Pratyahara - (Withdrawal of Senses)
The fifth stage of Patanjali’s eightfold path is known as pratyahara. Withdrawal of the senses is how it is translated. removing our senses, or our connection to the outside world, and starting to focus solely on our inner world How do you go about that? Although it appears to be relatively straightforward, telling a hungry toddler to refrain from eating the tempting treats that are right in front of them is difficult. A difficult task! Pratyahara is divided into a number of stages. To be able to withdraw our senses, we must first become aware of them, which is the first stage of pratyahara.
A little calm begins to enter our life as we become more conscious of our surroundings. Our minds are constantly racing and we are constantly thinking about what we need to do next while we are working on a task. We miss the occasion. Living in the present is made possible by having external awareness. As a result, we must! Without being present at the time, how can we genuinely hear the birds sing? We won’t hear them if we are preoccupied with what needs to be done the following week.
The noise and chaos in the city, cars hooting, people walking by, flashing lights and all sorts of smells. Experience it. Its incredible how much sensory experience there is – and how little we notice because our minds our so busy thinking about nothing in particular. If we can teach our minds to experience the outer world we will begin to develop stillness because our mind won’t be running madly into the future or swimming in the past – it will be holding on to what is happening in this moment.
It is much simpler to ask our active mind to focus internally once it is externally focused. The Swami compared the mind to a small, active puppy. After you take the puppy outside for a walk and give it an opportunity to smell everything, look about, and listen to the neighbours dog, it will be much simpler to ask the puppy to sit quietly when they get home.
Pratyahara is a highly helpful technique and an essential stage in learning how to meditate. The best aspect of Pratyahara is that it allows us to practise the first stage, which involves becoming aware of what is going on all the time and everywhere around us.