Kundalini Yoga Glossary
Dhyana
Meditation: an uninterrupted flow of awareness at the chosen point of concentration.
Meaning
What Dhyana Means
Patanjali's Yoga Sutra III.2 describes meditation as the seamless flow of knowledge at the chosen point of concentration. When focus on an object is sustained long enough, concentration becomes meditation, and understanding of that object becomes direct and instant.
The path from mental dispersion to concentration is gradual, but the shift from concentration into meditation happens quickly: almost instantly, the practitioner finds themselves far from ordinary mental activity. Meditation, in this sense, is the relationship between the inner and outer world, often expressed as a burst of inspiration or intuition.
In Practice
How It’s Used
In Kundalini Yoga, Dhyana describes a deep merger into the object of concentration, one that causes a continuous, uninterrupted flow of thought waves the meditator no longer reacts to. The thoughts are still there, and still noticed, but they no longer pull attention away.
Along with Pratyahara, Dharana and Samadhi, Dhyana is one of the practices used to develop the neutral mind, the part of the mind able to witness experience without needing to control or resist it.
