Yoga Meditation Techniques 4

Withdrawal of the senses (pratyahara)

The fifth limb, pratyahara, involves the detachment of the mind from the sensory organs, in other words, shutting out the external world from our senses. To put it another way, it means the ability to wean one;s thoughts from the endless fleeting sensations upon which they feed.

Pratyahara literally means ‘gathering towards’ or ‘gathering in’. It is therefore the reigning in and integration of our scattered thoughts. We actually do this frequently without realizing it, as a means to stat subconsciously with our object of interest at any given time. For example, while we are fully absorbed in reading a book, we are not conscious of peripheral sounds such as the clock ticking. But when we stop reading the book and remain silent, it is then that we notice the ticking of the clock. Any form of intense concentration has the same effect. Lying in a sense deprivation tank would give you an experience of sense withdrawal. But what the yogi seeks through mastery of pratyahara in the conscious ability to sustain this withdrawal of the senses. There are many techniques to achieve this, but the methods of mindful one-pointed focus such as anapana result in the mastery of concentration (dharana).

Pratyahara is most clearly symbolized by the yoni mudra, whereby the mouth, nose and eyes are closed with the fingers, and the ears are blocked with the fingers, and the ears are blocked with the thumbs. This serves to insulate the senses from distraction, thereby freeing the attention to dwell in the internal or mystic sounds called nadas, in particular, the sounds generated by the heart, known an anahata sounds.

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