A corporation moved into its new headquarters. Almost immediately, their employees and customers began complaining about the elevators running too slow.
The company consulted a variety of experts. The first was an architect who suggested that they install additional elevators on the outside of the building. He estimated it would take 6 months and cost $500,000. The second was an electrical engineer who recommended replacing the original elevators with newer and faster models. He estimated it would take one month and cost 100,000. The third was an efficiency expert who suggested re-distributing offices to different floors to reduce traffic flow bottlenecks. He projected that this could be done in a couple of weeks and cost $25,000. The last was a Yogi. “I can fix your problem in two days for a few hundred dollars.” The CEO was skeptical but agreed to let him try, figuring that they had nothing to lose.
The Yogi returned the next day with several dozen large full-length mirrors, which he had installed on either side of every elevator door on every floor.
The next week he returned to collect his fee. Instead of giving him a check, the secretary showed him into the CEO’s office. “We hired you to fix our elevators, but they are running just as slow as before!” the CEO complained. “No,” the Yogi countered, “you hired me because customers and employees were complaining about the elevators being slow.” Sure enough, when the CEO asked his secretary, she confirmed that the elevator complaints had stopped.
This anecdote is a wonderful illustration of the power of placing attention. Dharana (concentration) is a vector comprised of two components, direction, and force. Whether practicing asana, breath control, meditation, or waiting for an elevator, the Yogi chooses what to pay attention to, and then concentrates with such intensity that all distractions cease to exist. They become one with their practice.
