Dharana — Concentration, the Binding of Attention
Dharana (concentration) is the sixth limb — the practice of binding the mind to a single point of focus and maintaining that focus against the mind's tendency to wander.
Sutra 3.1 defines Dharana precisely: 'desha bandhas chittasya dharana' — the binding (bandha) of the mind (chitta) to a place (desha) is concentration (dharana). The 'place' can be external (a candle flame, a divine image, a yantra) or internal (the tip of the nose, the heart center, the eyebrow center, a chakra). The key quality is 'bandha' — binding: the mind is deliberately and repeatedly brought back to the chosen focus every time it wanders. This is not the forcing of concentration but a gentle, persistent returning. When this binding becomes an unbroken flow toward a single object, Dharana matures into Dhyana, the seventh limb (3.2).
The binding of the mind to a single place is concentration.
Neuroscientist Clifford Saron's Shamatha Project — the most comprehensive longitudinal study of intensive meditation retreat yet conducted — documented that sustained Dharana practice produced lasting improvements in sustained attention and response inhibition that persisted seven years after the retreat.
Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Written about in
- What the Yoga Sutras say about a steady mind
Concentration is defined as binding attention to one place. The place can be almost anything; the practice is the returning.