Sandra Coyner, Inspired by Earth
  • Home
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
  • Yoga & Reiki
    • Yoga
    • Reiki
  • My Book & Reiki Online
  • Death Cafe Meetings
  • Crystal of the Month
  • Picture Gallery
  • Class Themes/Newsletter
  • End-of-Life Doula

Sign up to receive my newsletter

Add to newsletter

Pratyahara: Withdrawal From The Senses

3/27/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Pratyahara is the fifth limb in Patanjali's eight limbs of yoga.  It seems to be the one least taught and probably the one most difficult to understand and attain.  It means withdrawal of the senses.  Sight, sound, touch, taste, hearing.. how are we supposed to cut all of that off?  Can you eat a piece of chocolate and not taste it? Can you sit through a dog barking and not hear it? Is this possible? Why would we want to do this?!  It has to do with how the senses feed the mind.

"Just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs, so when a man withdraws his senses from the sense objects, his wisdom becomes steady." -Bhagavad Gita

Although pratyahara is defined as withdrawal from the senses, the word breaks down into ahara, meaning food and prati meaning away.  Food is anything we take from the outside and bring to our inside.  The senses feed the mind constantly with information. How can this information always be truth when it is biased by our interpretations?  It is thought that when the senses are turned "off", both the mind and the senses are in a neutral state.  We are constantly being fed physically by the wrong types of foods, mentally by sense-created interpretations and spiritually through our associations with the people we choose to be around.  If all three types of food are wrong, we are left distracted.

 “When the mind runs after the wandering senses, then it carries away one’s understanding, as the wind carries away a ship on the waters. Therefore the wisdom of him whose senses are withdrawn from the objects of the senses stands firm.” (2:67 Bhagavad Gita)

Much like the heart chakra is centered between the three physical chakras below and the three spiritual ones above, pratyahara lies between the physical practices of asana and pranayama and the spiritual practices of dharana (concentration) and dhyana (meditation). It also lies between the external practices of yama, niyama, asana and pranayama and the internal limbs of yoga, dharana, dhyana and samadhi.

Swami Satchidananda states, "The senses are like a mirror. Turned outward, they reflect the outside; turned inward, they reflect the pure light."

The practice of pratyahara divides into four main types:  indriya-pratyahara  (control of the senses),  prana- pratyahara (control of your energy),  karma-pratyahara (control over your  actions), and mano-pratyahara (withdrawal of the mind from the senses).

Means to control the senses...indriya pratyahara:

-You could turn off electronics or abstain from speaking for a set amount of time.

-Practice Yoni Mudra, which uses the fingers and thumbs to block the senses.

-Shambhavi Mudra teaches you to go inward without shutting off the senses. For example, can you look within while keeping your physical eyes open?

Means to control the prana pratyahara

-pranayama to build strong energy; pratyahara to expend the energy

 

Means of controlling action- karma pratyahara

-offering selfless service

 

Means to withdraw the mind...mano pratyahara

The mind is like a puppy happy to tag along behind a playful kid.  If the kid darts to the right, the puppy follows.  If the kid leaps to the right, so does the unthinking puppy. If I am in a bakery and my eyes zone in on the eclairs, I miss seeing the napoleans.  If we can separate the mind from following the senses, it is hopeful we miss nothing.


1 Comment
B Rukki
6/13/2021 12:02:43 pm

Good to see you

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2024
    August 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    September 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • About Me
    • Contact Me
  • Yoga & Reiki
    • Yoga
    • Reiki
  • My Book & Reiki Online
  • Death Cafe Meetings
  • Crystal of the Month
  • Picture Gallery
  • Class Themes/Newsletter
  • End-of-Life Doula