Dharana: The key to altering Genetic coding
Yoga has emerged from the shroud
of secrecy and has now adorned the cloak of scientific, rational thinking of
how and why it works wonders.
And among its many wonderful
effects are its capacity to change even our genetic coding. Science refutes that such a thing is possible.
Be that as it may, let us here examine how and why Yoga can affect change and
transformation even at the DNA level.
Firstly, let us understand
the practice and technique which can affect such a fantastic transformation.
The practice is Dharana in yogic
parlance and concentration in
everyday language.
I will try my best here to
explain how this works.
Firstly we will have to
distinguish how yoga defines or looks at concentration and how it is generally
understood.
The dictionary meaning of
concentration is, “close attention, close thought, attentiveness, application,
industry, assiduousness, single mindedness, absorption, engrossment.”
In everyday life, right from
school to home, concentration is taught as something for which you have to make
immense effort. Children are told to concentrate on studies or whatever they
are doing. And the only impetus to concentration for a child is fear of rebuke/
punishment or at the other end, a reward. Thus the foundation of concentration that a child learns is based on
fear, stress and effort. All of this we know impacts negatively on the entire
personality, physical, mental, emotional which engenders a fertile substratum
for disease and illness in later life.
In contrast here is how Yoga
looks at concentration/Dharana.
Full, total pin-pointed
concentration happens when:
1.
Mind & body
are completely relaxed.
2.
When you are
present in the here and now.
3.
The subject and
the object must become one.
Relaxation:
Relaxed? What’s so difficult
about being relaxed? Difficult it is not. Children are naturally relaxed. Until
the world around them makes them learn stress, worry, fear. Gradually being
naturally relaxed is superimposed with layers of stress, tension and fears that
become deeply embedded in the psyche. Therefore, Yoga lays great stress on
relaxations right from the level of asana, pranayama practice. Besides,
reminding the practitioner to consciously keep the body relaxed, there are also
some very simple but highly enjoyable techniques like Shava asana and Yoga
nidra.
Shava means dead body. So,
basically the practice is like imitating a dead body. Everyday in deep sleep we
die and come back. Shava asana tries to achieve that level of relaxation.
However, in sleep we lose awareness. But, in both shav asana and Yoga nidra it
is total relaxation like deep sleep with full awareness. So what you are
experiencing is a different quality of awareness from our normal everyday
experience. Only an experience of the practice will prove to the practitioner
how when you enter into a state of total relaxation your awareness becomes
sharpened. Much research has been done by Stanford, Harward, UCLA corroborating
therapeutic benefits and changes in the mapping of brain workings in simple
practice of shava asana and yoga nidra.
Presence of mind and body in the NOW:
All self help books and all
philosophies tell you to live in the present. Easier said than done. Here again
Yoga helps you along through various techniques which are mostly factored-in
the practice of daily simple yoga. However, for those hoping to bring about
change right upto genetic level, have to do some advance practices. Just as for
relaxation, so also for living in the present moment, the entire practice of
yoga is geared towards it. While doing
the asanas, the constant reprieve is to focus on how each movement and posture
is impacting the body. For example, if you are doing bhujang asana (cobra
pose), then in every round you focus on different parts of the body that the
movement and posture is impacting... spine, stomach area, chest area, throat
area, legs, hands, etc. And with progress your awareness of how it is impacting
your body becomes subtle and more and more incisive.
What you do not realize is
that in the bargain you are for that time, living completely in the present
movement. Same goes with practicing pranayama. The focus is completely on
observing each and every breath. With prolonged practice of yoga in this
manner, it slowly becomes a part of you to stay focused in the present with
whatever you are doing. The combination of relaxed body and focused awareness
has profound effects on the brain. It too becomes relaxed, still, quiet. This
is very difficult to achieve because the nature of mind is to jump like a
monkey from one thing to another.
Now, we come to the more
esoteric aspect of concentration/dharana. The subject and object becoming one
or as J. Krishnamurthy is famously known to say , “the seer becomes the seen.”
This is the culmination of
the earlier two techniques into dharana. So, when you’ve achieved the state of
total relaxation and being in the present, then comes the third practice which
culminates into dharana/concentration.
There are many techniques or
practices one can adopt according to one’s personality and liking. There are
many many techniques for developing concentration. In the Vigyan Bhairava
Tantra, shlokas 25 to 35 are all about the various techniques for dharana.
Trataka is one such practice.
After your asana and pranayama practice, you fix keep a candle flame, a Om
symbol, or your favourite God, a rising sun or just about any symbol/object at
eye level. Siting comfortably, if possible in padma asana, vajrasan or any of
the meditation poses, you look unblinkingly at the symbol/object. When your
eyes tire or tear up, you close your eyes and try to see that candle flame, Om
or whatever the object you have chosen, at the eyebrow centre. At first it may
be difficult but with practice it will happen. If all other yogic practices are
developed culminating into this practice, then one does experience seeing your
symbol with eyes closed at the eye brow centre.
It’s quite an event in one’s
life when this happens. Firstly, that vision of your symbol at the eyebrow
centre ( ajna chakra, bhrumadhya) is nothing like what you see in the external
world. This internal manifestation is totally different and an experience which
shakes up your entire being. At this point you take a quantum leap and every
faculty, aspect of your being and personality undergoes transformation. The
transformation happens to the cell and DNA level. This is now being established in experiments being done in many universities and medical centres around the world.
All of this I’ve gained from
my reading of books by Swami Satyananda Saraswati, Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati
and Swami Satyasangananda Sarawati who are the light and force of the Bihar School of Yoga & Rikhiapeeth ashram.
If anything is not clear, or
you have any doubt or misgiving, I would love to help resolve the doubt or
answer your query to the best of my ability.
Hari Om!
