Bhagavad Gita 8.12
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च | मूर्ध्न्याधायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ||
sarva-dvārāṇi saṁyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca | mūrdhny ādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇam āsthito yoga-dhāraṇām ||
Translation
Closing all the gates, restraining the mind in the heart, fixing the life-breath in the head, settled in the steadiness of yoga...
Reflection
Which gate in your day pours out the most of you?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Eight
The gates are the senses. He closes them. The eyes, the ears, the channels of taste and smell and touch, the doors that ordinarily pour the world into the mind. The mind itself is then held in the heart, not allowed to flutter outward. The breath is drawn up and fixed in the head. The yogi settles into the steadiness that long practice has made possible. Each verb is a separate piece of the gathering. The point is not to stop the world but to stop the leak. With the gates shut and the breath collected and the mind held in one room, what scatters in ordinary life is finally pooled.