Primordial Path

The 5 elements or the 5 main tattwas according to the tantric tradition. A brief overview of the 5 commonly known tattwas, Ether, Air, Fire, Water and Earth.

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Patanjali, himself, described samadhi as that state during meditation where there is only consciousness of the object and no concurrent consciousness of the mind. 
Yet the ultimate essence, of the object, does not show itself, there’s something that prevents it from revealing itself. 

Dhyana is really an extension of dharana and has been defined by Patanjali as the uninterrupted flow of concentration of the mind on the object of meditation or concentration. The depth of concentration in dhyana is far greater than in dharana, and It’s through the regular and continual practice of concentration that dhyana spontaneously manifests itself. It’s the mental state achieved when we are no longer aware of our own subjective or objective experiences.

From a yogic perspective the mind should not be completely fixated. The mind is soft so that it is aware of one object, but it should move when it realises deeper aspects of the object, like when it realises aspects of the object that were not perceivable before, when the mind was wandering from one object to the next. 

To hold our mind on one single object can be quite difficult, yet the benefit of deeper insight into the object of concentrations great. Concentration on one object is not impossible. It simply requires consistent and persistent practice. When the mind has been purified by the practices of the previous limbs, concentration will come by itself, naturally, without any special effort being required. 

The 5th limb in Patanjalis 8 limbs of yoga. And that is Pratyahara. From a really basic understanding, this means sense withdrawal. 
Most of us spend the majority of our life in the external world, meaning that we are concerned with things going on around us. We don’t spend as much time in our internal world, focussing on the workings of our bodies and minds. However to gain any sort of traction in meditation it is important to to be able to withdraw our minds from the external environment.

You can meditate without doing pranayama, of course many people do. However if we start to incorporate some pranayama practises prior to meditation we can more easily achieve the higher states of consciousness that we are aiming for. This focus of breath and prana, improves our concentration which in turn improves our ability to have a clear mind to meditate.

The Asanas are the physical poses we do to improve our meditation.

• Sukasana, easy seated pose. Think of this as a basic legs crossed seated pose. Like you would have done at school at some point.
• Ardha Padmasana, half lotus pose. Or lotus pose with one foot tucked into the thigh, hip fold.
• Padmasana, lotus pose. Both feet are tucked into the opposite thigh, hip fold
• Siddhasana, or accomplished pose for men. This is kind of like sukasana but the legs are stacked not crossed. And the heel of the bottom foot presses into the perineum 
• Siddha Yoni Asana, or accomplished pose for women is similar to siddhasana except the heel of the bottom foot presses into the yoni.
• Swastikasana, or auspicious pose, is essentially the same as the above two, however there’s no contact between the heels and pubis.

The Niyamas are the rules of conduct for the self, the individual, for you.
1. Purity
2. Contentment
3. Austerity
4. Self Study
5. Surrender

The Yamas are 5 basic social codes that we can strive to live by:
1. Non Violence
2. Truth
3. Non Stealing
4. Self Restraint
5. Non Attachment

The 8 Limbs of yoga provide a path to achieve enlightenment through meditation. It starts with the basic rules for changing a person's character and ending with samadhi, or enlightenment, which itself has four stages that lead to self-realisation. The first five stages are for getting ready, and stages six through eight are for getting better.

1. Yamas (social code)

2. Niyamas (personal code)

3. Asana (postures, states of being)

4. Pranayama (control of prana, life-force, cosmic energy)

5. Pratyahara (removal of the senses) 

6. Dharana (concentration) (concentration)

7. Dhyana (meditation)

8. Samadhi (transcendental consciousness)