The word “dhyana” itself translates into “meditation” as well as “conscious thought”. Dhyana Yoga forms one of the 8 limbs of a core yogic practice. It is often marked as the 7th limb of a formal yogic practice and other forms of yoga including “Kundalini Yoga” have spurned from it.
What does a dhyana yoga practice encompass?
Dhyana yoga is practiced after the physical portion of the practice has been completed. Usually, a dhyana yoga session starts off with a Surya or Chandra Namaskar routine followed by basic asanas to loosen up the body and a short pranayama routine to open up the nasal passages.
Dhyana yoga is practiced when the body is calm and in a proper asana that facilitates meditation. The Lotus pose and the Corpse pose are generally recommended for it. The next step in the practice is breath control and the chanting of the word “Om”.
Aims of practicing dhyana yoga
The popular conception of dhyana yoga is that it simply focuses on meditation. However, that simply isn’t true. In fact, many different forms of dhyana yoga exist each of which are aimed at delivering different kinds of mental/spiritual benefits to the practitioner. Some of the key benefits of practicing this form of yoga include:
1. Communion with god
2. Clearing the mind of everyday problems
3. Development of concentration
4. Cleansing the conscious and subconscious mind
5. Focusing on and finding solutions for particular problems
6. Sensory withdrawal
Benefits of Dhyana Yoga
Dhyana yoga is basically the meditative aspect of yogic practice. Since yoga was developed to rid a person’s body as well as their mind of various ailments, this limb of the practice allowed a person to learn how to meditate and in an advanced stage, how to access their deeper spiritual self.
Dhyana Yoga provides the core spiritual benefits of yoga
Dhyana yoga, for an advanced practitioner, helps a practitioner attain a higher level of consciousness. Whether this is through the activation of their spiritual core or just through the simple act of ridding their mind of everyday problems and minor annoyances that may be disturbing them, dhyana yoga can help amplify the benefits of a yogic practice by much.
