Traditionally, one of the common threads of the many paths of Yoga is cultivating a focused, inward-focused mind. In fact, if your Yoga practice is not helping your mind to do this over time, it’s important to reassess your practice. There are 3 shlokas or verses from the Bhagavad Gita, a well known Yogic text, that I want to use to help us explore the importance of refining the mind to become more concentrated inward. Even if your goal isn’t enlightenment, a mind that is able to do this, helps improve overall mental wellbeing.

Ekăgrată is the Sanskrit word that means to focus on one-point. The opposite of this is sarvārthatā which means diffused attention, various-directed or discontinuous. Most of our minds are in the latter state – easily distracted, jumping from thought to thought, thoughts rarely quiet. Working towards a single-pointed focused mind takes lots of practice over a significant amount of time.

WELL-RESOLVED MIND VERSUS MANY BRANCHED MIND

“O son of Kuru, in this (Yoga) the well-resolved mind is single and one-pointed; but the purposes of the irresolute mind are many branched and endless.” BG 2.41, Swami Paramananda translation

When my mind is single and one-pointed, it rests in clarity. I’m able to swiftly make decisions and take actions from the point of clarity. My mind is calm, clear and content. In those moments, things just seem to flow.

But as soon as there is a wavering thought that comes up, that single point of focus can be lost. Ever felt that? 

A moment of clarity and then the doubting, second-guessing mind comes up. Or the mind starts to think of something else and the brilliant clarity is lost!  This is why practice is so important. In Yogic texts there are many examples of saints and mystics whose minds are so concentrated from years of practice. These great minds are able to stay relaxed and calm in the chaos of the world. I know I long to have a mind that is able to do this. To me, this is one of the characteristics of ahimsa or non-violence – the first Yama in Patanjali Yoga Sutras. 

When the mind is all over the place, disconnection from ourselves happens. The mind tends to be more externally focused. In that disconnection, it’s easy to fall into more negative, harming behaviors towards ourselves. Connection within shifts things. When connected within, self-awareness, self-compassion, self-understanding are cultivated more easily. These tend to be more loving acts.  

What is your experience with feeling connected or disconnected within and the way you treat yourself?

HOW STRESS CAN BE CREATED

In BG 2.41, the words “purposes of the irresolute mind are many branched and endless” struck me. Our modern culture values ideas and thinking. But here, to the person who is a Yoga practitioner, these actions of the mind are part of the obstacle to a well-resolved mind.

When I watch my mind get carried away with an idea, which gets bigger and bigger, more and more complex – I end up getting attached and stressed out. I remember one time I was doing this to myself and I shared how stressed out I was feeling with my partner. He looked at me and asked, “Does all of that have to happen now? Does it have to happen at all?”  

These questions stopped my mind in its tracks. I started laughing and stated, “No. Not at all.” As soon as I saw this wider reality –  that all of these so-called ‘important purposes’ were just a creation of thinking and not based in reality –  was able to let it go. And the stressed state my mind was in dissipated. 

My mind went from being like the Tasmanian Devil to being relaxed like a gently swaying hammock. The difference was getting wrapped up in a future story versus being fully present to the now. So we can infer that a single-pointed mind is operating in the present to what is happening now. One that is scattered is bouncing around in the future and past.

INNER CONTROL

“Being seated there, making the mind one-pointed and subduing the activities of mind and senses, let her practice Yoga for self-purification.” BG 6.12, Swami Paramananda translation

This shloka addresses the practice of meditation: to focus the mind on one-point and letting go of the wandering of the mind and senses. This is Yogic meditation. It’s different from reflection, which sometimes is called meditation. Reflection is an active process of the mind, so not the practice of meditation in Yoga. It is done to purify the mind of its limitations and mistaken identity to gain understanding of True Self.

It’s like cleaning a dirty mirror, the more pure the mind is, the more clear the reflection of True Self becomes. 

