In this article, we will explore the relationship between Patañjali’s Yogasūtras, Haṭhayoga (the technical term for what is called yoga today), the Buddhist concept of mindfulness (which is also known as smṛti in Sanskrit) and the idea of flow from modern psychology. We will summarise concepts that are both common and different to these ideas.
It is important to recognize that the word ‘yoga’ originates from Patañjali’s Aṣṭāṅgayoga. Patañjali does develop concepts like dhāraṇā, dhyana and samādhi which relate to concentration and control of the mind. However, his Yogasūtras do not have any details about āsanas and prāṇāyama. It is the Haṭhayoga that took the brief statements in the Yogasūtras and codified the practices that were used to strengthen the body and the mind, and are now part of āsanas and prāṇāyamas. Mindfulness is related to concentration, but, unlike Yogasūtras, it does not aim to control the mind. It takes a more pragmatic approach to focus the mind. In mindfulness one is aware that the mind is wandering. The meditative practices work on bringing the mind back to the object of the initial focus. These ideas are also referenced in the idea of flow developed, by Csikszentmihalyi, where the aim is to understand the state of the mind of those who perform at a high-level.
Patañjali’s Yogasūtras
(Figure 1: Statue of Patañjali’)
First, we summarise the key points from the Yogasūtras. A full verse-by-verse translation can be found in Sutton’s book1. The Yogasūtras have four main chapters called pādas. The first chapter, the samādhi pāda, is about concentration and it describes why one has to control the wandering mind. The second chapter, the sādhanapāda, describes the practice needed to reach the required control of the mind. The third chapter, the vibhūtipāda, describes the power that results from the practices. The final chapter, the kaivalyapāda, outlines the idea of mokṣa. This chapter has ideas such as Puruṣa from Sāmkhya and Ātman from Vedantic texts. The order in which yoga works in practice is sādhana (i.e., practice that helps one improve slowly), vibhūti (i.e., observe the results of the practice), samādhi (i.e., keep increasing one’s control over one’s mind) and finally kaivalya or obtaining mokṣa. Here we focus only on the first two chapters as the ideas developed there are the ones that overlap with the other three topics of interest.
The aim of yoga is to restrain the mental faculty (called citta) from wandering (called vṛtti). Patañjali calls this “citta vṛtti nirodha”. The word citta is often translated as mind. But Patañjali uses the word citta to include both manas (mind) and buddhi (intellect). It is not just the mind that wanders, the intellect which generates different reactions also wanders. The aim is to still the mind and intellect. This is compared to the requirement that the water in a lake has to be both clear and calm for one to be able to see the bottom of a lake.
The reason the mind is not calm is because we are always dissatisfied with something. This dissatisfaction is called duḥkha by the Buddha. Patañjali develops aṣṭāṅgayoga or the eight limbs of yoga as a means to overcome such dissatisfaction. The eight limbs are yamas, niyamas, āsanas, prāṇāyamas, pratyāhāra, dhāraṇā, dhyana and samādhi. Yamas are restraints such as non-killing, non-stealing, and not-lying. The aim is to avoid doing evil things. Niyamas are actions that purify oneself and help one to be content rather than chase more material pleasure. Niyamas include self-study called svadhyāya, reciting the Vedas and devotion to Īśvara. As part of the purification process, one may have to undertake tapas, which can be translated as austerity in this context, to get rid of one’s “dark” thoughts and actions.
There is only one verse in the Yogasūtras that mentions āsanas. All it says is that one must sit in a comfortable posture. There are no discussions of specific poses etc. Such descriptions are actually part of Haṭhayoga. There are a few verses that mention prāṇāyama, but no details of specific breathing techniques are described. All Patañjali writes is that one has to control one’s breathing, so that it is not directly perceptible. The chapter concludes with a brief description of pratyāhāra, where the senses end their contact with an external object. At the end of this one will have absolute control over one’s senses. Thus the Yogasūtras focus on the ability to control the mind via concentration and do not really talk about body postures and breathing.
