Dhyana Yoga & Hatha Yoga

Paramahamsa Satyananda

Dhyana Yoga

Yoga and Dhyana are both synonymous terms,
there is no difference between them.
Dhyana is Yoga and Yoga is Dhyana.

In English, Dhyana is translated as meditation, because there is no other word that is comparable, but actually this is not an adequate or clear translation.
Dhyana Yoga is a dynamic process of the mind, not a passive state. You can’t just close your eyes and practise it. In dhyana you withdraw the indriyas and expand the mind. Therefore, the practices of Dhyana Yoga are designed on two bases - pratyahara (withdrawing the sensual tendencies) and dharana (becoming aware of the object). You can use various methods such as awareness of the breath, concentration on bhrumadhya (eyebrow centre) or nasikagra (nose tip), or rotating the consciousness in Sushumna (spinal cord).
Those who know how to practise dhyana, possess the key of life and are able to handle this restless mind properly in all situations. In the Upanishads, Gita and Ramayana, in fact in every religious book, Dhyana yoga has been spoken of.
Dhyana yoga is one of the most important Sadhanas that India has given to the world. Today, in both the East and the West, millions of people are practising Dhyana.


The effect of Dhyana Yoga is the wine of Omar Khayyam. He said in the Rubaiyat. “What kind of wine do you drink and still remember the pains of the world?” What kind of pooja or worship do you perform, what kirtans do you sing, what religion do you follow, that still you are unwell, unhappy and unfulfilled? Millions follow Christianity, Islam and Hindu dharma, yet they are still suffering today. This means that something is wrong - either the practices are not correct or else they have lost their purpose and their aim. People are shooting in the dark. But the solution is simple - just ten minutes of absolute quietness.
Many people say, ‘We are householders and we have no time to practise Dhyana Yoga. But if we do our duties correctly, isn’t this enough?’ No, this is not enough. The work of a housewife, businessman, doctor or lawyer, can be converted into karma yoga and give peace of mind. Karma yoga is also conducive to God realization. But remember that Dhyana Yoga is an incomparable science.
It doesn’t matter whether you are a karma yogi, bhakti yogi, hatha yogi or gyana yogi, if you don’t practise Dhyana Yoga, you cannot experience that incomparable state of mind.
If you practise simple Dhyana Yoga for a period of ten minutes each day, the changes that take place in the body and mind are fantastic. Of course, the changes that take place in the mind cannot be measured by instruments, but the changes in the physical body, in the brain, heart and lungs, have been measured by scientists.

The brain produces four main kinds of waves according to the state of consciousness. The fastest is beta, corresponding to the normal waking state. Then comes alpha which corresponds to the relaxed state when you are just entering sleep. Theta and delta are slow waves produced in deep sleep.
In meditation it has been found that alpha intensities rise high, going into theta and delta in deep meditative states.

There are many phases of sleep and the waves of most people are random and chaotic. There is no order or harmony. The moment you start Dhyana, however, the brain waves slow down and become more intense. Some scientists have found that there are periods in which long trains of alpha or theta waves are produced and these tend to be more ordered and harmonized. The metabolism slows, lowering body temperature and blood pressure. The eyes, sinuses and bronchial tubes are also affected.
In the last few years, an eminent psychiatrist from Melbourne, Australia, Dr. Ainslie Meares, has conducted meditation classes for people with cancer. He has found that Dhyana allows such people to isolate the past experiences which led to the development of cancer. This technique cancels the effects of the past and releases the frozen energies which were producing the cancer. Dhyana also brings about a profound and sustained reduction of anxiety, which allows the individual to isolate the cancer and mobilize his energies to fight it. He has published some very interesting findings in the Medical Journal of Australia, which actually show photographs of a cancer reducing its size after three months of intensive meditation. Dr. Meares claims that the patient is now absolutely free of active cancer. This is a big achievement. From this you can realize how effective and powerful the practice of Dhyana Yoga is.

Hatha Yoga Approach

There are two different methods of approaching Dhyana - either by meditating directly, without any aid, or by creating the condition through the physical body, which is the subject of Hatha Yoga. In the physical body there are 72,000 nadis which carry positive and negative types of energy, called prana shakti
(vital energy) and manas shakti (mental energy). Symbolically they are known as surya (sun) and Chandra (moon), but in tantra they are called Ida and pingala nadis. These two nadis are like high tension wires or lines that flow inside the spinal cord.
They originate in mooladhara chakra and cross over at swadhisthana, manipura, anahata and vishuddhi as they ascend the spine, finally terminating in ajna at the top of the spine in the MEDULLA OBLONGATA.
Ida flows through the left nostril and pingala flows through the right. The temperature of the breath in ida is less than the temperature of the breath in pingala, as verified by scientific examinations. They usually do not flow at the same time - sometimes ida flows and sometimes pingala flows. Ida crosses into the right side of the brain, and pingala crosses into the left side. When ida or the left nostril is flowing, then the right side of the brain is active and the left is quiet. When the right nostril or pingala is flowing, then the left side of the brain is active and the right is quiet. Only half of the brain is active at one time.
What happens when both ida and pingala flow together? This is known as the awakening of sushumna, when both sides of the brain function simultaneously.
It is said that when ida is flowing, you should do mental work, and when pingala isflowing, physical work. But when sushumna is flowing you should not work at all, because the opening of sushumna is the awakening of the whole brain.
When sushumna begins to flow, dhyana becomes spontaneous, automatic. You don’t have to do anything - just close the eyes and meditation takes place. This is called the direct method, dealing with the mind through the mind itself. But for most aspirants, the indirect method, dealing with the mind through the physical body, is necessary to reach it. This is why the practices of Hatha Yoga are so important for the aspirant of dhyana.
Hatha yoga is not only asanas and pranayama. Technically speaking, hatha yoga means those practices by which you bring about the union of the two forces in the body - ha and tha, sun and moon, ida and pingala, or sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems. If you have been practising hatha yoga and sushumna begins to awaken, then no other method is necessary. You don’t need any sadhana or any technique. Just close the eyes and become meditative.

Even if you have hundreds and thousands of problems, the moment of sushumna awakening is the moment of transcendence. That is why yogis say, ‘Awaken sushumna!’ It is also said in the tantras that until sushumna is awakened, no matter what practices you do, what gods you worship, which guru you visit, what shastras you are versed in, you are going to get nothing.
Therefore, you must approach dhyana by one of the two methods, either directly or through the practices of hatha yoga, and one day you will find you are in meditation.