situations, circumstances, and people who deplete you of
your vitality and enthusiasm for life. When it comes to
your yoga practice, Pratyahara means defining a space
where you are less likely to be distracted by distressing sen-
sations in your environment such as loud music, blaring
television shows, and aggravating arguments, so you can
bring your awareness to quieter realms within your con-
sciousness. It means taking time on a daily basis to close
your eyes so you can settle into more expanded states of
awareness through meditation.
The Sixth Branch of Yoga—
Dharana
Dharanais the mastery of attention and intention. The
world at its essential core is a quantum soup of energy and
information. What you actually perceive is a selective act
of your attention and interpretation. The difference
between an apple and an orange or a rose and a carnation
boils down to differences in the quantity and quality of the
energy and information that comprise the object of your
perception. Through your attention and intention, you
freeze the energy and information contained in a fra-
grant, soft-petaled, thorny-stemmed flower and create a
multisensory representation in your awareness that you
identify as a rose. Without the unique biology of your
human nervous system, the concept of a rose would only
exist as a potential.
Whatever you place your attention on grows in
importance to you. Whether your attention is on building
a business, becoming physically fit, improving a relation-
ship, or developing a spiritual practice, the object of your
The Royal Path to Union 45