Dharana · धारणा

The 112 practices of the Vijnana Bhairava

A ninth-century Kashmir Shaiva text answers one question — how do you actually get there — with a hundred and twelve short answers. Most take a few minutes. None of them require belief, and almost none require anything you do not already have.

Not sure which one

What are you carrying today?

Pick whichever sentence is closest and open straight into one matching dharana — no browsing required. The full library is still below if you would rather look through it yourself.

My mind will not stopLeave Wherever the Mind Goes · 8 min I feel unsettledWhere the In-Breath Ends · 10 min I cannot wind downThe Edge of Sleep · 10 min I cannot focusOne Meeting Point · 8 min I feel heavy and slowA Thread of Light Rising · 10 min I am running hotStop the Mind Inside the Emotion · 6 min I am carrying griefBathing in a Continuous Sound · 10 min I want to feel devotionDevotion and Detachment Together · 10 min

Read the note on each one

These are contemplative practices offered for study and personal use, not treatment for anything. Ten of the hundred and twelve are recorded here but not offered as guided practices, because they carry a real risk of harm or need a teacher present; each of those says so plainly on its own page. Where a practice needs a warning, the warning is on the page. Stop any practice that makes you frightened, dizzy or unwell.

What a dharana is

A dharana is a placing of attention. Not a belief to adopt and not a ritual to perform — one instruction about where to put your attention and what to do when it arrives. The text gives them as a conversation: the Goddess asks what reality actually is, and Bhairava answers a hundred and twelve times, each time with a different door into the same room.

They are unusually practical. Several are done with the breath, several with sound, several with nothing but a question held steadily. A dozen of them treat ordinary pleasure — food, music, seeing an old friend — as a legitimate way in. A handful ask you to sit in the dark. The shortest can be done while waiting for a kettle.

How to use this collection

Do not work through them in order, and do not try to collect them. The traditional advice is to read until one of them catches, then stay with that one for weeks. If nothing catches, the first is first for a reason.

About the text and this rendering

The Vijnana Bhairava Tantra dates to around the ninth century and belongs to the Trika tradition of Kashmir Shaivism. Its hundred and twelve dharanas run from verse 24 to verse 138; three verses in that range are not separate practices, which is how a hundred and fifteen verses give a hundred and twelve techniques.

The practices themselves are ancient and belong to no one. Everything written here — every summary, instruction and note — was written for Shoonyaka in plain English, from the technique rather than from any modern translation. Verse numbers are given throughout so you can read any of them in an edition of your own choosing, and we would encourage that.

The breath and its turns 7 Light along the spine 7 Sound and the silence after it 9 Space and emptiness 16 Between two thoughts 9 Delight as a doorway 12 Looking, light and darkness 9 Posture, movement and sensation 9 Dissolving the form 9 Looking directly at the one who looks 25

7 dharanas

The breath and its turns प्राण

The breath is already moving, already rhythmic, and already yours. These dharanas ask nothing of it except that you notice where it begins, where it ends, and the small still place where it changes direction.

8 min · Beginner

1. Where the Breath Is Born

Verse 24

Follow the breath to the two places it starts from, and wait there.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

2. The Turning of the Breath

Verse 25

Rest attention on the two moments where the breath changes direction.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

3. When the Breath Pauses by Itself

Verse 27

Notice the pauses the breath takes on its own, and do not disturb them.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

4. Where the In-Breath Ends

Verse 50

Settle attention at the centre of the body, where the incoming breath finishes.

Open the practice →5 min · Beginner

5. Between Two Breaths, All Day

Verse 51

Take the gap between two breaths off the cushion and into the day.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

6. Audible Breath and Its Two Ends

Verse 55

Let the breath be slow enough to hear, then attend to where it ends.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

7. One Meeting Point

Verse 64

Choose one of the two places the breath meets its turn, and use only that one.

Open the practice →

7 dharanas

Light along the spine सुषुम्ना

Practices that work with an imagined thread of light rising through the centre of the body. They are visualisations, not physiology — what is being trained is steady attention along a line.

