Dhyana

Dhyana is the seventh limb of Ashtanga Yoga and the state of meditation itself. It is the state in which the mind attains concentration without getting distracted — a deep, settled focus that holds steady of its own accord.

Dhyana is unusual among the eight limbs because, strictly speaking, it is not a technique but a state of mind. It is a delicate state of awareness in which the mind has been quieted and, in that stillness, produces few or no thoughts at all. Where Dharana (concentration) requires repeated effort to bring the wandering mind back to its object, in Dhyana that attention has become continuous and effortless — an unbroken flow of awareness towards the object of meditation.

This quiet, one-pointed state is the natural ripening of Dharana: once concentration has been firmly established and no longer needs to be renewed by effort, it becomes meditation. Dhyana in turn is the immediate doorway to the final limb — it is the state that rightfully precedes Samadhi, carrying the steady, absorbed mind towards complete absorption.

How Dhyana differs from Dharana in practice

In Dharana, effort is still needed — the mind must be caught and returned to its object, over and over. In Dhyana, that effort dissolves: attention rests on the object by itself, without needing to be pulled back, because distraction has stopped arising in the first place. A simple test practitioners use is this: if you are still aware of making an effort to concentrate, you are in Dharana; once the effort disappears and only awareness of the object remains, Dhyana has begun.

What a practitioner experiences …