Reading Reflection Week Six

Reading Reflection Week Six

Yoga Sutras III.1-3

I like the distinguishing between concentration and meditation. I originally thought that meditation and concentration were synonymous but the initial sutras of chapter three demonstrated how they are different. The sutras explained that the concentration is keeping you mind in one position, preventing it from wandering. I almost imagine this is placing your mind on a line and keeping it there. After you have your mind set on the line, the next step is meditation. Meditation is focusing on a point and one image. The way I thought about it was that at the end of the line, there is an image that you are looking at. After the steps of concentration and meditation are attempted, the yoga limb of samadhi is within reach. Samadhi is where you become unaware of yourself.

These first three sutras (and last three limbs of yoga) have really helped me in figuring out how to do meditation (in the general, reflective sense of the word, not the strict yoga definition). The sutras are a three step process of achieving lack of consciousness of self. Before reading these sutras, I would just close my eyes and hope that I would be able to focus enough to venture somewhere in my mind. It’s nice to have this direction on how to meditate. It is almost similar to directions on how to do poses, except this time you are “posing” in your mind. Thinking of it this way, I can see how the limbs of yoga are all related.