Haṭhayoga
(Figure 2: A yogin in meditation, showing the chakras and the three main nāḍīs of the subtle body)
Haṭhayoga, meaning the yoga of force, has its origin in tantra and is only loosely connected to Patanjali’s Yogasūtras23. The term Haṭhayoga itself is relatively recent, perhaps around 9th century CE. Before that, there was no separation of such form of exercise from other practices such as martial arts (e.g., Kalaripayattu from Kerala), and the performing arts (e.g., Bharatanātyam and Kathakaḻi). They were all viewed as a means for spiritual growth by focusing on one’s body. However, some scholars have interpreted Haṭhayoga as a process to be followed by ascetics, who torture themselves.
Haṭhayoga considers the body as a gift from the divine. The body, therefore, should be used to show respect to the divine. Doing the āsanas and prāṇāyamas was considered as sādhana, meaning regular practice usually aimed at spiritual growth. The aim was to achieve perfection because perfection will lead to the divine.
The Śiva samhitā4 says that every living creature is a direct result of Śiva’s āsanas during his cosmic dance that created the universe. Because of this all the bodies created by Śiva are said to be malleable and the āsanas are a way to worship Śiva. It is said that the 84 āsanas in the Haṭhayoga were originally given to humans by Śiva.
Because the focus was still on spiritual development, all these physical practices were combined with rājayoga, which is the path of meditation. The theory was that one could not obtain perfection in rājayoga without Haṭhayoga. Similarly, perfection in Haṭhayoga could not be obtained without perfection in rājayoga. So both should be practiced together till perfection is attained; although Haṭhayoga was like a staircase that led one to the higher rājayoga5.
In the context of meditation, Kṛṣṇa, in the Bhagavad Gītā, asks Arjuna to sit straight and keep his head and neck erect6. This is the starting position for most meditative practices. Early physical yoga had āsanas, prāṇāyamas sometimes called kumbhakas (jars that relate to breathing techniques), mudrās (postures that are held for a long time), that were combined with kriyās (cleansing techniques),chanting mantras, dhāraṇā, and dhyana. Such observations were all part of the tantric thinking, namely, that when the body perished, life was over. A dead person cannot aspire for mokṣa and thus will be subject to rebirth. Therefore, one must learn the art of keeping the body alive and healthy for as long as possible and work towards mokṣa. Everyone, (i.e., monks, priests, and householders) were using āsanas and prāṇāyamas leading to dhyana as part of their daily living, especially when performing rituals. These diverse practices were codified by experts such as Matsyendranāth and Gorakṣanāth culminating in Svātmārāma’s HaṭhayogaPradīpikā or the book that sheds light on Haṭhayoga.
Haṭhayoga does not demand that everyone has to be able to perform all the complex āsanas. The padmāsana (lotus position) or siddhāsana (simple cross-legged) are the simplest of the āsanas and the most common in meditation. The āsanas make the body steady and flexible, resulting in getting rid of diseases. This is the first step in learning to control and discipline the body. Prāṇāyama is regulating the flow of air through the body without using much force. Prāṇāyama helps purify the energy channels of the body allowing prāṇa (the life force) to move more efficiently. One should start by forcibly moving prāṇa to various parts of the body and be able to move what normally goes downwards to move upwards. When one starts to do prāṇāyama, one might be exerting a lot of force and thus might perspire. The goal is to make prāṇāyama steady without any exertion so that it appears to be motionless.
Bandhas are “locks” or holding patterns used to contain prāṇa. Typically bandhas are engagements of specific groups of muscles at the base of the pelvis, the abdomen, and the throat. Bandhas are usually challenging and therefore should only be attempted after one is competent in both āsana and prāṇāyama. Mudrās are complex movements (often very slow) of the whole body that combines āsana, prāṇāyama and bandha. There are many mudrās that are said to control the aging process and thus death. As Haṭhayoga is also about mokṣa, there are mudrās that require one to think of the divine, and not think of oneself or the outside world as separate from the divine. The final step is the ability to leave all thoughts and be able to think of nothing in total silence. When the body is lean and healthy and one’s desires are under control, one can conclude that one is on the path to mastering Haṭhayoga.