10 min · Intermediate

8. A Thread of Light Rising

Verse 28

Picture a fine ray of light rising through the body, thinning as it goes.

Open the practice →10 min · Advanced

9. Lightning Through the Centres

Verse 29

A quicker version of the rising light, moving centre to centre, ending in love.

Open the practice →12 min · Advanced

10. Twelve Letters Growing Subtle

Verse 30

Work through a set of sounds three times over, each pass finer than the last.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

11. The Point Between the Eyebrows

Verse 31

Hold attention at the brow without letting a thought attach to it.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

12. The Hollow of the Central Channel

Verse 35

Imagine a fine channel through the centre of the spine and attend to the space inside it.

Open the practice →For study

13. Closing the Gates

Verse 36

A light appears at the brow, then the senses of the head are gently closed.

Read about it →For study

14. A Dot of Light

Verse 37

A subtle point of light is found at the crown or the heart, and attention absorbed into it.

Read about it →

9 dharanas

Sound and the silence after it नाद

A sound you make, or a sound already in the room, followed inward until it thins out. In every one of these, the practice is not the sound. It is the silence the sound leaves behind.

10 min · Beginner

15. Bathing in a Continuous Sound

Verse 38

Let an unbroken natural sound — water, wind, rain — become the whole of attention.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

16. The Void at the End of AUM

Verse 39

Chant a long syllable and follow it into the silence it leaves.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

17. The Silence Around a Letter

Verse 40

Attend to the emptiness at the beginning or the end of any single sound.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

18. A String Still Sounding

Verse 41

Follow the fading tail of a struck or plucked note all the way down.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

19. AUM Until It Is Not There

Verse 42

Chant aloud and let each round get quieter until the sound becomes thought, then nothing.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

20. The Vowel Alone

Verse 90

Sound an open vowel with nothing closing it, and stay with the openness.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

21. The Breath Sound HA

Verse 91

Make a soft open HA and attend to where it dissolves.

Open the practice →8 min · Advanced

22. The Sound With No Letters

Verse 114

Close the ears and attend to the continuous sound that is already there.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

23. The Name Said Continuously

Verse 130

Repeat a single name without stopping until the repetition carries itself.

Open the practice →

16 dharanas

Space and emptiness शून्य

The largest family in the text. Each one asks you to hold some part of experience — the body, a vessel, the sky, a direction — as open space rather than solid thing, and to rest in the room that opens up.

10 min · Intermediate

24. Five Circles Dissolving

Verse 32

Picture five coloured circles, then let them go one at a time.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

25. Space in Every Direction

Verse 43

Hold the body in mind, then let open space extend from it on all sides at once.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

26. Empty Above, Empty Below

Verse 44

Hold the space above the head and beneath the seat as empty, both at once.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

27. Empty Above, Below, and in the Heart

Verse 45

Add a third emptiness at the centre and hold all three together.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

28. One Part of the Body as Void

Verse 46

Take any single part of the body and hold it, briefly, as empty.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

29. The Body Pervaded by Space

Verse 47

Let empty space run through everything the body is made of.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

30. The Skin as an Empty Wall

Verse 48

Hold the skin as the only real boundary, with nothing inside it.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

31. The Inner Space of the Heart

Verse 49

Draw the senses inward to the heart and hold the centre there.

Open the practice →10 min · Advanced

32. The Whole Universe as Void

Verse 58

Hold everything there is, all at once, as empty.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

33. The Space Inside a Bowl

Verse 59

Look at a vessel and see only the space it holds, not its sides.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

34. An Open Place With Nothing in It

Verse 60

Rest the gaze on open ground with no object to catch it.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

35. The Sky Absorbed Into the Head

Verse 85

Let all of space be taken up into the head until the two are the same.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

36. Oneself as Open Sky

Verse 92

Take yourself to be space, unlimited in all directions.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

37. The Emptiness Inside Any Object

Verse 122

Take any object and attend to the emptiness that is a feature of it.

