How to Practice Pratyahara or Sense Withdrawal, one of the Eight Limbs of Yoga

Hello Friends, and Happy October!  This month we’re continuing our study of the Eight Limbs of Yoga. Today’s topic is the 5^th Limb, Pratyahara.  It’s typically translated from Sanskrit to Sense Withdrawal.   I’ve also read other commentaries that describe it ‘turning the senses inward.’ 

Pratyahara encourages to us to quiet our mind, which is practical tool to help with meditation and stress reduction.  But also, as I’ll describe today, it’s practice can deepen our 5 individual senses. 

Eight Limbs of Yoga

First, here’s a quick recap – The Eight Limbs of Yoga, in a nutshell, are a set of guidelines on how to live a meaningful and purposeful life.  Alternately, it has been described as the Eight-Fold Path to Liberation. Or as Master Shifu describes it to Po in Kung Fu Panda, “Finding your Inner Peace.” I recently watched that movie my kids, and I paused it there, and told them, “Yes! This is what mommy is trying to do when you jump on the couch and interrupt me at 6 am!” Actually, I’d reocommend ths movie to adults too – quite a few good nuggets in there.

Gateway Limb

Now we can begin the discussion of Pratyahara.  This is sometimes called the Gateway Limb, as it is the final step before meditation.  As Yogis settle down to meditate, they’ll sequentially perform the preceding limbs:

First, they’ll set up their body into a comfortable position, which is the 3^rd Limb, Asana, or Posture.  Then they deepen their breath, which is a part of the 4^th Limb, Pranayama, or Breath Control.   After that, they attune their mind to stillness, or withdraw from the senses, which is the 5^th Limb, Pratyahara, what we’ll discuss today.  Finally, then, they are ready to begin their meditation.   

Pratyahara, Sense Withdrawal

What does Sense Withdrawal mean?  The Yoga Sutras only offer a few verses on this Limb, quoted below, so it is up for many to speculate.

54. The senses retire from their objects by following the natural inward movement of the mind.

55. From this comes supreme mastery of the senses. 

The yoga sutras of patanjali, translated by alistair shearer

Any 21^st century human that’s attempted meditation knows that it’s hard to quiet his or her mind.  This age bombards us daily with many forms of media and nonstop notifications, telling us to Look Here, Read This, Eat Me, etcetera, etcetera.  Pratyahara is a gentle reminder to turn inward and release ourselves from these distractions. 

If you take the translation literally, they command us to silence our senses – Sight, Sound, Smell, Taste, and Touch.  What does this look like realistically?  To everyone it’s different. Perhaps you turn off your phone, move to a quiet room, close your eyes, and separate yourself from the physical senses of the body, in order to enhance your mind.     

Moderation

To reiterate, the previous approach to Pratyahara is in preparation for meditation.  But I will share another option for you.  The intentional withdrawal of specific senses can allow you to more fully appreciate these senses, when they are indulged in. 

Take Halloween for example.  I loooove October.  As I was planning out our month, allocating days to attend Fall Festivals, Pumpkin Patches, Oktoberfest and Costume Parties I found myself saying that I wished October was two months long. 

Try explaining this to my kids when we put the decorations back in the box come November!

This is the basis of another yoga concept called Bramacharya, which one translation is Moderation.  The phrase, “Everything in Moderation,” is so cliché but so true. 

Sound

So, let’s tie this into Pratyahara, Sense Withdrawal.  How can you intentionally isolate a sense to practice this Limb?   Perhaps as you continue reading, take a moment to think or journal, before I offer up my example. 

We first will analyze the Sense of Sound.   Think of that favorite song you’ve been playing on repeat recently.  What if you held back on listening to it for a day or two.  I bet when you finally hear that harmony, you will enjoy it so much more.  Maybe, you can take it a step further; instead of playing it on your morning commute, instead, you park your car and read the lyrics on your phone and belt it out.  Allow yourself to tap into that sense of sound from your ears, and transition to the sound of your voice. 

Taste

Let’s move on to Taste.  Ooooh this one can be challenging.  What comes to mind for you?  Pick your poison – Wine, Chocolate, Doritos, ha?  By the way, how many of you are drooling for a Pumpkin Spice Latte?  I bet Bramacharya is a foundation for Starbucks marketing, not selling it throughout the year to increase sales in the Fall! 

