Foundations · Reading
Dhyana
The seventh limb: meditation, an unbroken flow of attention.
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 describes dhyana as the continuous flow of awareness toward the object held in dharana. The commentaries compare it to oil poured in an unbroken stream.
Dhyana is not something one does so much as what concentration becomes when it no longer needs effort. The English word meditation is usually used for all three inner limbs; dhyana is the middle one.
Further reading
- Yoga Sutras 3.2
Ideas behind it
Sources and tradition
- YOG Union App Content Map, 2 November 2026, pp. 2–3
- Patanjali, Yoga Sutras, 3.2