Since youth, I built the habit of Day Dreaming and I loved it. It wasn’t a productive habit, though.
With my focus, you could’ve diagnosed me with ADHD.
Daydreaming had its Positives, though. It allowed my brain to improve at visualization and law of attraction.
The Negatives were difficulty to focus.
It was difficult to keep my mind in the Present Moment or Task without it wandering.
For people who want to grow in life, this is a major obstacle in our path.
Now, one of my goals for Self Mastery is to master Concentration.
In this post, I will speak about my personal experience in my journey to concentration mastery with a yogic point of view.
Gaining more experience, knowledge, and Cultivating Awareness led to the practice of the 6th Limb of Yoga: Dharana.
Dharana & Higher Consciousness
The 8 Limbs of Yoga teaches 8 steps for any human being to master the body, mind and spirit. It’s Goal: reach highest state of consciousness (God) or Samadhi.
I mention the 8 Limbs of Yoga because Dharana is a pillar that supports and strengthens 7 limbs which allows the Practitioner to have complete control of the body.
Example: controlling the Autonomic Nervous System, Laser Sharp Focus or rising Kundalini at will.
Dharana means Concentration; focusing on one point.
Yogic science says: concentrating on one point of thought or action for a period of time allows the body to enter a Deeper level of consciousness and awareness.
Concentration sends signals to the body that changes frequencies and brainwaves at different levels or layers.
These frequencies signals the brain to enter states like Relaxation, Meditation, Samadhi, Flow State, and “6th Sense.”
A deep Meditative State requires the Practitioner to remain still for a period of time but, only if relaxation, Meditation, and Samadhi is your goal.
Another meditative layer is reached in tasks that require movement and attention.
Musicians, writers, athletes, artist, and many more creatives concentrating on their crafts get into this state of mind without even realizing it. For now, lets call this state of mind: The flow state
This posts purpose is to help you understand and build concentration so that you can enter the Flow State.
Next section Will explain my experience with concentration and exercise.
Concentration: the key to enter Meditative States
Dharana is the limb that needs to be completed before anyone can get into Transcendental Meditation or flow.
One way I began practicing concentration is to run without music to instead focus my mind on my breath and mindfully run.
I discovered that the more I concentrated during my runs, my mind would focus and enter what it seems to me like a “Flow State” of mind.
My body began to move with less exhaustion and mind became clear of thoughts.
Even my vision became crisp with a natural high.
It even felt like my running pace was improving in a fluid manner; effortlessly.
These experiences got me thinking back to classes I had in Indian Philosophy.
It even got me thinking about David Goggins.
These ideas begun to expand more when I decided to meditate after my runs or workouts.
When it came time for meditation, my one-pointed focus led to a deeper Meditative State within 6-8 minutes of meditation when it usually takes me close to 1 hour to reach that point or not at all.
Combining Concentration with Cultivated Awareness, I realized that I can tap into, what I believe, is a different frequency in the brain. đź§
It’s almost like changing the channel or flipping a switch.
I have a long way before I can reach these Meditative Sates at will but, with practice, anything can be achieved.
I begin to think what would happen if I were to practice concentration consistently for 6 months?
How would my life change?
When it came to Muay Thai, however, reaching a Meditative Mindset is currently challenging because of the different exposures to bodily stress requiring stronger concentration.
Practice Concentration in Your Daily Routine
Practicing concentration can be creative and customized to your lifestyle.
General rule: Focus on one point, Object, idea, image, mantra, etc., and hold that thought for 12 seconds.
Then multiply 12 seconds of concentration by 12 and that equals 1 meditation.
12 meditations equals 1 Samadhi so on and so on.
Don’t be obsessed about counting time, this is just a way to grasp the idea in yoga.
Just challenge yourself to stay focused as long as possible.
If thoughts or outside Disturbances pop up (sound, temperature, weather), acknowledge it and let it pass. Do not give it attention or feed into it. Thoughts are just passing clouds.
Below are Ways that I Practice Concentration:
1. Reading – I try to read daily, keeping my mind focused on the words will build the concentration muscles.
2. Exercise – This knocks three birds with one stone. Athlete’s have a unique advantage to train Concentration, Physical Fitness, and Pranayama simultaneously.
In my opinion, this method is a fast track to override your Central Nervous System and pushing past mental and physical obstacles.
Running and Muay Thai are the two methods I choose to practice concentration.
Observation: during exercise, the more exhausted I became, the easier it was for my mind to wander. When I consistently remind myself to stay focused, my body relaxes and has more energy to push forward like a form of energy transmutation.
Two Points in Observation:
A. Pushing past Exhaustion point
B. Awareness to relax the body at a given moment
These two points leads to what i like to call: Flow state
When I stay focused long enough during Physical exercise, overcoming the mental period where my mind wanders or the mental voice that says give up because you are tired, something happens to my brain.
Simplest way to put it is, feelings mixed with: lightness, focus, positive energy, aura expansion (electro-magnetic field), breath regulation, external and internal awareness.
My brain shifts into another state of mind which is difficult to explain… until I experience it more often, I will teach you in another post.
3. Breathing – If you practice pranayama or breathing exercises regularly, like I do, this is a great way to build Concentration and Body Awareness simultaneously.
4. Mindfulness – Focusing on the present moment, builds Concentration and Awareness.
If you find your mind wandering while driving, walking, sitting, etc., you can remind yourself to stay in the present moment by focusing on:
– The 5 Senses (touch, taste, smell, sound, sight)
– Internal Observations (breathing, muscle tension, feeling, etc.)
– External Observations (the world around you)
Conclusion
I like to see things in layers like how ayurveda sees the 5 doshas
The practices I described in the last section targets multiple layers of concentration
This helps detox and strengthen each layer / aura.
Here is an Example:
Let’s say you trained your concentration muscles but, it only works with certain conditions like a quiet room.
Now let’s say, you are spending a few weeks in New York city where outside disturbances are common.
Concentration becomes tough as outside noises like sirens, honking, and street talk steal your attention.
It becomes harder to concentrate when muscles weren’t trained to add disturbances and stress.
To me, this is considered a different layer in the concentration muscle that needs to be trained.
How deep these layers go, I cannot answer yet.
With practice, I will be able to share my experiences.
I hope this article may have answered some questions you have on your concentration journey. Thank you for reading!
Hey people!!!!!
Good mood and good luck to everyone!!!!!