Eight Limbs Of Yoga 5- Pratyhara

Having crossed the bridge between the external and internal domains, riding the wave of prana’s flow we enter Pratyahra. In pratyahara the allure and stimulation of the external world no longer draws our mind into motion. Instead we sink into the depths of ourselves and mental motion ceases.

Normally in a subconscious manner we are constantly receiving stimuli through our senses, sight, sound, taste, touch and smell. Being energetic beings we also receive stimuli energetically, though often we are less aware of. We name perception at this level intuition. So let us say our six senses are receiving stimuli. Most of the time for most of us what gets stimulated is subconscious and therefore a past we hold within us. Most of the time most of us react to the stimulus from the associated energies we hold as that past or pasts.

The state of pratyhara then is when our connection with ourselves is clear and strong enough that we are not drawn into re-action by the energies of the past that our present stimulates in us. From this condition we can act in our present with apropriateness to what it is.

We can experience pratyhara primarily in two ways. The first is in action. Let us take asana practise as an example. In asana, when the yamas and niyamas and pranayama are present we achieve union of body and mind in the light of intelligent awareness. Intelligence rather than desire moves us. These are the ingredients of pratyhara in asana.

The experience is of being fully present in the moment, or being in the ‘zone’. This is the same experience that many people experience in sports, in particular extreme sports. As i have used a surfing analogy already let us take it a step further. When a surfer experience the moment when it all comes together in the perfect ride, body, board and wave become one the mind becomes still yet there is alertness, responsiveness, they are in the zone.

The difference between this kind of ‘zone’ high and pratyhara in yoga, is that in yoga it is one aspect in a total system. A system of design and purpose whose results is not achieved in a momentary experience that must be re-enacted again and again to re-experience it. The purpose is the greatest endeavour for a human life, to realise our divine nature and be it, live it.

The second way to experience pratyhara is in contemplation. Typically this will be in meditation, when we turn so deep into ourselves that awareness of the external world falls away.

The point though as with each aspect of yoga is their integration into how we live.

Eight Limbs of Yoga 6 Dharana

Eight Limbs of Yoga 4 Pranayama

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