The mind can feel like it’s running a race. Yoga helps us quiet our mind to go from racing, to pacing, to peace. This is a place of total absorption known as “flow state.”
Regularly entering the “flow state” makes us happier, more relaxed human beings.
How we do that is as follows:
1. Pause, take a few conscious breaths and turn away from any distractions (pratyahara)
2. Concentrate on what you are doing while being fully present in the moment. Remember to practice without any expectations for any results. (dharana)
3. Let your ego fall away (dhyana) while you move deliberately and mindfully.
3. Make it into a meditative practice. (dhyana)
Pratyahara:
The withdrawal of the senses. Let go of distractions, turn away from the external and move inward.
Dharana:
Pratyahara prepares us for Dharana. We learn to slow down the mind through concentrating on one single activity. Concentrating for longer and longer periods will eventually, naturally lead towards a meditative state of mind.
Dhyana:
This meditative state is an uninterrupted flow of concentration that turns into a state of awareness of and absorption in the present moment as it is. At this stage you lose awareness of time and become one with what it is you are doing. You have now arrived in the ‘flow state’.
