How does meditation interact with yoga?

What is Dhyāna?

Dhyāna is the Sanskrit term for meditation – specifically, the uninterrupted flow of concentration toward a single object. It is the seventh limb of Patanjali’s eightfold path (ashtanga yoga), following dharana (concentration) and preceding samadhi (absorption or liberation). While dharana involves fixing the mind on one point, dhyāna is the continuous stream of awareness that merges the observer, the act of observation, and the object observed into one unified experience. In yogic practice, dhyāna is not merely a technique but a state of being – an embodied stillness in which the mind is quiet, the ego dissolves, and the deeper Self is revealed.

Asana as Meditation in Action

In Iyengar Yoga, asana can become a form of meditation in action. While a beginner may not enter deep states of dhyāna during asana practice, they can experience glimpses of mental stillness and inner peace, necessary precursors to meditative absorption. With sustained and mindful practice, the practitioner begins to sense the meditative potential inherent in each asana and sequence.

As we practice more, our practice may evolve into a meditative state of flow in which precision and awareness lead to total immersion. Initially, attention is directed toward alignment points and actions, but gradually these dissolve into a broader field of awareness. As we become more present, the body, breath, and mind unify in the moment. As BKS Iyengar writes, a still mind is better able to recognise the vrittis (fluctuations of consciousness), know the citta (mind-stuff), and ultimately reach the soul.

Extension as meditation

Extension in the asana can also be experienced as dhyana. Awareness of the alignment of the whole body, a kind of everywhere and nowhere awareness, is required to allow optimum extension to occur. As Karl Baier says in “Iyengar and the Yoga Tradition”:

“Extension is the key to Dhyana in Asana. It is a movement that is impossible without a continuous flow of attention. The moment we lose our attention the extended part is dropped and becomes dull. But the attention needed for extension is not in points…the more the pose is unified in one single but multidimensional stretch the more the practitioner is aware of her/his bodily being as a whole, opening itself in every direction in which the pose is pointing…then Asana becomes a way of being ourselves: No more “I am turning my knee to the right ” but “I am entirely in the pose”…Centering ourselves in Asana leads our dismembered Ego to the remembrance of the Self, which is the aim of Dhyana.”

Dhyana in Iyengar Yoga

The role of Dhyana in Iyengar yoga is to assist the seer become the seen and pave the way to samadhi. Whether practised in the poses, savasana or sitting after an asana practice has quietened the mind, dhyana integrates the different sheaths, neutralises mental states and allows for an experience of absorption in which the ego is no more important than any other part of the consciousness. The mind quietens and becomes so absorbed and present in the action there is no space for self-talk or judgement. The mind is conditioned to be able to move closer to samadhi and our true self. It is that quiet state in which the mind stops chattering and we can simply breathe and be. Like a blank slate, without preconceptions. The mind feels like it is coming home and is able to relax. In this state we can actually clear out our klesas and vrittis, much like de-fragging a computer. This creates more freedom to be our authentic selves.

Dharana, dhyana and samadhi form samyama, the stage of integration and restraint that comes as the fruit of the practice of yama, niyama, asana and pranayama. Once one-pointedness of the citta has brought tranquillity to the mind through pratyahara and dharana, dhyana follows.

BKS Iyengar writes in Light on Pranayama:

“Dhyana is the full integration of the contemplator, the act of contemplation and the object contemplated upon becoming one…Dhyana is a subjective experience of an objective state….the individual soul (jivatma) becomes one with the Universal Soul (Paramatma)…The sadhaka experiences the fullness sung by the Upanishads: that is full; this is full. Fullness comes out of fullness. Even after fullness is taken from the full, fullness yet remains.” (p.223-226)

And in Core of the Yoga Sutras, he adds:

“A final, but cardinal, point to understand about dhyana is that it helps each of us shed the veil of ego as dhyana neutralises the klesas (avidya, asmita, raga, dvesa and abhinivesa) as well as vrittis (pramana, viparyaya, vikalpa, nidra and smriti) and acts as an instrument of Isvara.” (p.171).

Dhyāna is available in each breath, each moment of presence, and in each asana practiced with reverence and attention. It is a doorway to self-observation, self-knowledge and inner freedom.