There is no way to understand yourself and get to know yourself more if the mind is darting around to the future and past mindlessly. We must take time in the day to practice quieting the mind by focusing on one point. Being quiet with yourself allows the mind to be present and become aware of self, instead of distracted by the external world.

This can be done during an intentional, stand alone practice or brought into daily life. 

3 PRACTICES

Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, taking action with the mind being some other place, and letting emotional reactions run the show, practicing a single-minded focus can change everything. Here are some ways to cultivate single-minded focus in your daily life:

• Do one thing at a time with your mind present to that action.  There is an abundance of research now that shows no one performs better when multi-tasking. Instead, doing one task at a time and completing it before doing another task, ends up saving time and creating less work.

 

• When you notice your mind wandering, pause and breathe. Just like in a meditation practice, in daily life, we can keep bringing the mind back to the point of focus. By pausing and breathing, the mind comes back to the present moment. It helps the mind to let go of the distracting thought. Then it can refocus on the intended point of focus.

• Slow down. Rushing rarely, if ever, helps. Instead, it can create more issues in the long run. There’s a saying, “Go slow to go fast.” This means slow down, be present, and do tasks well the first time. When we rush, we make more mistakes and end up taking longer to complete the multiple tasks we are trying to do at once. 

These 3 practices help to unlearn the limiting patterns of a disconnected, multi-branched mind to stay more focused. 

BEST FRIEND OR ENEMY?

“Let a person raise themselves by their Self, let them never lower themselves; for they alone are the friend of themselves and they alone are the enemy of themselves.” BG 6.6,  Swami Paramananda translation

In order to have a single-focused mind, we have to accept our part, our responsibility in this task. The mind itself is quite comfortable in its current state. It likes to be the one in power so it’s not going to give it up easily.

We alone are responsible for the up and down reactions of our mind. Yes, horrible things happen. Yes, wonderful things happen. But how we meet the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is within our control if we practice self-awareness. 

Just recently I had requested a change in action from my partner that was important to me. When the opposite happened a day or two later, I had a HUGE negative emotional reaction happen. I was pissed off! I allowed myself some time to express how disappointed and hurt I felt to myself. He wasn’t home, so I just let what needed to come out happen while I observed it, gave myself some compassion, and got curious about some actions I wanted to impulsively take. 

That curiosity allowed me to reflect on how I wanted to proceed. What was going to make things worse (be an enemy to myself) and what was going to allow me to move through the situation (be a friend to myself)? Even though my reaction was toward an action my partner had taken, I got my mind to a point where I could connect with choices in how I wanted to respond. Taking responsibility for my part, allowed me to have power and control. If I had stayed stuck in the reaction, the opposite would have happened.

What are recent situations where you were a friend to yourself and were an enemy to yourself?

SINGLE-POINTED FOCUS TAKES PRACTICE

“Doubtless , O mighty-armed, the mind is restless and difficult to control; but, O son of Kunti, through practice and dispassion (renunciation) it can be conquered. BG 6. 35,  Swami Paramananda translation

This is one of my favorite shlokas in the BG because it is an important reminder! 

Yes, concentrating and focusing the mind is challenging to do. The mind’s habit is to think and we’ve reinforced this over and over in modern times. We’ve all received much praise for cultivating a future and past thinking mind. And also been scolded for having a relaxed mind. Trying to do it differently can feel like going against everything you’ve been taught.

But even though it’s challenging, it doesn’t mean to not put in the effort. 

Accept that it will take time and practice, let go of the desire of having a quiet, calm mind quickly, and start a practice that resonates with you. And keep going. 

Surround yourself with others working on the same task to help with motivation and relapses. 

Commit to a practice for a period of time and then reflect – what do you notice? If there’s positive change, keep doing the practice. If not, make some tweaks and practice again.

Where are you already practicing single-minded focus in your daily life?

What area would you like to implement a strategy to increase practicing single-minded focus in your daily life?

Shanti.