The Haṭhayoga describes the following four stages of development. The preliminary stage, called ārambha, is where the body becomes healthy. The next stage is ghaṭa (meaning jar) where the prāṇa is contained in the body. Paricaya then occurs and one has some knowledge that the mind is calm. Niṣpatti, or consummate knowledge, is the next step where one realizes that ultimately there is no pain, old age, or disease. In this case, the practitioner has become one with the divine and has combined Haṭhayoga with rājayoga. It also emphasizes that anyone who practices āsanas, prāṇāyamas etc. but does not aim to master rājayoga is wasting their time as they will not become truly spiritual7. This shows that Haṭhayoga can be viewed as an instance of Patañjali’s high-level template for controlling the mind with the main aim of becoming one with the divine.
Mindfulness
(Figure 3: Buddhist Mindfulness)
Now, we look at how the above relates to mindfulness89. The Buddha said that the mind can be trained to attain nirvāṇa, even when it is active. That is, there is no need for cittavṛtti nirodha. He observed that the world does not disturb the mind; rather it is the mind that is disturbed by the world. The
Buddha taught that it is natural for all humans to have different thoughts. One should not fight such occurrences. Fighting one’s thoughts will only lead to more restlessness. One should learn to relax, by letting the thoughts come and go. This idea is now called mindfulness and is related to dhyana.
Mindfulness is called sati in Pali (also spelt as Pāli) or smṛti in Sanskrit10. Smṛti means remembering to be aware and to pay attention. So mindfulness is being aware of the changes to the mind in a non-judgemental or dispassionate way. Such awareness, in terms of the experience of the changes, is needed before the mind can be controlled even if it is not totally still as required by Patañjali. Buddha’s point was that if one does not know that the mind is changing, how can one still it? Regulating attention is an essential part of mindfulness. Thus, mindfulness starts with one focusing on a real-world object so that it is easy to direct attention to a concrete entity.
Mindfulness can be translated as the attention in terms of observing the mental and physical processes at each moment. This is related to the concept of Abhidharma11, where all behaviours are a sequence of instantaneous or short-lived events. Attention or awareness is related to the functioning of the mind when an object is perceived and identified12.
The Buddha advocates the notion of rightful mindfulness so that the mental states are ethical. This is related to Patañjali’s yamas. This also protects the mind from reacting negatively with the object it is focusing on. Normally any reaction will result in either aversion or attraction, thus destroying the non-judgemental way the mind should focus on the object. That is also the reason that both the Buddha and Patañjali suggest that one should close one’s eyes during meditation. Most visual input is distracting and leads to unnecessary reactions.
Mindfulness is not about “losing” thoughts about a known object. The object that is causing the distraction is “recalled”. Hence the term smṛti. Once the object has been recalled, one should not be distracted by another object. That is, one should not start examining the object in detail, e.g., start recalling past experiences. Smṛti is applied only to the object currently in focus. One should then return to the object of the meditation. While one’s concentration will be broken by attention to an object that is not the object of meditation, recalling it and returning to the object of meditation will help improve concentration. This can be viewed as an expansion of what Patañjali calls the initial stages of dhyana and dhāraṇā. The Buddha’s teaching, that mindfulness become part of one’s life, is similar to nididhyāsana where one assimilates what one has learned and puts it into practice. One could say that the Yogasūtras view mindfulness as the stepping stone to citta vṛtti nirodha.
These days, mindfulness, when combined with Haṭhayoga, covers the awareness of the posture and the mental states that arise when one is doing the various postures. Moksha is not the goal of such practices. The goal of mindfulness is about leading a healthy life by reducing stress and other negative aspects in one’s life. Mindfulness is also used to increase one’s concentration while performing certain tasks. Mindfulness recognizes the wandering of the mind from the current task to unrelated thoughts. The idea of attention is used to bring back the mind to what needs to be completed. While Patañjali asks one to sit in a comfortable position so that one is not aware of one’s posture, mindfulness says be aware of posture if one’s mind is drawn to it. However, one must try to keep this attention short. Just because the mind is drawn to the posture does not mean one should dwell on it for too long.
There are various steps one can take to work towards being fully mindful. This includes the following.
A routine for regular meditation practice, sādhana, shortening the periods of mind wandering and lengthening the duration of stable attention, the ability to have introspective attention and make corrections as soon as one detects wandering, the ability to focus exclusively on one object, which can lead to the control of one’s senses, repeated practice, which will lead to a tranquil and equanimous mind.
Equanimity indicates that one does not react emotionally to the external senses. The final goal should be for the tranquil and equanimous mind to persist, even after one has completed one’s meditation. Thus the joy of meditation will be available in daily life. This is related to the idea of Sthitaprajña, as described in the Bhagavad Gītā.
