YOGA + MOVEMENT
RECLAIM YOUR ATTENTION BY MATTHEW TIFT (HE/HIM)
W
e live in a world where human attention is a high-value commodity. Innumerable notifications, dings, and vibrations compete for our attention. Our ability to stay focused has decreased. Humans now have a shorter attention span than goldfish. Our problems are not especially new. For a long time, people struggled with attention. Fortunately, a significant body of research confirms what yogis knew for thousands of years: yoga improves concentration. Patanjali famously states the purpose of yoga is to still the changing
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states of the mind (yogas chitta vritti nirodha). His Yoga Sutras offer practical advice for your spiritual journey, and a necessary aspect of the journey includes reclaiming your attention.
1 Awareness of physical objects (vitarka)
2 Reflection on the subtle aspects of the objects (vichara)
3 Bliss (ananda) 4 Absorption with the sense of individuality (asmita)
For instance, with a mantra as your object of focus, the four stages of experience could be:
1 You hear the sounds of the mantra 2 You reflect on the subtleties of the sounds after repeating the mantra
Four Pillars
3 You feel a deep sense of joy or bliss 4 You move from feeling “I am
In yoga communities, one of the most popular methods involves calming the mind to focus on a “meditation object,” such as the breath, a candle flame, or a mantra. These meditation objects support the early stages of the journey. In his system of yoga, often described as “classical yoga,” Patanjali describes four mental states we might experience along the path:
Getting beyond the first or second stage can pose a significant challenge. However, for some people those feelings of deep bliss provide motivation to keep doing yoga. Patanjali’s advice works not just in yoga classes but also outside the studio. We won’t get far along the path if we bliss out during yoga class then act in a
blissful” to a state of “I am”
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