“The restraint of the senses occurs when the mind is able to remain in its chosen direction and the sense disregard the different objects around them and faithfully follow the direction of the mind.”
~ Yoga Sutra 2.54 Translation by TKV Desikachar
Welcome to the fifth week of our Summer Challenge and to Pratyahara, the 5th stage of Patanjali’s 8-limbed path. One could refer to Pratyahara as “withdrawing the senses away from the external surroundings and distractions.” Withdrawing of the senses does not come easy to most of us. In our fast-paced, media driven world we suffer from sensory overload. The result of constant bombardment from television, radio, computers, newspapers, smart phones, magazines, books — you name it. Our commercial society functions by stimulating our interest through the senses. We are constantly confronted with bright colors, loud noises and dramatic sensations. We have been raised on every sort of sensory indulgence; unfortunately, it is the main form of entertainment in our society.
According to David Frawley: “The problem is that the senses, like untrained children, have their own will, which is largely instinctual in nature. They tell the mind what to do. If we don’t discipline them, they dominate us with their endless demands. We are so accustomed to ongoing sensory activity that we don’t know how to keep our minds quiet; we have become hostages of the world of the senses and its allurements. We run after what is appealing to the senses and forget the higher goals of life. For this reason, Pratyahara is probably the most important limb of yoga for people today.”
Sense withdrawal means that the senses cease to be engaged or connected to the objects in our thoughts. It does not mean the suppression, repression, or stopping of these thoughts. They may naturally slow down or decrease to some degree, but the method itself is to break the contact, to cease connecting with the thought patterns. This means allowing thoughts to flow without interruption, while the senses are simply not diverted into those thoughts.
In the past weeks, on the eight-limbed path of yoga, we started with the world outside and around us and have been working inward. The first limbs of the Yamas and the Niyamas had a lot to do with our conducts in the external world we live in. Asanas, our physical practice bought us in contact with our bodies, taught us awareness and connectedness to our senses concerning our bodies. Then last week we talked about Pranayama, breath control or life energy extension; starting to focus on our breath, trying different breathing techniques to best serve our practice. We connected our Asana practice with Pranayama and experienced a better focus and moving meditation.
With Pranayama, we brought the air around us into our bodies. By doing so consciously, our sense of connection between the external and the internal deepened. However, Pranayama is still a practice of using our bodies to control and experience the breath. Apart from Pranayama, another device that we used to find this connectedness was focusing on the third eye (Ajna Chakra, the place between the eye brows) as we moved through our practice with closed eyes. Even when the eyes were open we directed our gaze at one point, the Drishti, to allow for even more awareness of our bodies and the movements in the mind.
Now, together, Pranayama and Pratyahara start to move our efforts and intentions toward our inner worlds. While doing a posture, our thoughts turn to the sensations we are feeling in our muscles and our bones. We may notice that our emotions become excited or dulled. We observe the breath and attempt to be present with all of these observations. This very process is the beginning of practicing Pratyahara. Of course, it does happen that some days our minds are distracted by the temperature, by other people in the class, by overly negative (or positive) thoughts about ourselves… Even this is an opportunity to practice Pratyahara, by trying to notice it happening, withdrawal from the racing thoughts, and come back into the moment. Especially in the setting of a class, the eyes and ears are usually the most distracting sensory organs. For this reason, it is helpful to close your eyes, and to focus on the breath (which will draw the energy of the ears inward).
With Pratyahara, the transition from external to internal awareness goes one step further. By observing our senses, their activities, and our responses, we can gain an increased understanding of how easily our thoughts can be redirected by the random input from our senses. Gradually, we gain skill at releasing our minds from the current of constant thoughts and drawing them back to our chosen area of focus. Even when a light flickers outside, our gaze stays steady. Even if the fire tuck passes by, we don’t waiver :). When practicing yoga postures, each time we realize our mind has wandered and bring it back to our experience in the pose – that is Pratyahara.
This week we will practice Pratyahara with Pranayama techniques we already learnt, mantra meditation, and visualization techniques. Pratyahara occurs almost automatically when we meditate because we are so absorbed in the object of meditation. Precisely because the mind is so focused, the senses follow it; it is not happening the other way around. So I am looking forward to our nice long Savasanas :)
Namaste.
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