Touch

I can’t wait to hear your examples here!  I’m just going to go for it without preamble – how about sex?  Celibacy is a foundation for Bramacharya, being that it was originally practiced by Monks.  But take a duration that is challenging for you, and try it out. 

This approach to Sense Withdrawal is not about denial of the senses, but rather compartmentalizing them situationally to fully appreciate their essence. 

I remember reading somewhere, that you shouldn’t be thinking about sex at work, and you shouldn’t be thinking about work during sex.  Wise words to consider.  Not only for your own benefit, but for your employer and partner too!

Smell

How about smell?  Is there a scent that you wear every day?  Or a candle you light every evening?  Consider abstaining for a while to enrich your experience later.

I take my daughter to Bath and Body works occasionally, and while I replenish my Wallflowers, she roams around the store and sprays the perfumes on those little white cards and inhales to her heart’s content.  The joy on her face is palpable as she revels in her sense of smell. 

Allow yourself to focus just as much as immersing yourself in your senses when the time is appropriate, as the opposite. 

Sight

Eyesight is a tricky sense to deny, as it’s usually required for daily activities, but try out this exercise at home.  Find a favorite photograph or piece of artwork and stare at it for a good amount of time.  Memorize all the little details of the picture – the colors, the shadows, the paint stroke, the background.  Reflect on the emotions the picture evokes, and why.

Next put it away, and close your eyes, removing the sense of sight. Recall the picture.  Visualize all the details…the emotions.  Take comfort in the knowledge that you really remember the photo in your mind’s eye, without needing to see it with your physical eyes.

I love the idea of this quote to reiterate this concept,

“The external world will fail to amuse the senses as you create an extraordinary world within.”

the secret power of yoga = nischala joy devi

Something to strive for!

Pratyahara in Yoga Asana

When we practice Pratyahara, using the first apporach of sense withdrawal, in our Yoga Asana classes, it’s in a modified form. Most of the students need to see and/or hear the yoga teacher.  At the beginning and end of class, there are opportunities to close the eyes and withdraw from the senses, but during the majority of class, how do we sustain this limb? 

A commentator on the Eight limbs of Yoga puts it this way,

“The idea of Drsti also ties in with the idea that pratyahara is a natural consequence of mental focus; the attention one pays to one’s drsti, such as the tip of the nose or the navel, draws awareness away from the greater environment and concentrates it within the immediate region of the practice.”

Stuart Ray Sarbacker & Kevin Kimple – The Eight Limbs of Yoga – A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy

We practice Pratyahara by directing our eyesight away from the distractions of the room to a single point of focus. 

By the way, I laugh when people tell me they don’t want to go to a yoga class because they’re embarrassed.  I constantly reply with, “90% of the students in the class are staring at themselves in the mirror.  And the other 10% are focused on their postural drsti.  NO ONE is looking at you!” Yoga is a deeply personal practice, even though we may share the same room. 

Practicing Pratyahara at Home

Allow me to provide some personal tips on the practice of Pratyahara.  It can be hard to quiet your mind.  Sometimes the more we tell ourself not to think of something, the more we think of it!  If you find yourself drifting during your meditation or savasana or quiet time, try not to get frustrated.  This is normal. 

Instead, assign a label to this mental activity.  Perhaps you say to yourself, “At this moment, Leila is thinking of XYZ.” “Now Leila will release this thought to return to it at a later time.”  I like to use voice of a third-party sports commentator to make it feel extra detached. 

Most books on Pratyahara that I’ve read, preach that it gets easier with practice.  The more you segregate your senses, the less you experience the wandering mind.  I can’t say that I’ve achieved this level of proficiency yet, but hey, I’m a type A personality with 3 jobs and 2 (loud) kids.  I have no doubt that you, dear reader, will lap me in this race. 

As always, please join me in an in-person yoga class to practice Pratyahara with me, schedule here.  Or follow me in Instagram where I’ll share tips to develop this skill.  Or sign up for my monthly email list where I tie in this topic with playlists, and chakras, and colors, oh my.