Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 8: The Imperishable Absolute
Bhagavad Gita 8.12
सर्वद्वाराणि संयम्य मनो हृदि निरुध्य च ।
मूर्ध्न्याधायात्मनः प्राणमास्थितो योगधारणाम् ॥
sarvadvārāṇi saṃyamya mano hṛdi nirudhya ca | mūrdhnyādhāyātmanaḥ prāṇamāsthito yogadhāraṇām ||
Closing all the gates of the body, holding the mind in the heart, placing the life-breath in the head, and established in yogic concentration,
Modern context
The body's gates, the senses, are closed. The mind is gathered into the heart. The breath is drawn upward. This is the old description of how a trained yogi meets death, by withdrawing attention layer by layer from the outer world. It also describes something any of us can practise in small form: closing the senses for a while, settling the mind in the centre of the chest, and resting in concentration. What is rehearsed in life is available at the end.