Dharana and Dhyana: Meditation has for many years been linked to mental tranquility, inner awareness, and relaxation of the physiology. There has been a half century of scientific experimentation with these benefits across different methods, from Transcendental Meditation (TM) through to Zazen and Ananda Marga. Yet conclusions have frequently been conflicting.

Some investigations have demonstrated lowered physiological arousal, whereas others noted heightened sympathetic activity. These findings led to further exploration of classical Yoga texts, especially the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, where two consecutive meditative states, dharana and dhyana, are outlined.

Advertisement

Traditional foundations

According to a research article titled ‘A selective review of dharana and dhyana in healthy participants’, co-authored by Acharya Balkrishna published on pubmed(dot)ncbi(dot)nlm(dot)nih(dot)gov, in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras, dharana is defined as effortful concentration, where mental activity is confined to a specific area or object.

It is a deliberate focusing of the mind, considered the preparatory stage for deeper meditation. Dhyana, on the other hand, is an easy and sustained meditative immersion, a state of unalloyed attention without mental tension.

These phases are part of a greater eightfold path and get misconstrued or conflated in contemporary depictions of meditation.

The Bhagavad Gita supplements this with the introduction of chancalata (random thinking) and ekagrata (one-pointed attention), which are the precursors to dharana and dhyana. Grasping these gradations provides a subtle model for the interpretation of empirical evidence on meditation.

Scientific studies on dharana and dhyana

In order to assess dharana and dhyana independently, researchers have carried out a series of experimental studies based on heart rate variability (HRV), brain imaging, evoked potentials, and cognitive tasks.

A landmark study by Telles et al. (2013) observed that dhyana resulted in reduced heart and breathing rates, elevated skin resistance, and heightened parasympathetic functioning, as indicated by alterations in HRV parameters.

This substantiates the view that dhyana produces a physiological status identical with deep relaxation and vagal dominance. Conversely, dharana was seen to enhance attention and performance in tasks. Subjects performed significantly higher on tasks involving letter cancellation following dharana practice, indicating improved selective attention and visual scanning skills.

Electrophysiological investigations also supported these differences. Short latency auditory evoked potentials identified delayed processing in dharana but not in dhyana. Mid-latency potentials indicated that dhyana retarded auditory transmission at cortical levels above the primary auditory cortex, suggesting an altered pattern of sensory processing.

Notably, long-latency evoked potentials showed enhanced auditory processing after and within dhyana, and this may account for the increased perceptual clarity that occurs in profound meditative states.

Brain imaging and long-term effects

Functional MRI investigations gave information about the brain areas that were activated during these states of meditation. Experienced meditators who were performing dhyana had activation in the right middle temporal cortex, right inferior frontal cortex, and left lateral orbital gyrus in one investigation. These areas are associated with semantic cognition, memory, and emotional control and imply that dhyana allows for complex processing of cognition and detachment from the mind.

Conversely, dharana did not exhibit such strong activation in these regions, further underscoring its status as a task of focused attention and not one of larger-scale cognitive integration.

Longitudinal studies provided further depth to this insight. In one such study with managers in an organizational context, the inclusion of Yoga exercises, such as dharana and dhyana, resulted in enhanced emotional intelligence across six weeks.

While these states were not specifically studied in isolation, their integration into the program attests to their utility in augmenting psychological well-being and workplace performance.

Interpretation and implications of dharana and dhyana

Eight experimental studies review show a consistent picture: dharana and dhyana, two meditative states, have different physiological, cognitive, and neurological effects. Dharana seems to involve effortful attention and facilitate tasks involving focus and concentration.

Dhyana corresponds to a restful but conscious state, where there is heightened parasympathetic activation, slower but deeper sensory processing, and engagement of areas of the brain linked to higher-level cognitive function.

These results dispute the simplistic idea that all forms of meditation have identical physiological effects. Rather, the effects are technique-specific and frequently influenced by the practitioner’s level and the goal of meditation, whether focus, relaxation, or transcendence.

Also Read: Why your brain loves it when you meditate: Study answers