Open the practice →10 min · Advanced

38. Beyond Knowing and Grasping

Verse 127

Contemplate what can be neither known, held, nor called non-existent.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

39. The Mind Fixed on Outer Space

Verse 128

Fix the mind on space itself — eternal, supportless, silent — and enter what is beyond it.

Open the practice →

9 dharanas

Between two thoughts मध्य

One thought has finished and the next has not begun. These dharanas locate that seam and stay in it. They are the shortest practices in the text and the easiest to do anywhere.

8 min · Intermediate

40. Drop Both Thoughts

Verse 61

Catch two thoughts at once, let go of both, and stay in the middle.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

41. The Middle Where a Thought Ended

Verse 62

A thought has left and the next has not arrived. Stay there.

Open the practice →6 min · Intermediate

42. End a Desire at Its Source

Verse 96

The moment a wanting appears, end it and look at where it came from.

Open the practice →10 min · Advanced

43. Who Am I Before Wanting

Verse 97

Ask what you are in the moment before any desire or knowledge has arisen.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

44. Stop Following What Has Arisen

Verse 98

A desire or a thought has already appeared. Stop reflecting on it and turn to what is aware.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

45. Neither Pleasure Nor Pain

Verse 103

Decline to settle in either the pleasant or the unpleasant, and find the middle.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

46. Withdraw the Look, Then the Thought

Verse 120

Take your gaze off an object, then take your knowledge of it away too.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

47. Neither Aversion Nor Attachment

Verse 126

Hold the centre between being drawn towards and pushed away from.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

48. Leave Wherever the Mind Goes

Verse 129

The instant you notice where the mind has landed, leave it.

Open the practice →

12 dharanas

Delight as a doorway आनन्द

The Vijnana Bhairava is unusual in treating ordinary pleasure — food, music, reunion, touch — as a legitimate entrance rather than a distraction. The instruction is always the same: turn towards the joy itself, not the thing that caused it.

10 min · Beginner

49. The Body Full of Its Own Bliss

Verse 65

Consider the whole body, or the whole world, as filled with your own well-being.

Open the practice →6 min · Beginner

50. Joy Under a Kind Touch

Verse 66

When touch brings ease, attend to the ease rather than the touch.

Open the practice →For study

51. The Senses Closed and Rising Delight

Verse 67

With the senses withdrawn, a fine tingling rises through the spine.

Read about it →For study

52. Attention Within Intimacy

Verse 68

The tantric teaching that attention placed on joy during intimacy reveals its source.

Read about it →For study

53. Joy That Is Your Own

Verse 69

The great joy of union is said to belong to the self, not to the other person.

Read about it →8 min · Intermediate

54. The Same Joy, Remembered

Verse 70

The joy can be reached through memory alone, with no one present.

Open the practice →6 min · Beginner

55. Seeing Someone After a Long Time

Verse 71

Meet an old friend, and meditate on the gladness rather than the meeting.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

56. The Joy of Eating and Drinking

Verse 72

Let the pleasure of food and drink be the practice, not the food.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

57. Becoming One With the Music

Verse 73

In singing or listening, stop being separate from the delight.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

58. Wherever the Mind Is Satisfied

Verse 74

Whatever contents you, put your attention exactly there.

Open the practice →6 min · Beginner

59. Stay Where Awareness Brightened

Verse 117

Any sense that suddenly sharpens is a door. Stay in the sharpening.

Open the practice →5 min · Intermediate

60. At the Edges of Strong Moments

Verse 118

The beginning and end of a sneeze, of fear, of grief, of hunger, of curiosity.

Open the practice →

9 dharanas

Looking, light and darkness दृष्टि

Practices done with the eyes: a steady gaze that does not hunt, an open sky, a colour, a dark night. The eye is the sense most used for grasping, so it is the one most worth teaching to rest.

10 min · Beginner

61. Absorbed Into Anything at All

Verse 33

Gradually give the whole of attention to any one thing — a wall, a space, a person.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

62. Attention Inside the Skull

Verse 34

With the eyes closed, fix attention within the space inside the head.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

63. Where Light Becomes Colour

Verse 76

Rest the gaze where light breaks into colours.

