Focus Is Tethering the Mind to One Place

📝Reflection

Dhāraṇā, from dhṛ "to hold, to bear," means "holding, gathering." Deśa-bandha is "tethering to a place." It is the sixth of the eight limbs, the beginning of concentration. Patañjali's definition is gentle — not a forced nailing-down but placing the mind in one spot as a cow is loosely tied to a post. What is interesting is that it is a "tethering." The mind by nature bolts; set in one place, it soon wanders off. Dhāraṇā is the practice of bringing it back, each time, without self-blame. Focus is not a talent for grasping in one go but the patience to tether the wandered mind again and again.