[nandm]

The stages of meditation

As you develop your practice of meditation, you will most likely find yourself moving through progressively deeper levels of stillness.

When you first meditate, you will get drawn into the mind's drama, then you will realize you've been drawn in. Little by little you begin to watch the mental activity. As would a benevolent observer, you just watch the mind. This is the process of the fifth of Patanjali's eight limbs, praryahara, or inner focus.

With practice, your mind will eventually settle down and behave itself. By aligning the breath and the inner focus, you experience one-pointed concentration. You find that you are able to direct your mind with your will and imagination. This is the realm of dharana.

As you go deeper, you will open into an inner space of awareness that changes constantly, yet you are solid and sitting, aware of all your thoughts without being involved in them. This is dhyna.

The last of the eight limbs of yoga is samadhi, the master realm of total identification with the spirit. You live as one who is grounded in what is often called higher awareness, or your higher nature.