Concentration and Meditation
In the Sivananda method of teaching yoga, which was taken from the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, we were taught the “Eight Limbs of Raja Yoga”.
These are, in order: 
Yamas
Niyamas
Asanas
Pranayama
Pratyahara
Dharana
Dhyana
Samadhi
I’ll not go into them all, as you can find their meanings yourself and I want to focus on Dharana at the moment. I’m using my former teacher Swami Vishnudevananda’s description of the word’s meaning as “Progression in mental control or concentration” from his book “The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga”.
What came to mind recently was that this step of concentration seems to get all too little attention compared to Dhyana [Meditation] though it is in the sequence as a vital step in the path towards enlightenment [Samadhi].
I do want to make a distinction between what I consider meditation and “mindfulness”, which is sometimes referred to as “mindfulness meditation” though in my view is not meditation at all. The first time I was told about mindfulness, a couple of decades or more ago, it was described to me as “Doing what you are doing while you are doing it.” That infers active concentration and thus, in my view, points towards dharana not meditation. But I also think that “Doing what you’re doing while you are doing it” though intentional, is not the same as a creative act. Both require concentration but one is generative and the other is not.
It seems to me that the forward focusing nature of concentration is an aspect of Becoming, the creative aspect of the universe. It is what we are endowed with by consciousness both to explore and then to manifest, through choice, the next most perfect or beautiful experiences that we would like to enjoy. It does make sense that meditation is a very useful way to extricate ourselves from this ancient concentrated, creative flow that we have become wrapped up in by trying to perfect our lives. But what meditation’s extrication also provides is the possibility of then re-engaging in Becoming’s flow by consciously making choices from the quieter, more expansive perspectives that a quiet mind evokes. In my view this is not solely for the purpose of assisting others in extracting themselves from this world of “suffering”. I do not think that we were meant to use Concentration and Meditation to permanently extricate ourselves and others from Becoming, as the yogis have taught. Though there is suffering in the world, creating and experiencing beauty seems to me our primary purpose here, not avoiding suffering. …