Foundations · Reading
Dharana
The sixth limb: holding the mind to one place.
Awaiting subject reviewWritten from our source material and not yet checked by a teacher of this practice. Read it as reference, and learn the practice from someone who teaches it.
Philosophy
Patanjali defines dharana as binding the mind to a single place. The object might be the breath, a point in the body, a sound or an image.
In dharana, the mind keeps wandering and is brought back. That effort of returning is the practice. Trataka and Chidakasha are both forms of dharana.
Further reading
- Yoga Sutras 3.1
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3
- Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 3.1