How To increase concentration and focus?
Pratyahara is the 5th step of Ashtanga Yoga and the one I find the most difficult.
Pratyahara involves withdrawing the senses from the outer world and gaining mastery over external influences. Easier said than done. All of us have heard of the ‘monkey’ mind. Trying to meditate is an exercise in humility. It makes us realize how difficult it is for us to control our mind. The mind is like an untrained wild animal and has a mind of its own. It doesn’t exactly like us exerting control over it and would rather go its own way. Hence, the reins need to be tightened little by little.
We claim to be awake and aware, but very few of us are really aware or mindful of our activities throughout the day.
The control is gradually taken inwards from the external world of senses to the mind. If we want our minds to focus during meditation, we need to train our minds during our daily work as well. I don’t claim to have mastered my mind (nowhere close, to be honest), but then I know a little bit of the theory. But knowing all the theories won’t work unless put into practice. So, let’s have a look at some pointers which can help practice control of the senses and build our mental muscles of focus. The single most important way is Prioritization. Life made me realize this lesson in a rude albeit effective way. I did not have time when I was employed. I used to think I will catch up on the pending work when I was on official leaves, which would pass in a jiffy. Then I lost my job. And when I write this, after 3 months of unemployment, I find I am still struggling to find the time. Something else has filled the hours of the day. So, we need to prioritize. We need to decide what are the tasks which need to be done, come hell or high water. Decide on the non-negotiables and prioritize what matters to you.
Learning to say no is a great skill and needs to be developed if you want to save yourself from time and energy vampires, meditation or no meditation.
Be prepared for the consequences though. Don't complain I didn't warn you. Focus on one task at a time. Though neither watching TV nor fiddling with the smartphone is a good way to build focus, doing both together is a sure-shot way to practice distraction. I can rarely get through a recorded lecture without picking up my smartphone several times and playing games. (Vedanta lectures are a bit different because I lose track of comprehension within a couple of minutes of picking up my phone. But I still feel pretty nervous in my stomach if I keep my smartphone outside of the armlength.) If you have got victory over your NoMophobia (No Mobile Phone), you can try to eat quietly, read without music playing in your ears, shower without singing to get better at focusing. Now, home is fine. But what about work? The place where everything is on fire and everyone is a firefighter. If the work is physical in nature, it is not as easy to lose focus. Generally, we can’t keep looking right while the feet go left. Though it is certainly not impossible. We all have kept keys, books, specs ‘somewhere’ only to forget where was that at-hand place, necessitating ransacking the entire house to recover that piece of item. The reason attributed to this forgetfulness is that the mind was elsewhere when the body was involved in the action. Distraction is easier when the work is all mental. I listed out some of the things I do at the office to avoid losing focus. I started those as productivity hacks, but they work well to train the mind to keep at one thing at a time.
How difficult do you find Pratyahara? What is your go-to focus / productivity idea?
Additional Material :
Check out this super super super awesome article on the various aspects of Pratyahara. And what can be done when ‘the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.’ https://yogainternational.com/article/view/pratyahara-yogas-forgotten-limb
Meditation for Beginners. Build concentration. Build resilience. Practice yoga. Start your spiritual journey today.
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