Meditation

Dhyana is the seventh of the eight limbs in the Yoga Sutras, placed after breath control and concentration, and in Thailand the word most people know is the Buddhist practice taught in every temple. The techniques differ — following the breath, a repeated phrase, body scanning, open awareness — but the mechanism is consistent: choose an object, notice when attention has left, bring it back without commentary. The returning is the practice, not a sign of failing at it.

What it is for has been studied more than most things in this glossary. Regular practice has reasonable evidence behind it for reduced reactivity to stress, better sleep, and modest improvements in sustained attention. It is not a treatment for a mental health condition, and intensive practice can be destabilising for some people, which a good teacher will say out loud.

In a KEO session, meditation is not a separate block with its own name; it is built into the shape of the hour. The opening breath work is concentration practice, the held postures ask for the same attention in a body under load, and the stillness at the end is as close to formal sitting as the session gets, done lying down. If you want to sit properly, the weekend workshops give it the time a one-hour class cannot.