Unwavering Focus | Dandapani | TEDxReno

We become good at what we practice and most of us are experts at practicing distraction. We live in a society that trains us to multi-task and jump from one thing to another in an uncontrolled way. The great panacea for a world plagued by distraction is learning and practicing the art of concentration. Living as a Hindu monk for 10 years Dandapani was trained in understanding the mind. There he learned and practiced the fine art of bringing concentration into everyday life. In this talk, Dandapani will share spiritual tools to learn to create unwavering focus in our lives and the boundless benefits that result from it.


Dandapani is a Hindu priest, speaker on self-development and an entrepreneur.

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stop scrolling through comments and concentrate on the video!

[MateoKupstysChica]

"imagine if you train to distract yourself 6hours a day, 6 days a week, after a year... what are you going to be good at?" this hit me hard! Damn!

[markokello]

I watched this video around Jan 2018 just after graduating from my undergrad, i took an action and started concentrating. By October 2019 I started consulting as a technical Advisor for DFID, OPM UK, IMF, Uganda Revenue Authority, etc. The only thing i can say it works and thank you.

[parthivchakraborty]

If you are watching this not out of mere curiosity or entertainment but have actually recognised personal distraction and really intend to change, I wish you all the best, You are among the very few who have recognised it, let alone change.

Edit 1 - I love all of you. Wish you the best. Let us beat distraction together.
Edit 2- It helped me secure wonderful marks in school to achieve admission in a very decent college and thereafter, I am now, a successful student of law. Hope you do well too!

[simpleman]

*life is a manifestation of where your energy is flowing*

[tejas]

When someone speaks so clearly and eloquently, logically meeting all points of a topic and making it crystal clear and easily digestible to an audience, that itself is an impressive indication of their ability to concentrate. When you’re mentally aligned so staunchly to exactly what you wish to convey without even sub-moments of distraction, you’re naturally creative, funny & engaging and at the peak of your eloquence and intelligence.

In a way, I even think intelligence is simply a measure of your ability to concentrate. Why is that geniuses just shut themselves up and intensely focus on one thing they do for an extended period of time? It is a way of incubating their awareness on an object of study for so long that it yields unbelievable, magical results utterly incomprehensible to the average mind.

Yogis of the past really had it right in ancient India to develop droves of methods to articulate this lost art. Each breathing/kriya practice is engineered to center your mind and preciously improve what is termed ‘intelligence’ in today’s day and age.

Sadly this knowledge is now horribly fragmented and known minimally, the mainstream still believing yoga to be a fitness & lifestyle gimmick to their pretense-filled, exterior life.

The seriousness and grand scale of this topic is so underrated and grossly under-understood, I think it’s real time to reveal it’s true meaning and application to the deteriorating state of human affairs.

[gnwbhtb]

Hinduism and Indian sciences are so great!!

[shirinsahana]

How to concentrate
1. Do one thing at a time
2. Practice it
3. Finish what you started
4. Understand the mind, learn how mind works. Once you know how the mind works you can control it and once you can control it you can focus it

[ankitbhardwaj]

Man believe me he solved the entire generation's problem

[rameshemv]

"Yes, Its OK for Monks to use emails, as long as there are no 'attachments' " :-)

[krisgax]

Take away points:
- The mind and awareness are 2 separate things; ball of light analogy.
- The art of concentration is the art of keeping awareness, that ball of light on one thing for an extended period of time.
- Learn to concentrate by doing one thing at a time.
- When talking with your partner, keep your awareness on that person, if it drifts away, bring it back. ‘Give him or her your undivided attention’

[kaavyaganesh]

Honestly this is one of the best TED talks I've ever seen !! I regret why I didn't see this earlier .. Its true everyone, every motivational video just tells u have to concentrate and work hard to come up in life and stuff ..but no one tells us how .. This is so informative .. Im gonna see this over and over again whenever my mind drifts away

[liamc]

Video summary:

The art of concentration is keeping your awareness on one thing for an extended period of time. Repeatedly bringing it back to that one thing when the mind gets distracted. We practice this by doing one thing at a time throughout the day. When you have a conversation with someone, keep your “ball of awareness” fully focused on that person. It drifts away, you bring it back, if it drifts away again, you bring it back. Over and over. The more you practice this, the better you will be able to concentrate. Life is a manifestation of where your energy is flowing. The benefits of being in full control of where your energy and awareness is flowing are endless.

Other notes:

Most people can't concentrate today for 2 reasons: 1) We're never taught how to concentrate. 2) We don't practice concentration. Instead, we're experts at distraction because we practice distraction, all day every day.
If every time your phone beeps and you react/respond immediately, you are not in charge of your phone, and you are living in the world of distraction.
To learn how to properly concentrate you must understand the relationship and distinction between 2 things: awareness, and the mind.
Too often we allow external factors to manipulate our awareness to different areas of the mind.

[erdboizen]

DAMN THIS IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT VIDEOS I HAVE EVER WATCHED

[davidbrother]

Buddha said: "Who is your enemy? Your mind is your enemy. Who is your friend? Your mind is your friend. Learn the ways of the mind. Tend the mind with care." Great Tedtalk. Thanks!

[samay]

To everyone watching this video, Hindus are the most persecuted lots in the history of humankind. Once extended from Afghanistan to Indonesia, they perished from everywhere except for India and Nepal. Spaces of arts, academia and politics don't like talking about it because Hindus are a divided community themselves. Missionary crusades have converted millions of Hindus lately and high birthrate among Muslims and forced conversions in the hinterland pose a threat to the Hindu civilisation. Non-proselytising Hindu civilisation needs your support.

[joewmcboeamcboewad]

One of the most underrated TED Talks. Deserves more appreciation.

I feel pity for those 1.7k who disliked this video.

[discoteque]

"Learn to concentrate by doing one thing at a time". "Keep bringing awareness back". I practice meditation some minutes a day. As an Elementary teacher I am going to put these advices into practice with my students. Thank you.

[sweetchinmusic]

Namaste, I am grateful that the ancient wisdom of India and Hinduism ( yoga and meditation) is being appreciated and adapted all over the world now...

[srinivasanr]

Dandapani - The God who rules the Tamils. Om Muruga 🙏