THE FORGOTTEN LIMB OF YOGA!

Because desire is endless, happiness consists not of getting what we want, but of no longer needing anything from the external world!

Pratyahara is the tough one to practice. Yet the most important aspect, without which our system cannot function.It is a Sanskrit word – means – withdrawal of the senses.

How does on get to doing that?

There are 4 types of pratyahara:

• Control of senses
• Control of action
• Control of prana
• Withdrawal of mind from senses.

Let’s understand what each one of them mean.

Why should one practice it? And how can we integrate it in our practice, everyday!

Control of senses

In this mass-media oriented world where our commercial society functions by stimulating our interest through the senses – loud music, news, magazines, dramatic sensations etc. it’s sensory overload.

Sensory indulgence is the main form of entertainment, in our society today. We are so accustomed to ongoing sensory activity that we don’t know how to keep our minds quiet—we have become hostages to the world of the senses and its allurements. We run after what is appealing to the senses and forget the higher goals of life.

Control of action starts with right intake of impressions

Most of us are careful about the food we eat and the company we keep, but we may not exercise the same discrimination about the impressions we take in from the senses.

We accept impressions via the mass media that we would never allow in our personal lives. We let people into our houses through television and movies that we would never allow into our homes in real life!

According to ayurveda, sensory impressions are the main food for the mind. The background of our mental field consists of predominant sensory impressions. We see this when our mind reverts to the impressions of the last song we heard or the last movie we saw.

We cannot ignore the role sensory impressions play in making us who we are, for they build up the subconscious and strengthen the tendencies latent within it. Trying to meditate without controlling our impressions pits we are training our subconscious against us and this prevents the development of inner peace and clarity.

In addition to sense organs (like the eyes and ears), we also possess motor organs (like the hands and tongue). We cannot control the sense organs without also controlling the motor organs.

We know that Motor organs involve us directly in the external world. The impulses coming in through the senses get expressed through the motor organs, and this drives us to further sensory involvements. But because desire is endless, happiness consists not of getting what we want, but of no longer needing anything from the external world.

Sensory Withdrawal

The simplest way to control our impressions is to cut them off, to spend some time apart from all sensory inputs. Just as the body benefits by fasting from food, so the mind benefits by fasting from impressions. This can be as simple as sitting to meditate with our eyes closed or taking a retreat somewhere free from the normal sensory bombardments.

Mudras (involves using finger in a certain position to block the sensory openings) might also help us in sensory withdrawal and focus inwards. Mudras will need a separate post. Will be writing about it soon Keep reading further for now!

Another method of sense withdrawal is to keep our sense organs open but withdraw our attention from them. In this way we cease taking in impressions without actually closing off our sense organs. The most common method, Shambhavi Mudra, consists of sitting with the eyes open while directing the attention within. Stay tuned for our post on how to and benefits of Shambhavi Mudra.

This redirection of the senses inward can be done with the other senses as well, particularly with the sense of hearing.

Another way to control the senses is to put our attention on a source of uniform impressions, such as gazing at the ocean or the blue sky.

Another means of controlling the senses is to create positive, natural impressions like meditating upon aspects of nature such as trees, flowers or using incense, flowers, ghee lamps.

Another sensory withdrawal technique is to focus the mind on inner impressions, thus removing attention from external impressions. Visualization is the simplest means of creating inner impressions.

Control of Prana (our vital energy)

Control of the senses requires the development and control of prana because the senses follow prana (our vital energy). Unless our prana is strong we will not have the power to control the senses. If our prana is scattered or disturbed, our senses will also be scattered and disturbed.

Pranayama is a preparation for pratyahara.

Prana is gathered in pranayama and withdrawn in pratyahara. Perhaps the best method of prana-pratyahara is to visualize the death process, in which the prana, or the life force, withdraws from the body, shutting off all the senses, from the feet to the head.

Just as right intake of impressions gives control of the sense organs, right work and right action gives control of the motor organs. This involves karma yoga—doing the actions necessary to life and avoiding those based on desire and self-gratification.

Karma Yoga has two parts: outer action or service (seva), and inner action, which consists of various forms of rituals (puja).

It is by surrendering any thought of personal rewards for what we do, doing everything as service to humanity, one practices Karma-Pratyahara.

“Your duty is to act, not to seek a reward for what you do.”

Bhagavad Gita

We will speak about Karma yoga is a seperate post. Keep reading further, you are going well!

Withdrawal of mind from senses

We have known this for years that mind is the sixth sense organ and that it is responsible for co-ordinating all other sensory organs. We take in sensory impressions only where we place our mind’s attention.

In a way, we are always practicing pratyahara. The mind’s attention is limited, and we give attention to one sensory impression by withdrawing the mind from other impressions. Wherever we place our attention, we naturally overlook other things.

“When the senses do not conform with their own objects but imitate the nature of the mind, that is pratyahara.”

Yoga Sutras

More specifically, withdrawing the senses from their objects and directing them inward to the nature of the mind, which is formless.

“The mind is like the queen bee and the senses are like worker bees. Wherever the queen bee goes all the other bees must follow.”

Vyasa’s commentary on Yoga Sutras

Pratyahara is related to all the limbs of yoga. All of the other limbs—from asana to samadhi—contain aspects of pratyahara.

For example, in the sitting poses, which are the most important aspect of asana, both the sensory and motor organs are controlled. In other words, pratyahara provides the foundation for the higher practices of yoga and is the basis for meditation. It follows pranayama (or control of prana) and by linking prana with the mind, takes it out of the sphere of the body

Many of us find that even after years of meditation practice we have not achieved all that we expected. Trying to practice meditation without some degree of pratyahara is like trying to gather water in a leaky vessel. No matter how much water we bring in, it flows out again. The senses are like holes in the vessel of the mind. Unless they are sealed the mind cannot hold the nectar of truth. Anyone whose periods of meditation alternate with periods of sensory indulgence is in need of pratyahara.

Pratyahara helps us avoid environmental disturbances that are the source of psychological pain. Pratyahara is a marvelous tool for taking control of our lives and opening up to our inner being. It is no wonder some great yogis have called it “the most important limb of yoga.”

According to Sage Patanjali – yoga has 8 limbs i.e. there are 8 steps on attaining enlightenment – the only destination!

• Yama
• Niyama
• Asana
• Pranayam
• Pratyahara
• Dharna
• Dhyana
• Samadhi

Stay tuned for more interesting posts on Mudras, 8 limbs of yoga, Karma yoga, and many more exciting ones.

This post is written for reading purpose. There’s no intention of copyright infringement. I hope you had fun reading this post. Sending you all love and light from the mountains ❤️