most people associate with yoga. We practice asana when we come to a studio to move our bodies or we roll out our mat at home.
When we practice asana there are three qualities which are important to embody so we are able to quieten the mind:
- sthira – steady, stable, motionless
- sukham – comfortable, ease filled
- asanam – meditation posture (from the root ~as, which means “to sit”)
For those that find sitting in the stillness of meditation overwhelming and even scary, beginning with asana can be helpful as your focus will be one-pointed – focusing on the physical postures rather than your thoughts. We must be careful not to let asana be a distraction though, rather a point of focus.
Pranayama and Dharana Practices
Pranayama is the fourth limb on Patanjali’s eight-limbed path of yoga and is made up of two Sanskrit words:
- prana – life force
- yama – harnessing
Although we use the breath in particular during our pranayama practices, the breath is not our actual prana or life force, it is simply something the prana rides upon. Prana is so much more than simply our breath!
Dharana is the sixth limb on Patanjali’s eight-limbed path of yoga and translates to ‘concentration’.
We can use both pranayama and dharana practices to still the mind, some suggestions for you:
- Nadi Shodana – alternate nostril breathing
- Kriya Pranayama – initialises our chakras
- Kundalini Pranayama – stokes kundalini energy usually dormant at the base of the spine
- Trataka – a form of meditation focusing on a single point (sometimes a candle flame)
Dhyana
“Meditation is not just for enlightenment anymore”
Dhyana is the seventh limb on Patanjali’s eight-limbed path of yoga and translates to ‘meditation’. It is said we must first master dharana (concentration) before moving onto dhyana.
Dhyana is when we have merged with the point of concentration for an extended period of time (it makes sense that we first practice dharana doesn’t it?).
When we practice meditation we are ‘taking out the trash’, clearing out the dusty corners that might not get much attention. We clean our houses, cars, even our bodies, so why wouldn’t we clean our minds?
This post is the second in a three part series based on talks I delivered at my studio Essence of Living. You can read the first post – The Art of Awareness – here.