Open the practice →5 min · Intermediate

64. Look Without Blinking

Verse 80

Hold a steady gaze on one solid object until the mind runs out of support.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

65. A Clear Sky, Unmoving

Verse 84

Look into an empty sky and keep the body entirely still.

Open the practice →12 min · Intermediate

66. A Dark Night

Verse 87

On a genuinely dark night, concentrate on the darkness for a long time.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

67. The Darkness Behind the Eyes

Verse 88

When there is no dark night to be had, close the eyes and use the dark that is already there.

Open the practice →5 min · Advanced

68. The Unblinking Gaze

Verse 113

Eyes fixed and unmoving, and the text says union follows immediately.

Open the practice →For study

69. Over a Deep Hollow

Verse 115

Look into a deep space — a well, a gorge — until the mind empties.

Read about it →

9 dharanas

Posture, movement and sensation आसन

Dharanas that begin with how the body is arranged or how it moves. Several of these are the tradition at its most physical, and a few of them are here to be read rather than attempted.

For study

70. The Classical Mudras

Verse 77

Five named yogic attitudes through which the text says reality is revealed.

Read about it →8 min · Intermediate

71. Seated Without Support

Verse 78

Sit off-balance with nothing held, and let the mind go where the support went.

Open the practice →6 min · Beginner

72. The Space Under Raised Arms

Verse 79

Arch the arms over the head and let attention rest in the opened space beneath them.

Open the practice →For study

73. The Tongue and the Sound HA

Verse 81

The tongue is turned up to the palate and attention fixed on a sound felt in it.

Read about it →10 min · Intermediate

74. The Body Without Support

Verse 82

Lie or sit and continuously imagine the body as having nothing holding it up.

Open the practice →10 min · Beginner

75. Slow Rocking

Verse 83

Move the body slowly and rhythmically, and let the mind be carried quiet.

Open the practice →8 min · Beginner

76. A Sense Obstructed

Verse 89

Block one sense from doing its work and enter the void that opens.

Open the practice →For study

77. Attention at the Point of Pain

Verse 93

The verse directs attention to a sharp sensation deliberately produced.

Read about it →For study

78. Turning Until Stillness

Verse 111

Spinning the body until it can spin no more, and resting in what remains.

Read about it →

9 dharanas

Dissolving the form लय

Strong imaginative practices in which the body, or the world, is pictured burning away or thinning from gross to subtle until nothing solid is left. Powerful, and not for a distressed day.

10 min · Advanced

79. The Body Consumed by Fire

Verse 52

Imagine a fire rising from the foot and taking the whole body, then rest in the calm after.

Open the practice →10 min · Advanced

80. The World Consumed by Fire

Verse 53

The same burning, extended from the body to everything there is.

Open the practice →12 min · Advanced

81. Gross to Subtle to Supreme

Verse 56

Dissolve the world by stages, from solid to fine to source, then let the mind go too.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

82. The Universe as One Body

Verse 57

Hold everything, to its furthest limit, as part of a single whole.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

83. Body and World as Consciousness

Verse 63

Hold the body, or everything, as being made of awareness rather than of substance.

Open the practice →8 min · Intermediate

84. Nothing Inside Me

Verse 94

Hold that there is no mind, no intellect and no interior — and let thought go with it.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

85. I Am Everywhere

Verse 104

Set aside concern for the body and hold, firmly, that you are everywhere.

Open the practice →10 min · Intermediate

86. The Same Energy Everywhere

Verse 105

The energy that is in you is equally in every object around you.

Open the practice →8 min · Advanced

87. Stop Every Thought

Verse 108

Give thought nothing at all, and let the mind stand without support.

Open the practice →

25 dharanas

Looking directly at the one who looks विचार

The contemplations. Nothing to do with the breath or the body — these are questions held steadily until they stop being questions, and convictions held until they stop being opinions.

10 min · Intermediate