While recent work13 has shown the benefits of mindfulness to overcome stress, depression and anxiety, Buddha’s teachings are about attaining nirvāṇa. Because mokṣa and nirvāṇa are similar, the application of mindfulness are very similar to the application of dhyana and dhāraṇā to control the mind.
Flow
(Figure 4: Flow meditation)
We now examine flow which has been proposed by the psychologist, Csikszentmihalyi to explain how many people are in the “zone” when they are performing at peak capacity14. He argues that being in the flow increases productivity, self-esteem, and reduces stress15. Csikszentmihalyi describes the key characteristics of flow. They are:
- Total concentration on the task, total control over the task, clarity of goals,
- Effortlessness and ease of action,
- aware of only the action that is being performed, intrinsic reward,
- Unaware of the passing of time, and
- Fine balance between challenge and skills.
There is a direct link between the above characteristics and Patañjali’s Yogasūtras. For instance, there is a strong similarity between total concentration and intrinsic reward with pratyāhāra or even samādhi in yoga. It is important to remember that flow aims to strengthen one’s self-image or self-worth while the goal of yoga is to get rid of the notion of ahamkāra, which corresponds to one’s ego. But ultimately both are looking at some form of intrinsic reward.
Regarding flow, Csikszentmihalyi states that it is important to differentiate pleasure and enjoyment. He indicates that pleasure is a feeling of contentment, but does not necessarily provide any
psychological growth. One can feel satiated after one completes pleasurable activities; but there is nothing beyond that. Usually, these activities are based on one’s biological needs or societal expectations. On the other hand, enjoyment (to differentiate from pleasure), refers to the experience when an individual feels satisfied in having accomplished something. That is, enjoyment goes beyond one’s basic needs or desires. He gives the example of athletes competing at the highest level. Towards the end, they may be on the verge of collapse because of exhaustion, but they could still consider it to be one of the best moments of their lives. This is because of what they have accomplished.
This is similar to the idea of preyas and śreyas in the Kaṭha Upaniṣad16. Preyas is something that provides pleasure but is not long lasting. In fact, focusing on activities that give preyas can be detrimental in the long run. Śreyas goes beyond pleasure and provides long lasting happiness. Shreyas may cause physical pain but is not viewed as a painful activity. The link to some of the challenges in Haṭhayoga is clear. Doing some of the āsanas may be physically painful, but they are not viewed as painful activities. Thus pain and duḥkha are not the same; depending on the activity, pain can be related to sukha.
Csikszentmihalyi has identified that everyone who experiences flow would have spent years learning and constantly refining their skill. Flow did not come naturally and required discipline and self control of thoughts and feelings. Flow is achieved when all the senses are focused on the same goal. At the end, they are not looking for external validation (e.g., fame or fortune) but just self satisfaction. His research shows that one’s brain cannot process experiences related to biological needs (existence) and the task on hand at the level of concentration needed for flow. Hence in flow, experiences related to existence are temporarily suspended. That is why they feel transported to another world.
This feeling of going beyond this world is emphasised by Patañjali, and the Buddha. The yogis must be able to reach the state of pratyāhāra and shut down the sense organs. Otherwise, the processing of the sensory input from the external world will not enable one to concentrate. A wavering mind (be it restless, confused, or excited with joy) cannot enable one to focus. Hence a calm mind is required. Thus a real yogi is one who can control the mind. The aim of yoga is samādhi, a blissful state of spiritual liberation. This idea applied to daily living means a blissful state of doing whatever one is doing. Patañjali writes that samādhi can be reached only if one has incredible mental and physical discipline. This is called tapas, which as observed earlier is often translated as being austere. But in this context, it can be viewed as self-discipline using meditation or concentration. Tapas often needs to be done in solitude, so as to not get distracted by the action of others.
Just like flow, the focus of yoga is to look inside oneself and not rely on the external world. The theory of flow indicates that it is possible to enjoy even what is regarded as boring tasks by developing the right mental skills. This is directly related to the discipline of yoga and other techniques based on meditation.
