Pratyahara means to “withdraw” the senses. I love that word: withdraw. We withdraw a lot: money from the ATM or ourselves from awkward social situations. In either case, we are not shutting something down. We aren’t destroying something entirely. We leave the ATM in tact. We leave the social group nattering on about whatever they were. The only thing we remove is ours: our money or attention or presence.
When we practice Pratyahara, we withdraw the senses. It’s not that there is nothing to taste; it’s that we are choosing not to taste it. Sounds will inevitably happen around us. We choose not to hear them.
We all do it all the time without even knowing. I am sure each of us, at one point or another, has been avoiding sweets and walked past a bakery. Or felt overwhelmed by the noise of the city or the hustle of the crowded grocery store. So what do we do? We slip in ear buds or pull out our phones or the book we’re reading. We withdraw.
In Yoga, we deliberately withdraw the senses in order to strengthen our mind and to deepen our connection to our deepest selves.
Who’s Doing the Sensing?
The great teacher Eckhart Tolle describes being the depths of a deep depression and thinking “I want to kill myself.” In that moment, realized that the “I” doing the thinking wanted to kill something … else. “My Self” and “I” were two distinct identities.
It’s heady stuff for sure, but Pratyahara is great exercise in understanding this idea in a much less macabre way: taste doesn’t just happen. Neither does smell. Yes, the nerves take in the stimuli, but how we process, label and experience them is wholly done in the mind.
Contemplation
I hope these images inspire a little thought as you consider “withdrawing your senses” today. When you look at each image, does it inspire certain sensation?
Meditation
As we meditate, we systematically go through each of our five senses, taking in and then withdrawing to go deeper.
Practice
Withdrawing senses during a vinyasa practice, to me, means paying attention to what’s happening inside our bodies. That’s why most yoga studios do not have mirrors (or shouldn’t). It’s never about the shape, after all … it is about your experience of your body and your breath from millisecond to millisecond.
Nothing that appears in this blog or on this website is intended to treat or diagnose any disorder, physical or otherwise. Always consult a physician before beginning any exercise program.