First, what is concentration? Concentration is an ability to release one’s thoughts and emotions from all other interests and involvements, focusing them on a single object or state of awareness.
A concentrated mind often attracts opportunities for success that, to less focused individuals, appear to come by sheer luck. It awakens our powers and channels them, dissolving obstacles in our path, attracting opportunities, insights, and inspirations. In many ways concentration is the single most important key to success.
This is particularly true in yoga practice. The mind, in meditation especially, must be so perfectly still that not a ripple of thought enters it. God, or Spirit, the Subtlest Reality, cannot be perceived except in utter silence. Much of the teaching of yoga, therefore, centers on techniques designed specially for developing concentration. Here are a few tips for improving your concentration in meditation:
- Concentrate without physical tension. Many new meditators, in an effort to concentrate more deeply, tense the muscles in their body. Deep concentration, however, is possible only in a state of relaxation.
- Sit longer. Your restlessness will subside the longer you sit in meditation. Even a glass of muddy water becomes clear in time, if the water is allowed to sit undisturbed.
- Consciously withdraw the energy from the body. Practice the Hong-Sau Meditation Technique, which may well be the best meditation for focus and concentration. Hong Sau is one of the most sacred techniques of yoga because of its ability to interiorize and focus the mind.
- Do one thing at a time. Practicing concentration in daily life will help you concentrate better during meditation.
- Concentrate with interest. When you really want something, it is difficult not to think about it! Concentrate with interest on whatever you do, and you will find yourself absorbed in it.
- Pray for concentration. Sincerity means having the support of one’s whole being. Pray for sincerity of effort in your meditation practice! If you are uncomfortable with praying to God, try praying to your highest potential.
- Practice makes perfect. Concentration is like a muscle — the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes.
- Temporary amnesia. Try to banish from your mind all memories and plans for the future. If restless thoughts try insistently to engage your attention, reassure them, “We’ll discuss these things later!”
For Meditation Concentration
Three things need to be taken care of to improve meditation concentration:
1) Body, 2) Mind, 3) Soul
An unwell body is a great enemy of stillness, which is needed for perfect concentration. Physical discomfort or habitual fidgeting does not support concentration in anything one does. Maintaining good health with a nutritious diet and exercise is helpful.
Paramhansa Yogananda said that one who is completely engrossed (concentrated) in watching a climax of his favorite movie is like a yogi! Mind has a quality of hanging onto anything which it loves. So one should make love with his meditation practice. Concentration and stillness go hand in hand. Train your mind to live in the present, here and now!
Again, Yogananda taught that the soul loves meditation, though ego doesn’t. Once the mind starts experiencing the bliss of meditation, naturally it starts diving farther with deep concentration. This alternating chain of bliss experience and deep concentration then continues through eternity!
Visualization for Concentration
You can practice this visualization at the beginning of your meditation practice to help you concentrate.
Imagine a flowing brook. Let its crystal waters sweep away your remaining restless thoughts. If any stray impression enters your mind, toss it lightly into the flowing waters, and watch it dance swiftly away.
As your mind becomes still, practice calming the senses also, one by one:
Concentrate on the sense of sight. Imagine a mist descending over your outward vision, releasing your attention for contemplation of the divine light within. Remember, it is because of people’s attachment to the sights of this world that they fail to behold the heavenly scenes within.
Next, concentrate on the sense of hearing. Withdraw yourself from the thought of earthly sounds. Feel those sounds merging into the rushing water of the brook, dissolving themselves in its steady murmur.
Gradually let your concentration shift to the sounds you hear in your inner ear — preferably, so yogis say, in the right ear. Imagine the voice of infinity speaking to you through the inner sounds.
Next, concentrate on the sense of touch. Feel that the surface of your body is not your skin, but an aura of light surrounding your body. Expand this aura. Feel as if, with every outgoing breath, you were gently inflating a shining balloon of radiant light.
Now, reach out in all directions around you with finger-rays of light. Touch, feel, and explore the greater reality of the Spirit around you. Try to sense behind everything the subtle presence of divine consciousness.
Finally, concentrate on the senses of taste and smell. Feel as though you were drinking great draughts of peace and happiness from a crystal chalice at a fountain of eternity.
Offer up the energy of your senses to your higher Self. Ask your higher Self to fill you with it’s bliss.
The deeper you go in meditation, the more your energy will withdraw naturally from the outer world of the senses. It will awaken you to the infinitely more wonderful world of the Spirit within.
When you find your mind becoming freed of restless thoughts, mentally build a dam across the brook that you first visualized. Watch the waters slowly rising, until they become a large lake.
Gaze calmly into the mirror surface of this lake. See reflected in its water the blue sky. Expand your consciousness into the overarching heavens. Feel, in infinite space beyond our earth’s atmosphere, the vast calmness of Spirit.
Stilling the senses is one of the best ways to rise above body consciousness. Stilling the mind and the emotions is the way to enter the kingdom of Spirit.
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Learn moreFAQ
Does meditation improve concentration?
Deep concentration is possible only in a state of relaxation. Where tension exists, whether physically or mentally, there is a separate commitment of energy, like the stray strand of thread that refuses to enter the eye of the needle. If, for example, your brow is furrowed in worry, or if your jaw or hands are clenched, these are signs that this much energy, at least, is not being directed toward your true objective.
That is why the best way to develop high-powered concentration is to practice meditation regularly.
Many people mistakenly believe that meditation amounts to a kind of escape from reality — an avoidance of one’s worldly responsibilities. Actually, meditation is easily the most effective way of enabling you not only to face life’s challenges but to overcome them.
The deep power of concentration that comes through daily meditation enables you to resolve an issue in minutes perhaps, where, otherwise, you might have fretted over it for weeks. Even more important, where your willpower is concerned, the concentration that comes due to regular meditation generates with perfect naturalness the strength of will that is necessary for success in any undertaking.
How can I concentrate while meditating?
Concentrate Without Physical Tension
Many new meditators, in an effort to concentrate more deeply, tense the muscles in their body. Deep concentration, however, is possible only in a state of relaxation
Relax the Body
To improve concentration in meditation, you need to start by relaxing the body. A very effective way to release stored-up bodily tension is to inhale and tense the whole body, and then release the tension as you exhale. Yogananda recommended tensing and relaxing, as well as the Regular Breathing Technique before meditation.
Sit Perfectly Still
Moving your body the slightest amount sends energy, or life-force, into the muscles. Since the purpose of yoga is to draw your energy inward, any physical movement reduces your effort because it draws your energy and awareness into the body. To keep yourself from fidgeting during meditation, try thinking of your body as a rock— solid and unmoving.