Flow is experienced by those who are highly skilled and take on a difficult challenge. This theory tallies with the Yogasūtras, where one can experience samādhi, which is a very challenging task, only when one is highly skilled. Hence a novice should not attempt to attain samādhi without going through all the previous steps. Asanas and prāṇāyama must be used so that one can reach the state of samādhi. Effectively, āsanas and prāṇāyama help one avoid fatigue, so that one can devote long hours to concentrate towards achieving samādhi. This idea is also emphasised in Haṭhayoga where one should not try the more complex bandhas before mastering the simpler ones.
Research17 shows that those who practice aṣṭāṅgayoga regularly, have good scores of flow.
(Table1: Overview)
While these evaluations are personal and subjective, the practitioners confirm being in the zone when performing their āsanas and prāṇāyamas. They reported strong self-regulated intrinsic motivation to practice. Those who are advanced practitioners of aṣṭāṅga yoga, can identify the states of dhāraṇā (holding the mind onto some particular object) or what is called concentration in flow. Such studies provide, at least partial support, for Csikszentmihalyi’s speculation that yoga may provide a very direct path to the experience of flow.
Flow, like samādhi, can be short lived. But while experiencing flow, one may not feel time. One needs to be careful that flow itself is not the goal. Flow is the experience that results when one is focused on a specific goal, provided one is well trained. So the need to experience flow should not be an obsession. Patañjali and other scriptures state that one will not get mokṣa if attaining mokṣa becomes the goal. Those in the flow or samādhi will recognise its effects, i.e., be alert, perform the task in an effortless fashion, and have no emotional problems. Flow and samādhi are the end results of sustained practice.
Summary
To conclude, the ultimate aim of Patañjali’s Yogasūtras is kaivalya, of Haṭhayoga is mokṣa, and of mindfulness is nirvāṇa, while flow is about happiness achieved by one’s own performance at a high level. But at a worldly level, all four of them discuss focus, concentration and various steps towards developing these qualities. All these concepts discuss how one must look inside oneself and not rely on the external world to reach their goals. Table 1 provides a summary of these four frameworks. For example, the various terms used in yoga and mindfulness such as pratyāhāra, sādhana and tapas correspond to concepts in flow. Each person can pick and choose from these different practices and use what works for them in particular situations.
References
1. Nicholas Sutton. The YogaSutras: A New Translation and Study Guide. Mandala Publishing, 2019.
2. Gerald James Larson. “Differentiating the Concepts of “yoga” and “tantra” in Sanskrit Literary History”. In: Journal of American Oriental Society (2009).
3. Jason Birch. “The Meaning of Hatha in Early Haṭhayoga”. In: Journal of the American Oriental Society (2011).
4.James Mallinson. The Śiva Samhita: A Critical Edition and an English Translation. Yoga Vidya, 2007.
5. Birch, “The Meaning of Hatha in Early Haṭha Yoga”.
6. Eknath Easwaran: The Bhagavad Gītā. Nilgiri, 2007.
7. Birch, “The Meaning of Hatha in Early Haṭhayoga”.
8. Rupert Gethin.“Buddhist conceptualizations of mindfulness”. In:Handbook of mindfulness: Theory, research, and practice. The Guilford Press, 2015, pp. 9–41.
9. Culadasa (John Yates), Matthew Immergut, and Jeremy Graves. The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness. Atria Books, 2017.
10. Tamara Ditrich. “The concept of smṛti in the Yogasutra:memory or mindfulness?”In: Asian Studies (2013), pp. 45–62.
11. Evan Thompson. Waking, Dreaming, Being:Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy. Columbia University Press, 2017.
12. Jonardon Ganeri. Attention, Not Self. Oxford University Press, 2017.
13. Kirk Warren Brown, J. David Creswell, and Richard M. Ryan, eds. Handbook of Mindfulness:Theory, Research and Practice. The Guilford Press, 2015.
14. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow: The classic work on how to achieve happiness. Random House, 2002.
15. Martin Seligman and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. “Happiness, excellence, an optimal human functioning”.In: Ameri- can Psychologist (2000).
16. S. Radhakrishnan. The Principal Upanishads. Indus/Harper Collins, 2016.
17. Leslie Lynn Phillips.“Examining Flow States and Motivational Perspectives of Aṣṭāṅga Yoga Practitioners”.PhD thesis. University of Kentucky, 2005.
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